Kelvin Darnell Martin (July 24, 1964 – October 24, 1987), also known as 50 Cent, was an American criminal based in Fort Greene Brooklyn, New York. Martin is primarily known as the inspiration for the name of rapper

50 Cent Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), known professionally as 50 Cent, is an American rapper, actor, and television producer. Born in Queens, a borough of New York City, Jackson began pursuing a musical career in 1996. In 1999–2000, ...

Biography

Born in the

Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

borough of

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, Martin was partially raised there by his grandmother, Irene Martin. He later moved to Brooklyn, residing in the Fort Greene district. Martin was possibly known as '50 Cent' due to his reputation of being prepared to rob anyone, regardless of how much money they were carrying at the time. Another story is that it came from an incident when he entered a game of dice with 50 cents and ended up walking away with $500. Martin spent time in

Rikers Island Rikers Island is a prison island in the East River in the Bronx, New York (state), New York, United States, that contains New York City's largest jail. Named after Abraham Rycken, who took possession of the island in 1664, the island was orig ...

as a youth. The

nickname A nickname, in some circumstances also known as a sobriquet, or informally a "moniker", is an informal substitute for the proper name of a person, place, or thing, used to express affection, playfulness, contempt, or a particular character trait ...

may also be an allusion to his small stature—he weighed only , and his height was . On October 20, 1987, Martin was shot in the stairway of his girlfriend's building in the Albany Houses of Crown Heights, dying at Kings County Hospital four days later. Julio "WeMo" Acevedo was convicted of first-degree manslaughter and "served about a decade" in prison for Martin's killing.

Legacy

Martin's life and influence were chronicled in an in-depth biographical documentary, starting from his upbringing and carrying through past his death. The documentary is called ''The Infamous Times, Volume I: The Original 50 Cent''.

References

1964 births 1987 deaths 20th-century American criminals African-American gangsters American male criminals American robbers Criminals from Brooklyn Criminals from the Bronx Gangsters from New York City Murdered African-American people Deaths by firearm in Brooklyn 20th-century African-American people {{crime-bio-stub