Prelude To A Legacy 3.07.09 : G-Unit

Posted by Fred Richani on 03.07.2009

When people think of rappers from Queens that have had a large impact, Nas and Mobb Deep first come to mind. 411's Fred "The F-Bomb" Richani tells you why you should include G-Unit in that conversation.

G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-Unit! It is a name that many hip-hop fans like me screamed like there was no tomorrow back in the day. I'm a bit of a young cat so for me 2002 is somewhat old school, although for those that have read my past columns, you know I have a pretty good sense of hip-hop history. My taste is diverse to say the least. Anyway, back to G-Unit!



G-Unit, which for those who do not know is short for Guerrilla Unit (or Gangsta Unit depending who you ask). They are a hip-hop collective that was formed by a man named Curtis Jackson, but you all probably know him better as the one they call 50 Cent. Fif grew up on the same block in the south side of Queens, New York as best friends and rappers Tony Yayo and Lloyd Banks. It has been said that they spent their time participating in a friendly, national past time—selling drugs. All three decided to take up another "hobby", which was rapping.

50 Cent was the dude in the group that really got noticed and helped propel him and his boys to independent fame. His first big break came by the way of Run DMC's legendary DJ Jam Master Jay after an introduction by mutual friends in 1996. After the meeting, the young artist was signed to Jay's label, Jam Master Jay Records. The late DJ took 50 Cent under his wing, teaching him how to count bars, write hooks, and all the other necessities in what goes into making a record. Once he learned the tricks of the trade, 50 Cent was signed to Columbia Records by the famous production duo Trackmasters, who saw potential in the Queens native. In two weeks, the he recorded 36 songs, some which would later be unofficially released, for his first album Power of the Dollar.

Power of the Dollar was supposed to thrust 50 Cent into the national spotlight and make him the next great rap star. Initially, some tracks helped get him attention—both good and bad. "How to Rob" featuring The Madd Rapper (also know as D-Dot of the Bad Boy Records production team The Hitmen) is a humorous track that talks about mugging many well-known rappers and singers. The list is pretty long, but if you pay close enough attention, you'll hear that it targets Lil' Kim, Puff Daddy, Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, Master P and No Limit Records, Jermaine Dupri, Da Brat, Treach from Naughty By Nature, DMX, Big Pun, Kurupt, Wu Tang Clan, Keith Sweat, Brian McKnight, Ma$e, Bobby Brown, Whitney Houston, Timbaland, Missy Elliot, Joe, Busta Rhymes and Flipmode, Heavy D, Mike Tyson, Rovin Givens, Canibus, and so on.

And that's not even ALL the artists mentioned. Needless to say, that song did get 50 Cent noticed, as showcased by responses to the track by Big Pun, Sticky Fingaz, Kurupt, among others. All that hoopla for a hot song Fif claimed was a joke and wrote in a half hour! It got him the attention he needed, but it was not until he released the song "Ghetto Qu'ran (Forgive Me) that the attention soon became negative. These days it may seem like an everyday thing for rappers to be talking about their "connects" or chronicling famous drug dealers in songs. Rick Ross and Young Jeezy have done that enough.

Though, it has been rumored that some people weren't very fond of "Ghetto Qu'ran"; particularly associates of infamous drug trafficker Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff, who did not find it amusing that their work was being broadcast to the world. What makes this tale more confusing is that McGriff, who is now doing life in prison on murder charges, allegedly told Fifty that he liked the song. If that doesn't sound misconstrued, it gets scarier after that.

May 24, 2000 is a date Curtis Jackson will never forget. It's a date that made him famous and infamous. That was the day that 50 Cent was attacked by a gunman outside his grandmother's home in South Jamaica, Queens. If you ever wonder where or when 50 Cent got shot nine times—there's your answer. It is truly a miracle that he even survived, let alone lived to rap another day, after sustaining wounds to his right hand, legs, arm, hip, chest, and left cheek. He also lost a wisdom tooth, had a swollen tongue, and developed a bit of a slur, hence the reason Power of the Dollar and earlier works sound different. The alleged shooter was a man by the name of Darryl "Hommo" Baum, who was a bodyguard and close friend of boxer Mike Tyson. Eerily yet ironically, he was murdered about three weeks later. In incredibly sadder and tragic irony, his mentor Jam Master Jay was murdered nearly two years after, possibly due in part to his affiliation with 50 Cent.



I would imagine it's not easy to recover from a bullet wound, let alone NINE BULLET WOUNDS, but Curtis Jackson did. He eventually recovered, but his career did not—well, not initially at least. Columbia Records dropped 50 Cent after finding out he was shot. Ah, nothing like the old "kicking a man while he's down" technique. If that wasn't bad enough, the poor guy had his album permanently shelved, although to the benefit of many music fans, it was heavily bootlegged. So the man has to use a walker for six months, learn how to speak again, and somehow figure out what the hell he wants to do with his life. Turns out, the answer was pretty damn simple and that was to keep rapping. The only problem is that there was an alleged (here we go again…) blacklist from the music industry on 50 Cent, courtesy of his "friend" Kenneth McGriff, in conjunction with all the negative attention Mr. Jackson drew. With no studio willing to record anything with 50 Cent, he decided to team up with business partner Sha Money XL and do the only logical thing: record in Canada!



In Canada, 50 Cent record over thirty songs for mixtapes. One of those mixtapes is hailed as the greatest one of all time: 50 Cent Is The Future. With his Southside boys Tony Yayo and Lloyd Banks by his side, the collective known as G-Unit not only put out a mixtape hotter than most rappers' albums at the time, but also made it cool to rap over artists' beats. The best way to describe The Future is by utilizing the words raw, uncut, and the hunger that G-Unit had to reach the top. If nobody wanted to produce beats for 50 Cent, then he said "F it". He just rapped over everyone's beats and made them hotter than they were. You will not find a more influential mixtape in recent hip-hop history than 50 Cent Is The Future, complete with hot songs and a great sense of attitude and swagger. That got the Southside natives noticed again for something positive in the music industry.



It wasn't until the compilation album Guess Who's Back? that 50 Cent was finally put over the top and was noticed by a fellow rapper. This rapper knew a thing or two about dealing with hardships and unbelievable obstacles. That rapper was Shady/Aftermath/Interscope Records artist Eminem, who signed 50 Cent to a $1 Million deal.



For 50 Cent and G-Unit, this was the urban version of the HBO show Entourage. A talented young man, who endured so much in his life finally made the big time. 50 Cent pulled a Vincent Chase—he brought his boys from Queens along for the ride. The rest is history, but I'll fill you all in anyway. 50 Cent would go on to release his true debut album Get Rich or Die Tryin' in 2003 to much fanfare, going on to sell over 13 Million copies worldwide. Not to be outdone, G-Unit's major label debut on the then-new G-Unit Records Beg For Mercy featuring now-former member Young Buck, sold an impressive 4 million copies worldwide. Not bad for four rappers that were still relatively new to the mainstream. While G-Unit did become a phenomenon, 50 Cent developed his blueprint for success through mixtapes.

Before the stupid beefs, excommunication of members The Game and Young Buck and over doing of R&B collabos, G-Unit was one of the most feared rap groups. Not only could they make a hot song, but murder your career as well. Just ask Ja Rule. Sure, the Southside boys ended up contradicting their claims that Ja made too many songs for ladies, but at the time, G-Unit was a breath of fresh hair and so damn cool. The man at the helm was 50 Cent. 50 Cent brought gangster rap back to the mainstream and made it cool again, complete with a clothing line and successful debuts from Lloyd Banks and Young Buck. He put Dr. Dre back on the map and made his boss (Eminem) look like a genius for signing him. In the process, he made Columbia Records wish they could have all those Platinum plaques and number one singles to their credit. Oh, and he also became his own boss.

Sure, the last few G-Unit albums may have flopped, but make no mistake about it—50 Cent is now an entrepreneur who honestly, does not need to rap. Don't be surprised if Before I Self-Destruct is his ultimate comeback or parting shot for the ages. Until that time, check out all of G-Unit's mixtapes from the early 2000s and get your hip-hop IQ up. You'll hear the hunger in their voices and the rawness. That's not to say G-Unit isn't hungry these days, but much like fellow Queens native Nas, they may never be able to replicate the buzz and cultural impact they had in their early work. Call them wack. Call them played out. Call Terminate On Sight a flop. But when you look back at their entire body of work as a collective, remember one thing. In the early 2000s, G-Unit ran this rap s*** and they might be only an album or two away from doing it again. As a hip-hop fan that saw their culmination of their impact in 2003, I wouldn't be surprised.