AMID MUCH ANTICIPATION, A RAPPER MAKES A DEBUT

After poking fun at a break-dancing troupe and pronouncing the employees of
a local sneaker store "savages," Star, the cantankerous shock jock on the
New York radio station Hot 97, posed a simple question Monday morning.
"Other than 50 Cent," he asked his merry band of studio buddies, "what's
going on in hip-hop right now?" The lengthy silence said it all.

The rapper 50 Cent, born Curtis Jackson and also known as 50, is arguably
the most popular act in hip-hop, and there is a lot of buzz about his debut
album, "Get Rich or Die Trying," due out today, the release date having
been pushed up from Feb. 11 because bootleggers pounced on it early.
"Wanksta," 50's hit single from the "8 Mile" soundtrack, is receiving heavy
radio play. And with its painfully catchy chorus - "Hey shawtie, it's your
birthday" - "In da Club," the first single from "Get Rich or Die Trying,"
is taking off. The track and four others on the album were produced by Dr. Dre.

Three years ago 50, a survivor of a stabbing, a shooting, numerous jailings
and the crack trade, was an unknown. But after Eminem declared him his
favorite rapper on a Los Angeles radio station last year, he became the
subject of a major bidding war.

"There aren't a lot of leaders in the music business, so when people found
out Dre and Em were interested, the deals went up to $1.6 million," 50 said
recently in a conference room of Interscope Records after receiving a
haircut and devouring a giant double-decker cheeseburger.

Perhaps not since Tupac Shakur has a rapper provided so much to discuss.
Born in Jamaica, Queens, 50 Cent, a former crack dealer, was most recently
arrested last New Year's Eve in Midtown Manhattan after the police found
two loaded handguns in a vehicle he was in.

And in the past six months his name has been mentioned in one way or
another in connection with assorted headline-grabbing events in hip-hop.
These include the killing last October of Jam Master Jay; the current
F.B.I. investigation into the rap label Murder Inc.'s possible ties to a
Queens drug ring; and the shooting up of the Chelsea offices of Violator
Management, the company that represents 50. (No criminal charges have been
brought against the 27-year-old 50 in any of the cases, and he denies any
illegal involvement with any of the parties.)

He was not wearing a bulletproof vest the day of the interview - "I didn't
feel like it" - but he is rarely without one. He almost always travels in a
bulletproof truck, and 50's bodyguards, John and Fitz, are never more than
a drop kick away.

"They protect me from the police," 50 said jokingly. Fitz and John cracked
fleeting smiles.

As 50 discussed his fractious relationship with law enforcement, a
basketball commercial that features him rhyming appeared on a television in
the room, and the rapper's focus shifted. Watching Stephon Marbury dribble
to the beat of his voice caused him to smile brightly. A dimple on the left
side of his mouth, courtesy of a nine-millimeter bullet, made a cameo
appearance.

"I've never had a job before," he said. "I sold crack, and then I had the
opportunity to write music, and I moved on it because I felt that it was
positive. I can't even identify with you when you tell me that you've got
to get up and go to work in the morning. I hope I never have to."

This bluntness is readily apparent on "Get Rich or Die Trying." Filled with
macho tales of drugs, murder and firearms, 50's debut celebrates life in a
morally bankrupt world. The fact that he is an authentic representative and
not a poser has only helped bolster his notoriety.

Ja Rule, 50 Cent's archrival, does not escape his wrath on "Die Trying."
The two artists have been battling both on and off wax since a friend of
50's relieved Rule of his jewelry two years ago at a club. "Wanksta," a
song ridiculing fake gangsters, is based on Ja Rule, 50 said. "He's never
counted to anyone in the hood." Rule, who has called 50 everything from a
punk to snitch in the past, would not comment.

For all of his toughness, 50 is not above marketing his sex appeal. His
poster-worthy pecs and abs are never far from sight. Fitted tank tops, like
his bulletproof vests, are standard. "It worked for D'Angelo," 50 said,
referring to the R&B singer. "Whatever it takes."

It is an attitude he has had since childhood. He never knew his father, he
said, and his mother, a drug dealer, was murdered when he was 8.

After spending his teenage years in and out of detention, 50 decided to
pursue a rap career. In the late 90's he linked up with a
local-boy-done-good, Jam Master Jay, who taught him how to construct songs.
In 1999 50 signed a deal with Columbia Records after being discovered by
the production duo Trackmasters, where he released "How to Rob," a
mischievous track that described how he would knock over big-name R&B and
hip-hop artists. "I'm about to stick Bobby for some of that Whitney money,"
he rapped.

"It was meant to be a joke," 50 said. Few found the song humorous. Two
months after its release 50 was stabbed in a scuffle at the Hit Factory
studios on West 54th Street. The rapper played down the incident. "It was a
scratch," he said of the wound, which required four stitches. Chuckling, he
added, "My baby's mother has stabbed me worse than that."

He was shot in April 2000, while sitting in the passenger seat of a car.
"Getting shot," he said chuckling again, "doesn't hurt nearly as worse as
when the morphine wears off."

Having survived two attempts on his life, 50 said he no longer feared
anything, including death. "Death is a friend of mine," he joked. "It's the
promise that's never been broken."

Riding around in his armor-plated S.U.V., 50 acknowledged being scared of
one thing: returning to a life of poverty. "That's the only thing I might
be afraid of," he said quietly. "Going back to not having."