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— by Shaheem Reid, with reporting by John Norris
This isn't something that happens every day. 50 Cent, the superstar rapper who films videos in Monaco, performs at private parties for $500,000 a pop in Venice, Italy, and headlines sold-out concerts in Germany, has returned home and is actually walking through his old 'hood in Southside Queens, New York. 50 is doing exactly what his enemies have said he would never do because he's either too rich to care or too scared — return home.
His first stop on his Thursday morning visit is Grandma's crib, the place where 50 was shot in 2000. But it's much more than that: The place where Curtis Jackson almost died is the same place where 50 Cent was born.
"Get him, Dollar," Fif says with a chuckle in front of his grandparents' home in Southside as his dog barks at one of his friends. "He can tell you be stealing. Don't make me sic him on ya. He'll get ya. I'm Richie Rich, and this is my dog, Dollar."
When 50 goes in to talk to his aunts and uncles who now live there (after years of trying to convince his grandparents to move, they were finally swayed to let 50 buy them a new home once they visited his decadent Connecticut estate), he takes a trip to the basement. In his movie "Get Rich or Die Tryin'," we see that 50's character, Marcus, moves in with his grandparents after his mother is killed. Since his grandparents already have eight other kids, things become so cramped that Marcus lives in the tiny basement — just like young Curtis Jackson did in real life. Only the real basement Curtis lived in growing up is much smaller. You can't even stand up straight without bumping your head on the ceiling.
The cramped room is wallpapered with hundreds of 50's first promotional stickers from his days working under Jam Master Jay, each sticker displaying a quarter with five nickels surrounding it in the shape of a cross. "Change Is Coming. JMJ Records" they read. A framed poster highlighting 50's contribution to the "In Too Deep" soundtrack, "How to Rob," serves as the centerpiece of the box-like room. Off to the side, 50's uncle rests on a small bed. Our interview does not appear to disturb him.
"I was actually happy to get down here," 50 says, sitting on the foot of the bed while his uncle — who looks like he just woke up — nods in approval. The first rhymes 50 ever wrote were down in this basement, and he still comes back here sometimes to pen new lyrics.
Queens has so many other landmarks — landmarks to 50, at least — that helped mold him into the man we know today. He tells us about some of these places, many of which are represented in the flick "Get Rich or Die Tryin'," in his own words.
Click on the points on the map at the top of the page to see what Fif has to say about the neighborhood barbershop, Jam Master Jay's studio, 134th Street and more. ...
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Photo: MTV News
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