Kelvin Darnell Martin (July 24, 1964 – October 24, 1987), also known as 50 Cent, was an American criminal based in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. 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 businessman. Born in the South Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, Jackson began pursuing a musical career in 2000, when he produced ...

Biography

Born in the

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

borough of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, Martin was partially raised there by his grandmother, Irene Martin. He later moved to Brooklyn, residing in the

Fort Greene Fort Greene is a neighborhood in the northwestern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Flushing Avenue and the Brooklyn Navy Yard to the north, Flatbush Avenue Extension and Downtown Brooklyn to the wes ...

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 island in the East River between Queens and the Bronx that contains New York City's main jail complex. Named after Abraham Rycken, who took possession of the island in 1664, the island was originally under in size, but has ...

as a youth. The

nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

may also be an allusion to his small stature—he weighed only 120 pounds (54 kg), and his height was 5'2" (157 cm). 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 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