G-Unit Digital Biography

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G-Unit (short for Guerilla Unit) was an American hip hop group formed by longtime friends and East Coast rappers 50 Cent, Tony Yayo and Lloyd Banks. After releasing a string of mixtapes in the early 2000s, including 50 Cent is the Future, God's Plan and No Mercy, No Fear, the group released their debut album Beg for Mercy in 2003, which went on to ship over 4,000,000 copies in the US and was certified Quadruple Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The album, which followed the critical and commercial success of 50 Cent's major-label debut Get Rich or Die Tryin', served as a platform for Lloyd Banks, Young Buck and Tony Yayo to release their respective solo debut albums; The Hunger for More (2004), Straight Outta Cashville (2004) and Thoughts of a Predicate Felon (2005). In 2008, the group released their second album T·O·S (Terminate on Sight).

During Tony Yayo's imprisonment in 2003, the group recruited Tennessee-based rapper Young Buck, who was featured throughout the Beg for Mercy album. The Game was also added to the group, a proposition made by Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine in late 2003, to promote the Aftermath/Interscope newcomer. However, due to The Game's "disloyalty" in the eyes of 50 Cent, he was soon removed from the group in March 2005. In April 2008, 50 Cent revealed Young Buck was no longer a part of the group due to his "excessive spending" and "inconsistent behavior". In early 2014, after Yayo and 50 Cent separately stated G-Unit was no more, the original members of the group reconciled and reunited at Summer Jam 2014, along with Young Buck after his six-year departure from the group. G-Unit Records artist Kidd Kidd was also added to the group upon its reformation. The group released their first collaborative project in six years, an EP titled The Beauty of Independence in August of the same year.

In April 2018, Kidd Kidd announced he was leaving both the group and G-Unit Records to become independent. In June of the same year, 50 Cent announced the group has disbanded. 

Music History

Formation and early years (1999–02)

The group's founding members, 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo were all born and raised in South Jamaica, a section of the Queens borough of New York City, and began rapping together as teenagers. After 50 Cent was blackballed from the music industry in 2000 and lost his record deal, the group began recording music independently, and released several mixtapes between 2002 and 2003, the most prominent of these being 50 Cent Is the Future, God's Plan, No Mercy, No Fear and Automatic Gunfire.

Debut album and success (2002–03)

In 2002, 50 Cent was discovered by Eminem and signed a $1 million contract with Shady Records, under the aegis of Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. After the success of his commercial debut album, Get Rich or Die Tryin', he was granted his own record label, which led to the creation of G-Unit Records. 50 Cent immediately signed both Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo to the label, and they began working on G-Unit's debut album, however, Tony Yayo was incarcerated at the time and was unable to record any new material for the album, which led to 50 Cent signing Tennessee-based rapper Young Buck to G-Unit Records and subsequently adding him to the group. After the signing of Young Buck, G-Unit made their first major label appearance as a group on the remix to 50 Cent's single "P.I.M.P.", which featured Snoop Dogg, Banks and Young Buck.

Later in November 2003, the group released their debut studio album, Beg for Mercy. The album featured guest appearances from R&B singers Joe and Butch Cassidy, and production was handled by high-profile producers such as Hi-Tek, Dr. Dre and Scott Storch, among several others. 50 Cent also served as the album's executive producer. Due to Tony Yayo's incarceration, he only made two appearances on the album, both of which used pre-recorded material. His face is seen on the brick wall of the album cover because he could not be photographed on account of his jail sentence. Beg for Mercy went on to sell over 3.9 million units in the U.S., 5.8 million copies worldwide, and has since been certified quadruple Platinum by the RIAA.

Feud with The Game/solo albums (2004–07)

During the production of Beg for Mercy, Los Angeles rapper The Game was discovered and placed into G-Unit by Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine of Interscope Records. Their plan was to market The Game as a devotee, or a loyal member of 50 Cent's "camp". The Game made his first appearances as a member of G-Unit on Lloyd Banks and Young Buck's debut albums, The Hunger for More and Straight Outta Cashville. Throughout 2004, The Game began working on his debut studio album, which was set to be executive produced by 50 Cent and Dr. Dre. In November 2004, the album's second single, How We Do featuring 50 Cent became a top 5 hit, as did the album's third single, Hate It or Love It, which peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, being held back from the top spot by 50 Cent's single, Candy Shop featuring Olivia.

Beginning in 2005, tensions began to rise between 50 Cent and The Game, and shortly after the release of The Documentary, tensions escalated into a full-scale feud which led to 50 Cent announcing that The Game had been kicked out of G-Unit, with 50 Cent claiming he had not received full credit for writing six songs from The Documentary. The two held a press conference on March 9, 2005, calling a truce between the two of them and seeming to publicly squash the feud. However, shortly after, The Game and G-Unit continued to attack one another, releasing numerous diss tracks throughout 2005 and 2006.

In 2007 while leaving a studio, Tony Yayo (one third of G-Unit), and his friend Lodi Mack saw Jimmy Henchman's (The Game's manager) 14 year old son. The two proceeded to assault the 14 year old which would lead to Lodi Mack's arrest. He was sentenced to two years in Prison and in 2009 Jimmy Henchman hired a hitman to kill Lodi Mack. In 2017, Jimmy Henchman was found guilty of murder and is now spending 2 life sentences in prison.

Second album and dissension (2008–13)

On April 7, 2008, in an interview with Shanna Leviste on New York's Hot 97 FM, 50 Cent stated that Young Buck was no longer a member of G-Unit, but was still signed to G-Unit Records. 50 Cent said problems involving excessive spending and Young Buck's public claim to not being paid royalty checks and "inconsistent behavior" from Young Buck, such as appearing on stage with his former Cash Money label-mate Lil Wayne, then seemingly dissing him on records with G-Unit were the main reasons for his removal.

On June 17, 2008, Young Buck responded to 50 Cent 's allegations with the song Taped Conversation. The Game jumped onto the track later on, in which they take shots at 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo.

Their second album, T·O·S (Terminate on Sight), was released on July 1, 2008. As a result of Young Buck's removal from the group, Young Buck still appeared on songs previously recorded with the group, but was credited as a featured artist. As of August 8, 2008, the album had sold 507,000 copies in the United States. Along with Young Buck, reggae singer Mavado appears on the album, while production came from Swizz Beatz, Street Radio, Tha Bizness, Rick Rock and Polow da Don, among several others.

Reunion and EPs (2014–17)

On February 20, 2014, Tony Yayo claimed that G-Unit had officially broken up, saying he and 50 Cent were no longer friends, and also announced his retirement from music, saying it had caused him too much stress and that he had already accomplished everything he wished to do. Then, after what seemed like condescending comments made about Lloyd Banks and Yayo in multiple interviews, on April 25, 2014, 50 Cent said that due to the recent inside-fighting, G-Unit was currently "dismantled." Despite this, on June 1, 2014, G-Unit reunited at the 21st annual Summer Jam with 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks, Tony Yayo, Young Buck, and G-Unit's newest member, Louisiana rapper Kidd Kidd appearing on stage together. The following day, G-Unit released a song titled "Nah I'm Talkin' Bout", a remix of HS87's "Grindin My Whole Life", making their comeback official. Throughout June 2014, G-Unit released numerous remixes to popular songs by other artists, including Drake, Trey Songz, and Jeremih, as well as an original song, "They Talked About Jesus". On June 4, 50 Cent announced they were working on a studio album and revealed plans to release it by late November 2014, and on June 25, 2014, announced they would be releasing a mixtape prior to the album. On August 25, 2014, G-Unit surprised fans with an extended play (EP) titled The Beauty of Independence, which was released at midnight, via digital retailers.

After the first EP, the group released music videos for "Watch Me" and "Changes". G-Unit planned to release the second EP in November, but after the release of The Beauty of Independence, it was announced that the album would divided into two parts, The Beauty of Independence and The Beast Is G-Unit. The group planned to release The Beast in late October, but the EP was pushed back to a later release in 2015. On November 10, 2014, a deluxe version of The Beauty of Independence was released, containing two new songs, "Ease Up" and "Big Body Benz". On January 20, 2015, the cover art for The Beast Is G-Unit was revealed via social media. The Beast Is G-Unit was released on March 3, 2015.

In August 2016, they released The Lost Flash Drive, composed of numerous unreleased songs.

Final projects and disbandment (2018)

On April 11, 2018, Kidd Kidd announced his departure from both the group and G-Unit Records to focus on his own label, RLLNR Entertainment.

On February 1, 2018, in his single Crazy featuring PnB Rock, 50 Cent claimed he and Lloyd Banks were no longer on speaking terms, and in June 2018, Banks and 50 Cent announced his departure from both the group and the label via Instagram.

Sources: Wikipedia

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