Before he became a Grammy-winning rapper, producer, and business mogul, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson lived a life defined by survival. In a rare and deeply personal reflection, the In Da Club artist revealed the two moments when he almost went back to selling drugs in his hometown of Queens — and how one person, his grandmother, unknowingly stopped him both times.
“My grandmother found it,” Jackson said quietly. “That was the first time I realized I was walking a dangerous line — not just for me, but for her too.”
Growing Up in South Jamaica, Queens
Born in 1975 and raised in South Jamaica, Queens, Jackson’s early life was marked by hardship. After his mother was killed when he was just eight years old, his grandmother took him in. The neighborhood, caught in the grip of the 1980s crack epidemic, offered few paths forward.
“We didn’t have much,” he recalled. “I started selling drugs when I was 12 — not because I wanted to, but because I didn’t see another way out.”
By his late teens, Jackson had already experienced the realities of street life — violence, addiction, and loss. When he turned to music in the 1990s, it wasn’t about fame; it was survival. “Music was my way out,” he said. “But that life was always waiting for me to come back.”
The First Time: “She Found It in My Room”
The first time Jackson nearly returned to dealing came early in his rap career, after a record deal collapsed. “I was broke, frustrated, and angry,” he admitted. “I felt like everything I’d worked for didn’t matter. I needed money, and I knew how to get it.”
He started hiding small stashes of cash and drugs in his grandmother’s house, thinking no one would notice. But one afternoon, she discovered them.
“She just looked at me — didn’t yell, didn’t cry,” he remembered. “She said, ‘Curtis, you already know what this will lead to.’ That broke me. I threw it all away that night.”
Her quiet disappointment was more powerful than any punishment. “She didn’t need to say much,” Jackson said. “That moment hit me harder than anything else.”
The Second Time: “When the Bullets Came, So Did Clarity”
The second time came after his near-fatal shooting in 2000, when he was hit nine times outside his grandmother’s home. Recovering from his injuries, Jackson found himself with no label, no income, and few options.
“I couldn’t get a record deal — everyone thought I was finished,” he said. “And when the money runs out, the streets start calling again.”
One day, he returned to his old block in Queens, considering a short return to hustling. “I told myself, ‘Just for a few weeks.’ But when I got there, I looked around and saw the same faces, the same corners, the same traps. And I thought, If I come back here, I’ll never leave again.”
That realization changed everything. Instead of returning to the streets, Jackson poured his pain into his music — a decision that led to Get Rich or Die Tryin’ (2003), the breakthrough album that catapulted him to global fame.
“My Grandmother Saved Me Without Knowing It”
Looking back, Jackson credits his grandmother as the quiet force that steered him away from destruction. “She was my anchor,” he said. “She didn’t have to lecture me — her disappointment was enough. She made me want to be someone better.”
Even now, with fame, fortune, and a long list of business ventures to his name, he continues to visit his old neighborhood. “Every time I go back, I remember that kid who almost gave up — twice,” he said. “And how close I was to losing everything before it even started.”
A Message of Redemption
Today, 50 Cent uses his story to inspire others to make different choices. As a producer, actor, and entrepreneur — best known for creating the hit series Power — he sees his success as proof that change is possible.
“I tell young people all the time — it’s never too late to turn things around,” he said. “The streets don’t love you back. But the people who really care about you, they’ll save you in ways you don’t even see.”
Reflecting on the two moments that could have ended his future, Jackson smiled. “My grandmother found what could’ve ruined me,” he said. “And in doing that, she found the man I was meant to become.”