50 Cent
50 Cent at the CES 2012
Background information
Birth name	Curtis James Jackson III
Born	July 6, 1975 (age 37)
Origin	South Jamaica, Queens, New York City, New York, U.S.
Genres	Hip hop
Occupations	Rapper, record producer, actor
Years active	1996–present
Labels	Aftermath, Interscope, Shady
Associated acts	G-Unit, Dr. Dre, Eminem, Game,Young Buck, Sha Money XL, DJ Whoo Kid
Website	50cent.com

Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), better known by his stage name 50 Cent, is an American rapper, entrepreneur, investor, and actor. He rose to fame with the release of his albums Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2003) and The Massacre (2005). His album Get Rich or Die Tryin' has been certified eight times platinum by the RIAA.^[1]

Born in the South Jamaica of Queens, New York City, Jackson began drug dealing at the age of twelve during the 1980s crack epidemic.^[2] After leaving drug dealing to pursue a rap career, he was shot at and 

Jackson has engaged in feuds with other rappers including Ja Rule, Nas, Fat Joe, Jadakiss, Cam'ron, Puff 

Daddy, Rick Ross, and former G-Unit members The Game and Young Buck. He has also pursued an acting career, appearing in the semi-autobiographical filmGet Rich or Die Tryin' in 2005, the Iraq War film Home of the Brave in 2006, and Righteous Kill in 2008. 50 Cent was ranked as the sixth-best artist of the 2000s by Billboard magazine. The magazine also ranked him as the fourth top male artist and as the third top rapper behind Eminem and Nelly.^[3] Billboard magazine also ranked him as the sixth best and most successful Hot 100 Artist of the 2000s^[4] and as the number one rap artist of the 2000s.^[5] Billboard ranked his album Get Rich or Die Tryin' as the twelfth best album of the 2000s^[6] and his album The Massacre as the 37th best album of the 2000s.^[7] 50 Cent is currently working on his fifth studio album,Street King Immortal, which is to be released in January 2013.^[8]struck by nine bullets during an incident in 2000. After releasing his album Guess Who's Back? in 2002, Jackson was discovered by rapper Eminem and signed to Interscope Records. With the help of Eminem and Dr. Dre, who produced his first major commercial successes, Jackson became one of the world's highest selling rappers. In 2003, he founded the record label G-Unit Records, which signed several successful rappers such as Young Buck,Lloyd Banks, and Tony Yayo.

LIL WAYNE

Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. (born September 27, 1982), better known by his stage name Lil Wayne ( /ˌlɪl ˈweɪn/), is an Americanrapper. At the age of nine, Lil Wayne joined Cash Money Records as the youngest member of the label, and half of the duo, The B.G.'z, with B.G.. In 1997, Lil Wayne joined the group Hot Boys, which also included rappers Juvenile, B.G., and Young Turk. Hot Boys debuted with Get It How U Live! that year. Lil Wayne gained most of his success with the group's major selling album Guerrilla Warfare, released in 1999. Also in 1999, Lil Wayne released his Platinum debut album Tha Block Is Hot, selling over one million copies in the U.S.

Although his next two albums Lights Out (2000) and 500 Degreez (2002) were not as successful (only reaching Gold status), Lil Wayne reached higher popularity in 2004 with Tha Carter, which included the single "Go D.J." Wayne also appeared on the Destiny's Child top ten single "Soldier" that year. In 2005, the sequel to Tha Carter, Tha Carter II, was released. In 2006 and 2007, Lil Wayne released several mixtapes and appeared on several popular rap and R&B singles. His most successful album, Tha Carter III, was released in 2008 and sold over 1 million copies in the U.S. its first week of release. It included the number-one single "Lollipop" featuring Static Major. It also includes the singles "A Milli" and "Got Money" featuring T-Pain and won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album.

Lil Wayne released his debut rock album, Rebirth, in 2010 to primarily negative reception from critics. The album eventually went gold. In March 2010, Lil Wayne began serving an 8-month prison sentence in New York after being convicted of criminal possession of a weapon stemming from an incident in July 2007. While in prison he released another album entitled I Am Not a Human Being in September 2010, featuring Young Money artists such as Drake, Nicki Minaj and Lil Twist. His ninth studio album and first since being released from prison, Tha Carter IV, was released on August 29, 2011.^[1] The album includes the songs "6 Foot 7 Foot" featuring Cory Gunz, "How to Love" and "She Will" featuring Drake. It sold 964,000 copies in the U.S. its first week out.

He passed Elvis Presley as the male with the most entries on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with 109 songs as of September 27, 2012.^[2]

Alex Clare

Early life

Clare was born in Southwark, South East London, England. He grew up listening to his father’s jazz records and was drawn to blues and soul (Donny Hathaway, Stevie Wonder), which eventually led to interests in drum and bass, Dubstep and UK garage. Though Clare took up the trumpet and drums as a youngster, he eventually placed an emphasis on guitar and songwriting, playing open mike nights with original material.^{[citation needed]} Clare attended Bishop Challoner School in Beckenham and there after Westminster Kingsway College from 2002 studying an NVQ in catering.

Music career

A demo earned him a deal with the Island label in the UK. His debut album, The Lateness of the Hour, produced by Mike Spencer and Major Lazer^[3] was released in July 2011. The first single from the album was "Up All Night", followed by "Too Close" and "Treading Water".

On 19 May 2011, Reggie Yates made Alex Clare's cover of Prince's "When Doves Cry" his Song of the Day.^[4] A day later, the Dutch radio station 3FM announced single "Too Close" to be the '3FM's Megahit of that week.^[5]

On 21 June 2011, Clare performed at the Queens' College, Cambridge May Ball.^[6] On 14 August 2011, Clare performed at the Summer Well festival in Buftea, Romania.

Following the disappointing performance of the album, Clare was dropped from his record contract with Universal Island in the UK.^[7]

In 2012, Clare's song "Too Close" was featured in several Internet Explorer 9 advertisements.^[8] Following its use, the song debuted at #68 on the US Billboard Hot 100^[9], and later reached #8, becoming his first Top 10 hit. Clare saw success on the German charts too, topping the charts at #1. On 16 May, Clare's song peaked at #4 on the UK Singles Chart.^[10]

Personal life

Clare's upbringing was "very, very secular", and he became more religious during the mid 2000s.^[11][12] He is now an Orthodox Jew, and as such will not perform, travel or work on the Jewish Sabbath or religious holidays. He lives in Golders Green, North West London, an area highly populated by Orthodox Jews, but often travels to Jerusalem when his work permits.

Before gaining critical success, Clare dated singer Amy Winehouse for a year. They met while he performed and worked at a bar she frequented, The Hawley Arms in Camden, North London.^[13]