Curtis James Jackson III, known as 50 Cent, was born on July 6, 1975 in South Jamaica, Queens, New York. He had black hair and eyes and was about 1.80 meters tall. Before becoming a famous rapper, 50 Cent lived with his grandparents due to his mother's drug problems and subsequent assassination, which pushed him to join a gang in New York. He gained recognition in New York through his early recordings before signing with a major record label, selling over a million copies of his debut album in the U.S.