50 Cent

Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), better known by his stage name 50 Cent, is an American rapper, actor, entrepreneur, investor, record, film, and television producer. Born in the South Jamaica neighborhood of the borough of Queens, Jackson began selling drugs at age twelve during the 1980s crack epidemic. Although he left drug-dealing to pursue a musical career, he was struck by nine bullets in a 2000 shooting. After Jackson released the compilation album Guess Who's Back? in 2002, he was discovered by Eminem and signed by Shady Records, Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records.

With the aid of Eminem and Dr. Dre (who produced his first major-label album, Get Rich or Die Tryin'), Jackson became one of the world's best selling rappers and rose to prominence with East Coast hip hop group G-Unit (which he leads de facto). In 2003 he founded G-Unit Records, signing his G-Unit associates Young Buck, Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo. Jackson had similar commercial and critical success with his second album, The Massacre, which was released in 2005. He released his fifth studio album, Animal Ambition, in 2014 and is working on his sixth studio album: Street King Immortal, scheduled for release in 2016.

50 Cent (disambiguation)

50 Cent is an American rapper; 50 Cent may also refer to:

See also

Be Here

Be Here is the fourth studio album by New Zealand-born Australian country singer Keith Urban. It was released in the US on September 21, 2004 via Capitol Nashville.

The album produced three number 1 singles on the Hot Country Songs chart with "Days Go By", "Making Memories of Us" and "Better Life", as well as the number 2 hits "You're My Better Half" and "Tonight I Wanna Cry". "Live to Love Another Day" also peaked at number 48 on the country charts without being released as a single.

Content

"Making Memories of Us", written by Rodney Crowell, was originally recorded by Tracy Byrd on his 2003 album The Truth About Men. It was also recorded by Crowell himself, along with his backing band The Notorious Cherry Bombs, on their 2004 self-titled album. Nine of the album's songs were written by Urban. Urban produced the tracks "God's Been Good to Me" and "Live to Love Another Day" himself, and then he co-produced the rest of the tracks with Dann Huff.

Commercial

The album was certified 4× Platinum by Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and remains as Urban's best-selling album to date, with sales of 3,639,000 copies in the United States, as of July 2009; it also reached number 8 on the Canadian album chart, number 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Albums chart and number 3 on the Billboard 200.

Instant Vintage

Instant Vintage is the debut solo album of American R&B and neo soul musician Raphael Saadiq. It serves as Saadiq's first full-length solo album after spending much of his post-Tony! Toni! Toné! career as session player and producer. Primarily a neo soul album, it also exhibits musical styles such as funk and quiet storm. The title reflects the old-school style that Saadiq has adopted for the album. However, he describes the type of music — a mix of samples, soul, gospel, and R&B — as "gospedelic".

The album earned him his first Grammy nominations, for Best R&B Album, while "Be Here" was nominated for Best R&B Song and Best Urban/Alternative Performance in 2003. It reached number 25 on the Billboard 200 chart and number 6 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.

In December 2009, Rhapsody ranked the album #10 on its "Best R&B Albums of the Decade" list.

Background

Born Charles Ray Wiggins in Oakland, California Raphael Saadiq branched out from local performances and launched his professional music career as a bass player for Sheila E touring with Prince’s Lovesexy promotion in Japan at the age of seventeen. Saadiq went on to form the group Tony! Toni! Toné! with his cousin Timothy Christian Riley and brother Dwayne Wiggins which brought him experience both as lead vocalist and bass player. Saadiq was also an original member of the group Lucy Pearl with Dawn Robinson and Ali Shaheed Muhammad, before moving on to become a producer and session player, and finally transitioning into a solo artist with the album Instant Vintage.

Rachel Platten

Rachel Ashley Platten (born May 20, 1981) is an American singer and songwriter. Her third studio album and major-label debut, Wildfire, reached number five in the United States and received generally mixed reviews. The album spawned singles "Fight Song" and "Stand by You". "Fight Song" peaked at number six on Billboard Hot 100 and topped the UK Singles Chart. "Stand By You" so far peaked at number thirty-seven on Billboard Hot 100 becoming her second Top 40 hit.

Early life

Rachel Ashley Platten was born on May 20, 1981 to Jewish parents Paul and Pamela Platten (née Jabush). She was born in New York City but grew up in Newton Centre, Massachusetts. She studied classical piano from the age of 5 and then took up guitar in high school. She attended Buckingham Browne and Nichols for high school, where she sang in the school's singing group. At Trinity College, she was a member of the Trinitones, the college's all-female a cappella group. As a part of a study abroad program, she went to Trinidad to do an internship at a diplomat's office and at a record label. While she was there, she sang back up for a friend's band in front of over 80,000 people at the International Soca Monarch finals in 2002. Platten graduated from Trinity College with a degree in international relations in 2003. According to Platten, from that moment on she knew she had to pursue music full-time. She then moved to New York City's Greenwich Village where she cut her teeth playing with a Prince and Sly and the Family Stone cover band called Dayz of Wild. In 2012, it was reported that she married Kevin Lazan in a Jewish ceremony. She performed her solo music around the Village and eventually began touring the country. She has worked with numerous charities, Musicians on Call (where she sings bedside to hospital patients) and she is an ambassador for Music Unites. She also works with the Ryan Seacrest Foundation and was an ambassador for Below the Line (a call to end world poverty).