Born and raised in the South Jamaica neighbourhood of Queens in New York, 50 Cent (real name Curtis Jackson) was discovered by Eminem following the release of his debut mixtape Guess Who’s Back? Shortly after its release, he was signed to Eminem’s Shady Records under Interscope and began work on his debut album, Get Rich Or Die Tryin’, which 20 years later is still considered an iconic body of work.
The ‘In Da Club’ emcee is currently one of the wealthiest men hip hop, and similar to his musical peers Diddy and Dre, the former G-unit rapper has achieved a lot of success outside of the hip-hop genre and is enjoying a fruitful career as a producer, filmmaker, and actor, making him a rapper turned media mogul.
As a wealthy and respected individual, Jackson has made many investments over the years, whether that be in Vitamin Water or other. However, one thing that he has most definitely invested in is property. But, on one occasion, a renowned boxer attempted to stop 50 Cent from buying a multi-million dollar Connecticut mansion.
The mansion Jackson was attempting to purchase in 2007 was formerly owned by none other than the epic Mike Tyson. The boxer had acquired it in 1996 from the Lithuanian business owner and multi-millionaire Romas Martsinkiavitchous. The 52-room property was refurnished by Tyson during his stay there and fitted with an indoor gym, a shooting range, a dancefloor and an NBA-sized basketball court.
However, as part of a divorce settlement with his wife, Tyson ceded the real estate to his ex-wife, Monica Turner. Following this, Jackson quickly began looking at the property, but Tyson urged the ‘P.I.M.P.’ artist not to purchase the mansion
With a volatile economy in the lead-up to the financial crash, Tyson warned Fifty about the mansion. In an interview with Logan Paul on the Impaulsive podcast, Tyson disclosed, “I was trying to explain to him: you really don’t wanna buy this house. But if I didn’t sell to him, there was no way I was gonna sell it . . . There’s just so much space,” Tyson said. “The party’s over, and four days later, some girl comes out of one of the rooms, and I’d be like: ‘Where’s your clothes? Who are you?’”
Despite the warnings from Tyson, Jackson went and bought it. However, he ended up selling it as well. “I should buy it and laugh at him,” Tyson said about 50 Cent. Jackson did open up about why he bought it to Oprah Winfrey in 2019 following its sale.
Delving into his mentality, Jackson told Winfrey, “In the beginning, I had that homeboy complex, where I wanted everybody to be around me. And it was big enough for everybody to be there and for them to not be up under me. Like, I had my space at the same time.” However, the ‘Ryder Music’ lyricist unveiled that he grew out of the need for a house that size and after twelve years of trying to sell it, in 2019, he sold the compound for $2.9 million. You can view the mansion in the video below.
