Back in the early 2000s, no one could escape G-Unit's dominance in the rap game. The original line-up consists of 50 Cent and his longtime friends Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo before Young Buck and The Game filled up the vacant positions later on. Apart from the group's two Billboard-charting studio albums, G-Unit also landed several lucrative commercial deals with Reebok and formed their own clothing line.
Unfortunately, good things always come to an end. G-Unit consists of creative heads, and it's common to see them clash. The group's leader, 50, has publicly bashed his own crewmates, and they've been at each other's throats in the past few years. To sum things up, here's what happened to G-Unit and what the members have been up to now.
6 50 Cent Is Keeping Himself Busy With 'Power'
Although he's not as active in rap as he used to back in the 2000s, 50 Cent has been keeping himself busy as an actor. His latest Starz hit, Power, was so successful that it made history as the network's most highly-rated show ever. After the season finale aired in 2019, the network announced several up-and-coming spin-offs set in the Power universe.
That said, it's not the only thing that keeps money coming into the Get Rich or Die Tryin' rapper's bank account. He founded several companies, including SMS Audio, SK Energy, Effen Vodka, and more. He also curated the late Pop Smoke's debut album, Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon, which became one of the best posthumous records that hip-hop has ever seen in the past few years.
5 Tony Yayo Is Struggling To Get Back To The Rap Game
Unfortunately, Tony Yayo spent some time behind bars during the height of G-Unit's commercial success until 2004, leaving his post vacant for Young Buck. It also wasn't the first time he had problems with the law, as in 2007, the East Coast rapper was arrested again for allegedly assaulting Jimmy Rosemond's 14-year-old son. His debut and only album, Thoughts of a Predicate Felon, peaked at number two in 2005 under Interscope and sold over 200,000 copies within the first week but he was later dropped from the label. Since then, Yayo hasn't released any full-length album apart from back-to-back mixtapes in the 2010s.
4 Lloyd Banks Has Just Released His First Solo Album In Over A Decade
During his time with G-Unit, Lloyd Banks has been hailed as the group's most prolific songwriter. His witty punchlines and bars keep fans hooked and it wasn't long until he found his success as a solo rapper thanks to his first two albums, Hunger for More and Rotten Apple.
However, the rapper has been going through some pretty dark times, leading up to his fall into depression in the late 2000s and the early 2010s. The pinnacle of it came in 2019 when he replied to a fan on Twitter asking if he's about to release one more bodywork in a shocking and sad tweet, "Let’s be real..ain’t nobody checking for banks anymore." Fortunately, he managed to fight back and independently released his first album in 11 years, The Course of the Inevitable, in June 2021.
3 Young Buck Became An Indie Artist
Young Buck joined the group to fill the vacancy that Tony Yayo left due to his then-ongoing legal problems. Unfortunately, his time in G-Unit wasn't too long, as he departed the group in 2008 after a feud with 50 Cent. After the dispute, Buck reformed the southern branch of G-Unit Records into his own indie label, Cashville Records, distributing acts such as The Outlawz, C-Bo, D4L, and more. His latest album, The Rehab, was released in 2010 and its remix hit the stores in 2019.
2 The Game Released Two Albums In 3 Years
The Game wasn't even included in the original line-up of G-Unit. Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine, the high-ranking people at Aftermath and Interscope Records, placed the Compton native in the collective, hoping to create more buzz for the rapper and the group.
The feud was inevitable, and The Game left G-Unit officially in 2005. He's still pretty much active in the rap scene, releasing the follow-up sequel album to his classic Documentary album in 2015. His last two albums, Born 2 Rap and 30 for 30, were released in 2019 and 2021, respectively.
1 Kidd Kidd Ventured Into Management
Lastly, there's Kidd Kidd who briefly joined G-Unit amidst the group's reunion between 2014 until 2018. Before that, the New Orleans rapper signed a recording deal under 50's G-Unit Records in 2011. He was a part of XXL Magazine's annual 'Freshman' list in 2015 but later left the group to focus solely on his own label, RLLNR Entertainment.
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