World famous rapper 50 Cent turned 47 earlier this year. If you are not aware of his backstory, you might think of it as something insignificant and quite normal. However, in 50 Cent’s case, this is far from normal. He is a survivor of a brutal shooting in his youth. He was shot nine times by criminal Darryl Baum (who was also Mike Tyson’s bodyguard previously). Miraculously, the rapper drove himself to the hospital after nine shots and managed to survive. The rest, as they say, is history. In this post, we will find out more about Darryl Baum and how his shooting affected the life of 50 Cent. Let’s get started.
Darryl Baum: The Man Who Almost Killed 50 Cent
Who is 50 Cent?
If you’re too young or haven’t heard enough rap or hip hop to know this legend, don’t worry, because we are here to tell you who he is. His real name is Curtis James Jackson III, he was born in New York in 1975, and he is an American rapper, songwriter, and actor.
He rose to fame with the release of his Get Rich or Die Tryin’ albums as well as The Massacre. Both were so successful that the former went 10 times platinum and the latter 14 times. In addition, it is among the fifty best albums of the 2000s according to Billboard magazine.
Now, it is important to mention that he was not always a successful rapper, because before dedicating himself to the music that established him as a legend, he was a drug trafficker and left this crime to dedicate himself completely to music.
How did Darryl Baum almost kill 50 Cent?
It was on May 24, 2000, that he was attacked by Darryl ‘Hommo’ Baum while he was at his grandmother’s house in South Jamaica. According to what was narrated that day, the rapper went to his friend’s car but returned to the house to look for some jewelry. At that time his son was in the same place while his grandmother was in the front yard.
As he returned to the car, a car pulled up nearby, the assailant walked up to Jackson’s side and shot him nine times at point-blank range with a 9-millimeter pistol. The bullets injured his hand (one bullet hit his right thumb and exited his little finger), his arm, his hip, both legs, his left chest and cheek. Miraculously, 50 Cent was able to drive himself to the hospital and ended up making a complete recovery. For his recovery, he was using a walker for a few weeks and it took him five months to fully recover.
One of the most scandalous wounds he had was the one on his face, because it gave him inflammation of the tongue, the loss of a tooth, and a small stain on his voice that made it deeper. His friend also suffered a gunshot wound to the hand. On the other hand, the assailant died three weeks later. Baum was also a friend of Mike Tyson and his bodyguard.
For many fans, this was a situation that changed their lives completely. Without a doubt, it was a moment that marked a before and after.
What did Mike Tyson try to do to the people that killed Darryl Baum?
Mike Tyson has reportedly offered US$50,000 for a ‘contract’ over the lives of street gang members who are believed to have killed his bodyguard in 2000, a witness has claimed for the US government.
The claims were made on Thursday by Dwayne Meyers, a former member of a gang called ‘Cash Money Brothers’. Meyers testified at the trial of Abubakr Raheem, who is accused of driving the car that allowed the suspects to flee after the inter-gang killings.
Meyers claimed the former world heavyweight champion provided the money to avenge the June 2000 murder of his close friend and former bodyguard, Darryl Baum. The alleged contract was never executed. Tyson’s attorney didn’t make any comment regarding the issue.
When did 50 Cent truly become a star?
It was the year 2003 when one of the songs that would make Curtis James Jackson III a rap legend came to light. We are talking of course about 50 Cent and his amazing In Da Club. It may well be that you don’t like rap or the name of the performer doesn’t ring a bell, but if you’re a 90s and 2000s kid, we assure you that the song will ring a bell because most likely you’ve danced to it or at least listened to it at some point.
How was 50 Cent’s life before stardom?
50 Cent was born in New York, in the district of Queens, more specifically in the residential neighborhood of South Jamaica. It is worth explaining before proceeding that 50 Cent is probably the living archetype of the street rapper. And it’s not without good reason. His mother, who was dedicated to drug dealing, had him alone when she was only 15 years old and was murdered when Curtis was only 8. He never knew his father. At the time of his mother’s death Jackson was already involved in the world of drugs and arms sales and as a teenager, only 15 years old, he was arrested for drug possession.
It is true that shortly after he would retire from the world of drugs -not without earning good money- to dedicate himself fully to rap.
He started rapping very humbly at a friend’s house. Shortly after he met Jam Master Jay, one of the members of Run-DMC. Jay would be the one to introduce him to the basics of writing lyrics: counting beats, writing choruses, or structuring a song. In the year 2000, he would record what should have been his debut album: The Power of the Dollar. However, the launch was canceled due to a serious attack he suffered and that could easily have cost him his life. He was shot nine times by a criminal named Darryl Baum.
The event took place next to the old house of his grandmother – the woman who raised him – when the rapper returned to the car after leaving the building. At that moment another vehicle pulled up close to his car. Out of it came a determined Darryl Baum, who did not hesitate to shoot him at close range. Baum, unlike 50 Cent, died three weeks later. Speaking about the shooting, 50 Cent said: ”It happens so fast that you don’t even get a chance to shoot back…. I was scared the whole time… I was looking in the rear-view mirror like, ‘Oh shit, somebody shot me in the face! It burns, burns, burns.’”
How seriously did Darryl Baum injure 50 Cent?
It was a miracle that he survived, the bullets hit his left hand, arm, legs, hip, chest and cheek. The latter would cause the loss of one of the wisdom teeth and also an inflammation in the tongue, which would lead to permanent sequelae in the singer’s voice. As he said before, he has rightly earned the title of street rapper, it has not cost him little.
Why was 50 Cent banned from US studios after the Darry Baum shooting?
50 Cent was banned from US studios and was forced to try his luck in Canada due to the content of Ghetto Qu’ran, one of the songs included on the unreleased The Power or the Dollar. There is no shortage of people who speculate that this song was the cause of the Darryl Baum attack on Jackson. From there he would record songs that he would later distribute clandestinely to build a reputation for himself in the United States. In 2002 he would record a mixtape titled Guess Who’s Back? – which would also include songs from The Power of the Dollar – and which would reach the hands of Eminem, who changed everything.
Did 50 Cent release his biggest album after being shot by Darryl Baum?
It’s 2003, the year that Get Rich or Die Tryin’, his official debut album, was released. This album is the one that includes the song at hand and is produced mostly by Dr. Dre. It could not have been better received, it sold 872,000 copies in the first four days and prestigious portals such as Allmusic or Rolling Stone were full of flattery. Moreover, its first single, In da Club, was considered by the late VH1 channel as the eighteenth-best hip hop song of all time. At the time it even broke the Billboard record for the most listened to song in radio history in one week.
What’s more, 50 Cent was about to win a Grammy in 2004 but Eminem snatched it away with Lose Yourself. The truth is that the man did not have bad competition.
Leaving aside the immense list of compliments that the song received, there are some details in its creative process that are interesting to comment on. To begin with, the instrumental, produced by Dr. Dre and Mike Elizondo, was originally destined for the D12 group, who rejected the beat because they didn’t know what approach to give to the song.
Also interesting is that 50 Cent recorded the song without using anything other than drums because, since most of the album was quite dark in content, he wanted to write something different, something much more upbeat. For him the song was – I translate from his words – “A celebration of life. Every day is relevant because every day is someone’s birthday.” And the truth is that he saw his intention well curdled because media like The Sourcethey would describe the song with pearls as “A guaranteed party starter” and the BBC itself would write that it was “A spectacular party anthem”.
Interestingly, the lyrics are not only written by Jackson, but were also written in collaboration with producer Mike Elizondo, and Andre Young. Of course, the theme has a video clip, which also has its timeless charm with Eminem and Dr. Dre’s cameos.
The video fictionalized a kind of artist development center in which both Dr Dre and Eminem appear as scientists who have developed this perfect rapping machine. Something that, the truth, is still a way – curious that yes – of alluding to reality, since it was only as a result of meeting both Eminem and Dre that 50 Cent became a world-class artist, with the days of being shot by criminal Darryl Baum behind him.
