50 Cent

When he was underground he was one of the best rappers alive next to 2pac and Notorious B.I.G.. Most people don't understand him because they don't listen to his albums completely. The best album that never got released in the late 90's when he was underground is "Power of the Dollar". Listen to this album in Youtube or through Limewire and you'll notice he used to be king of hip hop. Got shot in 2000 nine times, in the hand (a round hit his right thumb and came out of his pinky), arm, hip, both legs, chest, and left cheek. He got dropped off Columbia Records after the shooting. Soon Eminem introduced 50 Cent to Dr. Dre because Eminem listened to his mixtape "Guess Who's Back" and heard 50's talent was incredible and was surprised. Soon he released the album "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" which went platinum 7x and 872,000 copies in the first four days. Soon Interscope Records granted 5 his own label "G-Unit Records" which he signed Lloyd Banks, Tony Yayo, and Young Buck. The Game (also known as "The Lame" or "The Shame") was later signed under a joint venture with Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment. After the departure of The Game, 50 Cent signed singer Olivia and rap veterans Mobb Deep to G-Unit Records. Spider Loc, M.O.P., and Young Hot Rod later joined the label. In July 2007, Kanye West changed the release date of Graduation, his third studio album, from September 18, 2007, to the same release date as Curtis, September 11, 2007. This forced the albums to go head-to-head and compete for higher sales against each other. 50 Cent claimed that if Graduation sold more records than Curtis, he would stop releasing solo albums. However, he later dispelled his comments. When asked again about his threat to retire, 50 Cent stated that, if he were to lose, he will release an album every time a major Def Jam artist releases an album. Although Graduation topped the Canadian, UK, United World Chart, and US album charts, Curtis debuted at number one on the Irish and Swiss album charts, claiming the top spot on the European Top 100 Albums chart. Curtis also topped the Australian and New Zealand album charts (however, Graduation was not released in time to compete on the Australian chart). Graduation's first week sales of 957,000 and Curtis' first week sales of 691,000 meant that the competition resulted in only the second time ever (since Nielsen SoundScan began collecting data in 1991) that two albums sold more than 600,000 in a week in the United States. The first occurrence of such an event was in 1991, when Guns N' Roses released Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II, selling 685,000 and 770,000 copies, respectively. The first week sales totals of Graduation and Curtis have outsold the first week sales totals of Guns N' Roses' two albums. 50 Cent lost against Kanye West and then he stopped making albums, his album "Before I Self Destruct" that was suppossed to be released in 2008 got cancelled.