Why was 50 Cent arrested in 1994?
1994. Apartheid had just ended in South Africa, with Nelson Mandela elected President; the European Union had formed. Kurt Cobain had died, and O. J. Simpson engaged in the most watched car chase in human history.
And down in New York City, 50 Cent – then known as Boo Boo – was arrested on charges of a direct sale of a controlled substance after he was caught selling four vials of crack cocaine to an undercover officer.
Most high-profile rappers live a large life and 50 Cent is no exemption. From his Grammy Award winning music career, to his most recent documentary series about the sexual misconduct allegations of his long-term nemesis Diddy – to even surviving being shot nine times – 50 has led anything but a dull life. And evidently, he’s still going.
So while being arrested for selling crack cocaine would be a major life event for most of us, it’s one that has somewhat slipped under the radar in the story of 50. Which is fair enough; it’s simply not as interesting as what he’s been up to since.
Well after he was first arrested after selling drugs to an undercover officer, he was arrested once again a few weeks later after the police turned up to his home and raided it. They found a pistol, heroin, and ten ounces of crack cocaine.
50 was sentenced to three to nine years in prison. Obviously, he didn’t end up spending three to nine years in prison; instead, he took advantage of the offence being of a non-violent nature, and opted into a bootcamp-like program for first-time, non-violent offenders, completing six months of it and earning his GED.
50 has commented on his experience as a drug dealer, stating that whilst he sold it, he didn’t use crack cocaine himself. Although it was seemingly good stuff; upon lab analysis, the product was 83.6% pure.
His experience selling drugs was picked up as a boy growing up in Queens, New York City. After his mother, who was also a drug dealer, died, and his father left the family, the child was raised by his grandparents. Some reports cite that he started selling crack cocaine in primary school; others say he was 12 years old when he began dealing narcotics, bringing guns and his drug money onto school grounds. He once got caught by metal detectors at his school in tenth grade, something he said was embarrassing.
“I was embarrassed that I got arrested like that … After I got arrested I stopped hiding it,” 50 said. “I was telling my grandmother [openly], ‘I sell drugs.'”
The soon-to-be superstar picked up the stage name 50 Cent soon after discharge, deciding upon 50 Cent as a metaphor for change. Inspired by 1980s Brooklyn robber Kelvin Martin, also known as 50 Cent, he chose it “because it says everything I want it to say. I’m the same kind of person 50 Cent was. I provide for myself by any means.” It’s a remarkable story of how a child born into wild circumstances beyond anyone’s control would go onto become one of the world’s most famous and celebrated musicians. And, of course, the biggest pain in Diddy’s life.