Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson knew he was destined for greatness. In June 2002, the Queens-bred rapper—who signed with Columbia Records in the late 1990s, recorded an album called Power of the Dollar, and was unceremoniously dropped from said label after getting shot before the album ever hit stores—released a mixtape called 50 Cent Is the Future. Armed with a slew of catchy hooks, some help from his G-Unit crew—which consisted of fellow up-and-comers Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo—and one hell of a back story (he infamously got shot nine times in May 2000), 50 Cent found his voice on that mixtape and let the world know what he already knew to be true: That 50 Cent was the future. less