Most everyone remembers the first big purchase they made when they started earning money. Hip-hop moguls are no different.
Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, who recently announced he wants to buy Revolt TV from embattled hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, in an interview with Apple Music’s Rebecca Judd, reveals that when he got his first big paycheck, he bought his grandmother a car.
While touring for his last world concert in London, he was asked what he spent when he got signed to Shady Records and Aftermath Entertainment. The rapper from South Jamaica, Queens, New York, raised by his grandmother Beulah Jackson, said he purchased her a luxury car, HipHopDX reported.
Beulah passed away on Sept. 17, 2014, MTV News reported.
Purposeful Purchases
Fifty’s first major music contact was a lucrative one for the time. It was reportedly for $1 million, which enabled 50 Cent to buy a C220 Mercedes-Benz for his beloved grandmother.
This executive European Class C car has a variable price range based on specific model features and any optional extras chosen. However, assuming 50 Cent bought a new car in 2002, the cost of a C220 Benz ranged from around $30,000 to $40,000.
“I bought my grandmother a C220 Benz. I’ll never forget because when I got the car, I got it right away,” said 50, whose mother Sabrina, a forner drug dealer, was killed when he was eight. He went on to say the car “is the first thing I bought when the deal was done.”
His grandfather was also offered a car, but he declined.
“And then I went on the tour and I came back and my grandfather was on the porch and he was having a moment. So he was like, ‘I just went to work. I went to work, hurt my back, came back, and she done brainwashed my kids,’ ” 50 Cent said.
“And he was talking about my grandmother because he was looking at her car in the front yard and he didn’t have a car. He had the older car and he said, ‘I went to work, hurt my back. Until my back hurt, everything.’ ”
The car today has a used value between $17,000 and $3,000, depending on the car’s condition and history.
50’s Money-Making Career
50 Cent was signed to Shady Records/ Aftermath Entertainment, a recording contract with Interscope, in 2002, after Eminem, co-founder of Shady Records), heard his “Guess Who’s Back?” mixtape. Impressed by his talent, Eminem and Dr. Dre of Aftermath Entertainment jointly signed 50 Cent, marking the beginning of their collaborative and successful partnership.
Between his first and second albums, “Get Rich or Die Tryin'” (2003) and “The Massacre” (2005), 50 Cent had a stronghold in the rap industry, which soon became the most popular music genre in North America.
“Get Rich or Die Tryin‘” surpassed 15 million copies, and “The Massacre” sold more than 5 million copies, as of this reporting.
With the success of these projects, he went from struggling to pay $800 rent to buying Mike Tyson’s massive home in Farmington, Connecticut, for $4.4 million in 2003.
Later, he founded G-Unit Records, launching the careers of artists such as Tony Yayo, Lloyd Banks, Olivia and Young Buck. He also once signed Mobb Deep and, years later, even served as the executive producer on Pop Smoke’s latest project.
As Finurah previously reported, 50 Cent, who has an estimated net worth of $40 million to $50 million, has ventured into acting, business and philanthropy.
He has also experienced bankruptcy after he had numerous failed businesses and owed several people a lot of money. One person was a woman who was awarded a $7 million settlement in 2015, after proving the artist posted a sex tape of hers on the internet.
He paid off the five-year bankruptcy obligation earlier than expected with $8.7 million of his own cash and $14.5 million from a settlement he received from a legal malpractice lawsuit.
