1 singlesonly rivaled byDrake, Kanye West, and Lil Wayne.
50 Cent has become the king of multi-hyphenates, with his hands in everything from books to boxing.
Despite his fame, there’s a lot to learn about the rapper.
Here’s what you never knew about 50 Cent.
He grew up in a single-parent home, where his mother, Sabrina, reportedly sold drugs.
After Sabrina’s death, 50 Cent went to live with his grandparents, and money was tight.
He was soon tempted by the wealth he saw displayed by drug dealers.
“They had Cadillacs, expensive jewelry, everything that symbolized financial freedom.”
He said he found learning in the streets easier than in the classroom.
“That’s how I learned my fractions and metric conversion, through real-life applications.”
By 19,he was caughtand ended up in a two-year incarceration boot camp program.
While training, he learned skills that helped him in the streets.
“And because I was doing it every day, I didn’t mind being in a fight.
He’s also shown on social media that he likes slip back on the gloves occasionally.
But that same lifestyle also cost him his first major record deal.
Though he survived, Columbia Records dropped 50 Cent quickly after the attack.
For the rapper, seeing his dreams go up in smoke was worse than being shot.
“In the ‘hood, it ain’t nothing shocking,” he said.
“You heal up.
You get back to work.
The truth is: Losing that record deal hurt me more than that shooting.”
But the setback didn’t stop 50 Cent from pursuing a rap career.
He also largely abstains from drinking.
“I called and nagged him,” Midler said, as People reported.
“When Bette calls you don’t say ‘no.’
Not if you want your reputation to stay the way it is,” he said.
The garden functions as an outdoor classroom for kids to learn about growing food.
Since its relaunch, the space has seen some neat upgrades like a solar-powered water pump.
“I wish I had this to come to when I was growing up around here.
The opportunity to create this garden for the youth and the community is a great one.”
Meanwhile,50 Cent and Midler grew close, and they’ve joked about collaborating together on a future album.
“Iwillbe rapping,” Midler said.
“He’s writing a song for me right now.”
And then I gave it to the dog because I was excited about the dog.”
(He also confirmed he has a cat named Gayle.)
“The novels are the harsh realities in certain situations,” he said.
“And the actual honest content in the music and the books are a spinoff of that reality.
That’s what’s hip-hop about them.”
The last work published under the G-Unit Books banner was a YA novel, “Playground.”
But 50 Cent has continued to pen books since then.
A little bit, according to the rapper.
While most of these lyrical embellishments are pretty tame, he’s been accused of bigger lies.
50 Cent’s ex Shaniqua Tompkins called him out as a “fraud” on Instagram (viaBET).
“You created this fictitious character and you make a run at discredit me because I know the real!
she wrote, implying he lied about the number to boost his street cred.
“Remember I was there!”
“They do such a good job making water taste good,” he toldABC News.
The benefits in this case were huge.
But one role was particularly demanding of the rapper-turned-actor.
The results were staggering.
He went from 214 pounds to 160 pounds in just nine weeks.
At one point, his manager asked him to see a doctor out of concern.
“Towards the end it was really difficult,” he told Parade (via HuffPost).
The rapper said that he’d hit that weight once before, only under different circumstances.
In the middle of performing his song “P.I.M.P.”
