Rapper 50 Cent set for big screen

MEGA-SELLING rap artist 50 Cent will perform with his mentor Eminem at Slane Castle in September.

It is the latest Irish appearance for the 27-year-old, who has traded prison for multi-million-dollar record deals, and now the chance to demonstrate his acting ability on the big screen.

Born Curtis Jackson in Queens, New York, his mother died when he was eight years old. When his father left him in the care of his grandparents, the youngster took to the streets and a life of crime, eventually graduating to selling crack cocaine. In the mid-1990s, he adopted his rap persona and recorded his debut album, Power of the Dollar.

His life began to imitate his gritty, street-level lyrics when he was stabbed at the Hit Factory studio on West 54th Street in Manhattan.

Then, on May 24, 2000, just before the release of his album, he was shot nine times with a 9mm pistol as he sat in the passenger seat of a car in Queens. One shot pierced his cheek, another his hand, and the seven bullets entered his legs and thighs. Surviving the attack, he was dropped by his label and the album was shelved. The rapper turned to small-scale projects and, following a bidding war, he eventually signed a joint deal with Shady/Aftermath, the former label belonging to Eminem and the latter to acclaimed rapper/producer Dr Dre.

Since then he has released two albums, with his first, Get Rich or Die Tryin, shifting a record-breaking 872,000 units in the first five days of its release.

In recent years he has continued to make headlines for reasons outside of music, including his jailing in 2002 for gun possession. Despite, or possibly because of this, he has also signed expensive sponsorship deals.