G-Unit

Whether the G in G-Unit stands for ‘Guerrilla’ or ‘Gangsta’, G-Unit are best described as 50 Cent’s Gang, which now has given its name to 50’s record label and clothing company.

Originally comprising 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo, the trio built a reputation in their native New York by compiling and rapping mixtapes together: since 2003 they’ve made over 20 mixtapes all sub-titled G-Unit Radio, plus others in the Bad Guys and Thisis50.com series’. After 50 made a solo breakthrough with Get Rich or Die Tryin’, the group were given the opportunity to release a debut studio album, but Yayo was imprisoned on weapons charges. He was replaced in the group by Young Buck, and the new trio released Beg For Mercy in 2003, which eventually went double platinum. Yayo was released from prison in 2004.

Meanwhile, new G-Unit Records artist The Game was recording his debut album, The Documentary, but tensions between him and 50 Cent were rising. The Game was collaborating with rappers 50 was feuding with, and The Game’s rise to prominence was threatening to sideline 50’s achievements. The two began trading insults, with doctored mixtape covers, in lyrics and in interviews, kicking off one of the biggest hip-hop feuds in recent years. The Game officially parted with G-Unit in 2006.

A second album by the now four-piece group, Lock and Load, is set for release in summer 2008.