Dropping gory yet imperturbably cool rhymes, commanding attention with a massive media presence and turning the bulletproof vest into a hot fashion accessory, 50 Cent established himself as the most lovable hip-hop villain in years with his major-label debut—Get Rich or Die Tryin'.

50 Cent's debut LP, rooted in spacious, synth-heavy funk and menacing rhymes, was anchored by the inescapable "In Da Club" (Number One, 2003) and produced two more huge hits, "21 Questions" (Number One, 2003) and "P.I.M.P." (Number 10, 2003); even the non-single "If I Can't" earned enough airplay to push it to Number 76.

In 2005, his second release, The Massacre, went straight to Number One in much the same manner as Get Rich or Die Tryin'. For much of March 2005, 50 Cent appeared on three of the country's top 10 singles: "Candy Shop" (Number One), "Disco Inferno" (Number Three) and the Game's "How We Do" (Number Four). Other charters from The Massacre include "Just a Lil Bit" (Number Three, 2005), "Piggy Bank" (Number 88, 2005), "Window Shopper" (Number 20, 2005) and "Hustler's Ambition" (Number 65, 2005).

November 2005 saw the release of 50's cinematic debut, unsurprisingly titled "Get Rich or Die Tryin'," complete with a mega-selling soundtrack. In September, 2007, 50 Cent released his third LP, Curtis (Number Two, 2007) which sold 680,000 copies and included hits "Ayo Technology" with Justin Timberlake (Number Five, 2007), "Straight to the Bank" (Number 32, 2007) and "I Get Money" (Number 20, 2007). 50 Cent is currently promoting his fourth studio album, Before I Self Destruct, which debuted at number 5 on the Billboard charts.