How much is 50 Cent worth?
| Net Worth: | $40 Million |
|---|---|
| Profession: | Professional Rapper |
| Date of Birth: | July 6, 1975 (age 47) |
| Country: | United States of America |
| Height: | 6 ft (1.83 m) |
About 50 Cent
Curtis James Jackson III is an American rapper, producer, entrepreneur, and actor. He is a prominent figure in the music industry today, but originally he went from being flat broke and living a life of crime, to selling over 30 million albums worldwide.
Curtis was raised by his grandmother in Queens, New York. He had a shaky early life on the street and was involved in crime. He left it in the rear view mirror after being shot 9 times and went on to achieve success legally with his motto, “get rich or die tryin'”. This is how Curtis James Jackson III, who you know as 50 Cent, became one of the best-selling rappers of all time.
50 Cent began engaging in criminal activity at a young age, selling narcotics when he was just twelve years old. 50 is an original gangsta rapper with a real life story. He went through some of the hardest life events and experiences that could happen to anyone. These experiences shaped the man and his music. His mother, a drug dealer herself, was murdered by carbon-monoxide poisoning. Rival thugs drugged her in her own home and turned on the gas, according to New York Post.
One day Curtis brought guns and drug money to school, which led to his eventual arrest. 50 Cent was providing for himself by any means necessary. Before he was even thinking about “getting rich or die tryin'” he was thinking about “staying alive or die tryin'”. 50 Cent was dealing and keeping it a secret from his grandmother.
He kept his activities secret for as long as he could, until finally he was busted by metal detectors in the tenth grade and arrested for gun possession. After that, he was open with his grandmother about what he was doing. “I was telling my grandmother [openly], ‘I sell drugs,'” he has said.
He was arrested twice more for drug offenses, the next two arrests just three weeks apart. He finally got sentenced to three to nine years in prison. Fortunately, for Curtis, soon to be 50 Cent, he only served six months in an incarceration boot camp and, while there, earned his GED.
50 Cent’s troubles didn’t end however, and he still had a long way to go before reaching stardom. He began rapping in a friend’s basement, using turntables to record over instrumentals. He also worked with a musician called Jam Master Jay to learn everything he needed to know about properly producing his tracks. Master Jay even produced what was supposed to be 50 Cent’s first album, though it was never released.
50’s popularity began to grow after he released an underground single titled “How to Rob.” As the name suggest it was controversial, though it was also comedic, the single describes how he would rob famous artists. 50 Cent explained that this track was his way of setting himself apart from the many other artists on his label.
50 Cent was finally discovered in 2002 by the legendary self-proclaimed “Rap God” Eminem. Eminem heard 50’s CD, Guess Who’s Back? and was impressed by it. Eventually 50 traveled to Los Angeles to meet Eminem, and producer Dr. Dre, and signed a $1 million dollar record deal.
50 Cent enforced his rise to the top with the release of his studio album, Get Rich or Die Tryin’, in February of 2003. Rolling Stone magazine was impressed and in a review praised 50’s “undeniable skills, radio-ready tracks and a marketable thug persona”. It debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200, selling nearly one million copies in the first four days. The album’s lead single, “In da Club,” set a Billboard record, becoming the most listened to song within a week in radio history.
Next, 50 Cent founded his own record label, G-Unit Records that same year, and released his second album The Massacre in 2005. Despite his difficult early life of drug dealing and run-ins with the law, 50 Cent went on to enjoy an explosive music career. In fact, it is likely not in spite of his tough upbringing that he became successful, but because of it. It’s these hard experiences that carved him out of wood and gave him the kind of backstory and real life experiences that played so well into his music.
The rapper was even shot and hospitalized, but survived going on to become one of the most well-known, and most listened to, rappers the world has ever seen.
50’s Total Net Worth
50 Cent has sold over 30 million records worldwide and has earned more from his endorsement deals, including with Reebok who paid him $20 million in 2003 to license a G-Unit sneaker line. In addition, he has earned from the live appearances that he has made as himself, and earned a fortune from his business investments. From his music career and endorsements alone, 50 Cent has earned an estimated $175 million.
Of that amount, around $20 million is expected to have been paid in business related costs. The remainder, $155 million, will have been taxed at a rate of around 44% as 50 Cent has been residing in different states, but mostly in Connecticut. After tax, it is estimated that his career earnings are at around $86.8 million dollars, having paid $68.2 million dollars in taxes.
Of course, 50 Cent has only done well in his music career, as mentioned, he has earned a fortune from his business investments. One of his most notable successes, was his investment in the now Coca-Cola owned VitaminWater. VitaminWater, an enhanced water drink called Formula 50, had started four years before Jackson invested around $2-3 million, in 2004. Three years later, the parent company Glacéau (Energy Brands) was acquired by Coca-Cola for $4.1 billion. 50 Cent’s investment increased to an estimated $100 million dollars.
50 Cent also launched his own clothing brand, G-Unit Clothing Company. His clothing brand alone has generated $100 million dollars in retail sales revenue since its founding. By 2015, Forbes magazine estimated his net worth at $155 million. However, while it may have peaked at that amount years earlier, their figure was an oversight because, just two months later, 50 Cent was filing for bankruptcy protection. As it turns out, after business investments (and management) went bad and he was sued in connection with a “sex tape,” 50 could no longer pay his obligations. It seems that, somehow, he ended up with a net worth of less than $10 million. Never letting it get him down though he released a photograph of him on Instagram “downsizing” to a hatchback.
Since then, 50 Cent has made an incredibly recovery with Bitcoin holdings reaching peak values of $8-10 million dollars and a deal with STARZ in 2018, that could be worth $150 million dollars. Overall, it is estimated that 50 Cent has a net worth of $40 million as of 2023.
Summing-Up
50 Cent’s rapping style and talent caught the eye of the controversial and massively influential artist Eminem, resulting in 50’s success in the music industry early on. It was his ingenuity and creative track styles, however, that led him to becoming one of the best-selling rap artists of all time. He is the “master of the nuanced art of lyrical brevity”, is a gangsta rapper and (allegedly) a real OG. He doesn’t just rap about made up experiences that perform well in focus groups. He raps from the heart and he raps his real life stories growing up and doing whatever it took to survive.
Eventually, through his rapping and producing combined with his savvy financial investments, 50 Cent rose to global fame and fortune, earning a net worth of $155 million dollars according to Forbes. While an oversight, it is likely that he was at one time worth a similar amount, but just two months it was reported that 50 was broke and filing for bankruptcy protection. Thanks to his rapping skills and business acumen, he has since been making one of the best recoveries of all time and currently has a net worth estimated to be around $40 million.
