I didn’t know about Fifty Cent until the middle of last week. All of a sudden … poof! Everywhere on MTV, everywhere in the celebrity mags, everywhere on shows like Entertainment Tonight and Access: Hollywood. I don’t care if he’s a good rapper or not. I’m wondering how, short of shooting a world leader, someone can go from being a nobody to an instant celebrity in a few days.
He was taken under the wing(s) of Dr. Dre and Eminem, which brings instant celebrity by association – and, of course, the slick production work of Dre doesn’t hurt. 50 Cent has been known in the underground hiphop scene for a few years now so he’s not the tyro one might think, but only now that he’s signed on with Dre & Eminen has his career taken off. Remember Mase, whom Puff Daddy (now P.Diddy) launched to instant stardom about 5 years ago? With the proper impressario running the show, instant celebrity isn’t that tough.
Also, he was featured on the 8 Mile soundtrack, so he got some exposure there. And Wanksta was making waves on the underground even before it was initially released, as peepthis pointed out. People have been writing stories anticipating his first official release for several months now, so it’s not exactly sudden fame.
Basically, he’s a known underground who got paired with the biggest producer in hip-hop and one of the hottest stars of the genre. You do the math.