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1. 50 Cent
Curtis Jackson (50 Cent), was born in Queens, New York. He had a tough upbringing as he
was abandoned by his father and his mother died when he was 8 due to being poisoned.
He went to live with his grandma and took up boxing at 11. By the age of 12 he took up
selling drugs to make money for him and his grandma (without her knowing he was in-
volved in drug dealing). In the 10th grade he was caught with drugs and a weapon. In
which he was sent to rehab, but claimed he was selling and not using. When he got out
he continued selling and was making around $5k a day and dropped out of school. He got
arrested a few times but instead of being arrested (due to his age) he was sent to shock
incarceration, similar to a military boot camp. When coming out of there he knew he had
to change his career path. He felt he was only able to be a drug dealer, but due to going
through so much considered sharing this through rapping. He bumped into Jam Master
Jay (of Run DMC). Jay taught Curtis how to write bars, structure his raps etc. He’s career
didn’t really kick start until he ran into an executive of Columbia Records at a barber shop
and pushed his demo onto him. They liked it and sent him to a studio, where he wrote
songs for ‘power of the dollar’ album. Still with his career not kicking off he went back to
selling drugs for a short period. Then he wrote ‘How To Rob’ which was very controversial
due to his calling out and mocking multiple celebrities and rappers. Soon after he gener-
ated a rivalry with big time rapper ‘Ja Rule’. Curtis was then shot 9 times soon after which
caused a large amount of media attention. Even more bad news, he was dropped by Co-
lumbia Records. After months of work he dropped the smash hit mixtape ‘Guess who’s
back’ and generated attention of infamous Dr. Dre and Eminem. He was signed to their
record label for $1 million, then his career really kicked off dropping some of the best hip-
hop albums ever such as ‘Get Rich Or Die Tryin’’

2. The Game
The Game (Jayceon Taylor) grew up in Compton. Both his parents was part of
the Crips (infamous gang rivalry in LA between Bloods and Crips) and was both
frequent cocaine and heroin users. He had witnessed his parents getting com-
pletely wasted off drugs and even witnessed his parents perform a ‘drive-by’.
At age 7 he was put into foster care, at 13 his older brother was shot and at
age 15 he was taken out of foster care to live with his mother. He attended
Compton High School and the students were heavily involved in the LA gang
culture (Crips vs Bloods). Despite his parents being members of the Crips, The
Game was affiliated with the Bloods through his half-brother. Jayceon found
he was skilled at basketball and played in the position point guard, where he
was offered a scholarship. He was kicked off the team and revoked of his
scholarship for dealing marijuana. He then become a member of the Bloods
where he suffered 5 gunshots at his doorstep by Crips members. After waking
up from a 3 day coma he decided to pursue a career as a rapper and began
study hip-hop/rap. He released a mixtape and was signed by Get Low records
followed by Dr. Dre’s record label Aftermath. He was put as part of a rap group
collective which included 50 Cent named G-Unit. His album the Documentary
debuted at #1. Due to a beef with 50 Cent he was kicked out of G-Unit. Due to
the help of Dr. Dre and other artists, The Game became the successful artist he
is today.

3. Future
Nayvadius Wilburn was raised in Atlanta, Georgia in the infamously rough
Zone 6. His whole family was involved in drug selling and/or drug taking. His
mother was a federal officer and tried to keep him out of trouble. Which was
unsuccessful as he was frequently in trouble at school, and with the police. He
was shot in the right hand at 14. His mother disapproved of his actions so he
lived on the streets from age 17-24. His cousin who was part of a rap group en-
couraged Nayvadius to pursue a career in rapping and improve raps he had al-
ready written. He wrote hooks and verses for artists like Ludacris before being
signed to A-1 Records. He produced countless mixtapes collaborated with big
Atlanta rappers like Gucci Mane. In 2012 he dropped his debut album ‘Pluto’
which had 5 songs in the Billboard Top 100. Though Gucci Mane is considered
the ‘father of trap’ (the new-found popular sub-genre of rap/hip-hop focused
on drugs, gangs and women), Future is the most popular trap artist at the mo-
ment. He released ‘DS2’ which is in many people’s top 5 albums of 2015 list.
Also releasing the hit collaboration album with Drake in late 2015. Numerous
are referring to Future as the best hip-hop/rap artist of 2015.