50 Cent

Curtis James Jackson, or more frequently known as 50 Cent, Fifty, or Fiddy, is one of the most prominent and successful rap musicians of the current decade. Though he has had a strong ‘underground’ following in New York for some time, he rose suddenly to widespread recognition with the release of his first major album, "Get Rich Quick or Die Tryin’’, in 2003.

50 Cent was born on July 6th, 1975 in South Jamaica, Queens, in and has lived in New York his whole life. His father left the family when he was still a baby, and his mother was shot dead during a drug deal when he was only 8, so 50 Cent he was raised primarily by his grandparents.

With dreams of becoming a heavyweight boxer, 50 cent instead became involved in the illicit drug trade as a teenager. He was arrested a couple of times for felony drug charges, but was able to avoid doing serious prison time by serving 7 months in an incarceration ‘boot camp’.

50 Cent began his rapping career studying under Jay Master Jay from Run DMC, signing on with his label in the late 1990’s. He then went on to sign on with Colombia Records in 2000 and recorded his first full length album, "Power of the Dollar". Unfortunately, in May of 2000, 50 Cent was shot three times in a drive-by style shooting. It is widely stated that he was shot nine times, though this is an exaggeration; he was shot at nine times and hit three times. Though not critically wounded, the incident won him enough attention to scare Colombia Records into dropping his deal without ever releasing the album.

After meeting with fellow rap stars Eminem and Dr. Dre, 50 Cent signed on with Eminem’s label Aftermath/Shady & Interscope. With Eminem and Dr. Dre’s backing, 50 Cent released his first major album, ‘Get Rich Quick or Die Tryin’’, in 2003. The album was an enormous success, going nearly platinum in the first week, breaking records for the most units ever sold in a first week. In March of 2005, 50 Cent released his 2nd album, ‘The Massacre’, which has also been highly successful.

50 Cent now has his own record label, ‘G-Unit Records’. With the endorsement of popular rappers like Eminem and Dr. Dre, a large underground following, and the actual experience of having been involved in the kinds of violent crimes that are the subject of his music, 50 Cent is already an icon in the rap music industry and will likely remain as such for years to come.

Britney Jean Spears (b. December 2, 1981, McComb, Mississippi) is an American pop music singer, songwriter, and dancer. She currently resides in Beverly Hills, California.

She is best known for her studio albums, music videos, and songs such as "...Baby One More Time", "Oops!...I Did It Again", "I'm a Slave 4 U" and "Toxic", for which she won a Grammy Award.In the early 2000s, Spears' success as a singer led her way to high-profile advertising deals and endorsements, as well as forays into other forms of media, including film and reality television. Her third and fourth albums, Britney and In the Zone, were released during this era. In 2004, she married back-up dancer and aspiring rap artist Kevin Federline, and the following year she gave birth to their first son, Sean Preston. Their second son, Jayden James, was born in 2006. Spears filed for divorce from Federline on November 7, 2006 citing irreconcilable differences. The divorce was finalized on July 30, 2007.

Spears has sold over seventy-six million albums worldwide according to Time magazine The RIAA ranks her as the eighth best-selling female artist in American music history, having sold thirty-one million albums in the U.S.