Biography | Artist Actors Biography

50 Cent (born Curtis James Jackson on July 6, 1975 in Queens, New York) is a popular African-American rapper, also known as Fiddy or Fifty, who rose to fame following the success of his 2003 debut album Get Rich or Die Tryin’.

50 Cent Biography
Once almost unknown outside his hometown of Southside Jamaica, Queens, 50 Cent is currently one of the most well-known and commercially successful rappers of the decade. Because the success of an artist in gangsta rap often depends on street credibility and reputation, Interscope Records has sold 50 Cent as the “real deal”. His mother was killed in a drug deal. He has been shot, and he built a large rap empire in New York City before ever signing a major record deal.

50 Cent’s continued success seems guaranteed by his large underground fanbase and the street credibility he has gained by appearing on almost every major mix tape sold in New York in the past few years. The rapper, who was the first to sign to Shady Records, was scouted before knowing Eminem. He is currently signed to Eminem’s Shady Records and Dr. Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment.

Eminem first encountered 50 Cent with MTV News reporter Sway Calloway, apparently having not heard any of his performances before seeing him in person. He then appeared on the 8 Mile soundtrack with an accompanying song and video (”Wanksta”) that immediately went into heavy rotation on BET, MTV, and radio stations across the country.

Before signing to Interscope, 50 Cent was living with his grandparents. He soon became immersed in the drug trade, hustling around his native neighborhood by the name of “Boo Boo” with fellow Queens native Tony Yayo. In June of 1994, Jackson was arrested on felony drug charges. Being a second time offender, Jackson was able to plead out of significant prison time by accepting seven months in a “shock incarceration” boot camp. He would later brag about this as his doing “seven to nine.” He became a father to a son, Marquise, in 1997.

Jackson met up with Jam Master Jay (JMJ) of Run-DMC fame and was signed to his label JMJ. Once Jay had taught him the basics, 50 left the label in search of someone who could help him achieve his dream of rap stardom. He teamed up with the hip-hop production duo Track Masters, who had recognized his talent for incisive lyrics. 50 Cent was signed to Columbia Records in 1999.

“How to Rob”, an ode to robbing a slew of industry rappers, was an instant hit for New York radio. His debut album “Power of the Dollar” was never released, as he was dropped from Columbia Records shortly after his shooting in 2000.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_cent

Kanye Omari West(born June 8, 1977 in Atlanta, Georgia) is an American record producer and rapper based in Chicago, Illinois.

After attending a local art school and then Chicago State University, West dropped out and began working on his music career. Even while attending school, West produced for local acts. He gained some fame by producing hit singles for major Hip-Hop/R&B artists, including Alicia Keys, Jay-Z, and Ludacris. West himself worked on his solo album for a long period of time, having the release pushed back on multiple occasions. Due to his appearance and overall style, West struggled to find a way to get his own voice on record. Multiple record companies put him aside due to the fact that West is not a former ’street hustler’, and does not wear the orthodox hip-hop apparel and would therefore not be as marketable as an artist portraying the “typical image” of a rapper. A car crash on October 23, 2002 left his jaw fractured in three places. With his mouth still wired shut and only weeks after his accident, he recorded “Through The Wire”. “Through The Wire”, which sampled Chaka Khan’s classic track “Through The Fire”, would eventually become his lead single from The College Dropout, which was released on Roc-a-Fella Records in February 2004. A later single from the album, “Jesus Walks”, would become a major success, and later a staple of his benefit performances such as at the Live 8 concert, Philadelphia (with an all-Japanese-girls string section), and gather him still further mainstream exposure when it was aired frequently as the background music in trailers for the 2005 film Jarhead.

On August 30th, 2005, Kanye West released his second album Late Registration. The first two singles were “Diamonds (From Sierra Leone)” (which contained samples from Shirley Bassey’s “Diamonds Are Forever”) and “Gold Digger” featuring Jamie Foxx. The album went on to sell over 904,000 copies in its first week. West announced that his 3rd and 4th albums will be titled Graduation and A Good Ass Job, respectively.

West has collaborated with numerous artists, most notably with rapper Twista on songs such as “Overnight Celebrity” and “Slow Jamz” (also featuring Jamie Foxx) - the latter would reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart, becoming the first #1 hit for all artists involved. Kanye also features on Brandy’s single, “Talk About Our Love”. Others whom West has collaborated with include Jay-Z, Talib Kweli, Dilated Peoples, Mariah Carey, Miri Ben-Ari (whose violin arrangements featured heavily on The College Dropout), and John Legend (who also features on West’s first album, providing soulful background vocals). Kanye West is also credited with revitalizing and bringing new life into the careers of such rappers as Common and Twista.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanye_West

Sean Paul (real name Sean Paul Henriques, born January 8, 1973) is a Jamaican Dancehall singer of Sephardi Jewish, Chinese and African lineage.

Biography

In 1997, Paul recorded in combination with Spanner Banner on the Jamaican chart-topper, “Ladies Man”, through the singer’s Sweet Angel Productions. The hit resulted in his embarking on sessions with Jeremy Harding, a little known producer who burst on the scene with his production of Beenie Man’s crossover hit, “Who Am I”. The producer released the dancehall favourite “Baby Girl”, which was followed by the more successful, “Infiltrate”. The latter single joined the singer’s combination hit in the Jamaican chart.

A new version of Paul’s “Punkie” track from the Dutty Rock album featuring Tego Calderón appeared on a recent (February 2005) Promo Only album. April 2005’s Promo Only Caribbean Series album included a new song by Paul (”We Be Burning”). Recently Paul also collaborated with Nina Sky for his song “Touch My Body”. Sean Paul has just recently released his new album, “The Trinity.” Sean Paul was a feature artist on Beyonce’s number one hit, Baby Boy.

He also plays water polo for Jamaica.

Black Eyed Peas are an American hip-hop (musical styles Crossover Rap/Hip-Hop and Alternative Rap/Hip-Hop) group from Los Angeles, who have enjoyed massive international pop success. The group is currently composed of will.i.am, Apl.de.ap, Taboo, and Fergie.

History

As Atban Klann, the group signed to Ruthless Records (run by Eazy-E), but their album was never released because Ruthless did not consider the positive themes reflected in the group’s music to be marketable to their audience.

After Eazy-E died of AIDS in 1995 (see 1995 in music), Atban Klann reformed as the Black Eyed Peas and released a debut, Behind the Front (1998, 1998 in music) that earned the group (and their accompanying live band) critical acclaim. The hit single from the album was “Joints and Jams”, and featured on the Bulworth soundtrack. Their second album was 2000’s Bridging the Gap (2000 in music). Their breakthrough album, Elephunk, was released in 2003, featuring a new female vocalist, Stacy “Fergie” Ferguson, previously a cast member of Kids Incorporated and a member of teen pop band Wild Orchid. She is the replacement of background singer Kim Hill, who departed the band during 2000.

From Elephunk came the anti-war anthem “Where is the Love?“, which became their first major hit, peaking at #8 on the US Hot 100, but topping the charts practically everywhere else, including six weeks at #1 in the UK where it became the biggest-selling single of 2003. The album subsequently spawned “Shut Up“, which peaked at UK #2 (despite being referred to by one reviewer as “the single most vacuous, pointless, vile and generally loathsome song in a generation”) and topped the charts in many other European countries including France and Germany. Indeed the band have enjoyed greater mainstream success in Europe than in the US with Elephunk going Top 10, gold and (sometimes multi-)platinum in the UK, Germany and many other European markets, yet ultimately failing to break the US Top 10, although it did go platinum there. The third single from the album, “Hey Mama” hit the Top 10 in the UK, Germany and several other European countries, and reached the Top 30.

During Black Eyed Peas’ concert tour in Asia in 2004, Apl.de.ap’s life story was featured in a weekly Filipino TV drama special called Maalaala Mo Kaya (Do You Think You Can Remember), which explained his childhood with his poor family in Pampanga, Philippines, back then when he was teased “baluga” (a derogatory word for Negro), before sadly parting with them to live a better life in the US at the age of 14. “The Apl Song”, with the chorus written in Tagalog (Filipino), from their album Elephunk, tells the story of Apl.de.ap. The Tagalog lyrics and backing melody were based on the song “Balita”, an original composition of the 1970s Filipino folk rock group Asin. The group eventually produced an exclusive video of the song in the Philippines while touring the country as part of their album promotion.

The Black Eyed Peas’ song “Let’s Get Retarded” was restyled as “Let’s Get it Started” for an NBA Finals worldwide commercial. New, less offensive, lyrics gave the tune a basketball theme, as opposed to the original’s theme dealing with getting heavily intoxicated and partying, and the spot featured Carlos Santana. The revised song had great success as a single, particularly on the iTunes music download service.

Their next album, Monkey Business, was released on June 7, 2005. The album’s first single, “Don’t Phunk With My Heart”, was a major hit in the US peaking at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. This is the highest peak yet of their career. The song is also at #3 in the UK, and #5 in Canada, and #1 in Australia. (Some radio stations skittish about complaints of obscenity, play an alternate version, “Don’t Mess With My Heart.”) “My Humps”, another song from the album, immediately achieved commercial success in the U.S. and fairly substantial radio play despite the sexually suggestive content. The album Monkey Business itself debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart, selling over 295,000 copies in its first week.

Some commentators have noted the consistent theme of black men and blonde women in Black Eyed Peas videos, raising the question of racial fetishes or jungle fever. Whether or not it has been a conscious decision, more recent videos have featured a wider range of racial groups.

In September 2005, The Black Eyed Peas released an iTunes Essentials playlist of their greatest hits, as well as some that were re-recorded especially for purchase through iTunes. The playlist includes popular songs such as “Don’t Lie”, “Shut Up” and a new version of “Where is the Love?”. It also has small stories containing info and commentary about the songs and how the group first met.