Curtis James Jackson III (6 July 1975-), known professionally as 50 Cent, is an American rapper and businessman. He was born in Jamaica, Queens in New York City, and he began selling crack cocaine at the age of twelve during the 1980s crack epidemic; he served six months of a nine-year prison term in 1994 after being arrested for owning a starting pistol, ten ounces of crack, and heroin. During the 1990s, he began rapping in a friend's basement, and he began to pursue a music career. He produced Power of the Dollar for Columbia Records in 2000 and became one of the world's best-selling rappers during the 2000s and 2010s, selling over 30 million albums worldwide.
50 Cent was a notable African-American conservative, supporting Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush in 2004. However, he went on to support the Democrats in 2008, initially supporting Hillary Clinton, but later switching his support to Barack Obama. He then temporarily lost interest in politics, and he supported same-sex marriage and the Occupy movement. On 20 October 2020, he tweeted his opposition to the Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden's support for tax raises, and he then endorsed Donald Trump for re-election, while acknowledging that Trump did not care about Black people.