- published: 16 Jun 2009
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G-Unit is an American hip hop group originating from New York City formed by 50 Cent. The name of the group is short for Guerilla Unit.
The group's founding members, 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo all grew up on the same block rapping together.
Rapper 50 Cent signed to Interscope Records. Due to the success of his commercial debut album, Get Rich or Die Tryin', he was granted his own record label. This was when G-Unit Records was created.
The group continued to work hard and released several mixtape series which earned them a lot of attention in the rap industry. The most prominent of these being 50 Cent Is the Future, God's Plan, No Mercy, No Fear and Automatic Gunfire. G-Unit has also started a mixtape series with their DJ, DJ Whoo Kid, called G-Unit Radio. G-Unit gained more popularity when a remix to 50 Cent's "P.I.M.P." was released, featuring Snoop Dogg and G-Unit.
But before the group had a chance to record its debut album, Tony Yayo was sentenced to prison for a gun-possession charge as well as bail-jumping. During Tony Yayo's prison sentence, the group signed Tennessee rapper, Young Buck.