Kelvin Martin

For the football player, see Kelvin Martin (American football).

Mugshot of Kelvin Darnell Martin.

Kelvin Darnell Martin (July 24, 1964– October 24, 1987), known to the underworld as 50 Cent, was an American criminal who grew up in the Bronx, New York, but later moved to Brooklyn, New York and was known as a stick-up kid in a Public Housing Project in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.

Throughout the 1980s, Martin became a well-known robber who claimed his success through the robbery and murder of local hustlers. Martin was rumored to have stolen one of Rakim's chains off his neck (which was proven false by Brooklyn locals), but robbed LL Cool J's chain in a parking lot in Brooklyn.

Kelvin Martin was possibly known as '50 Cent' due to his reputation of being prepared to rob anyone, regardless of how much money they were carrying at the time. Another story is that it came from an incident when he entered a game of dice with a 50 cent stake and ended up walking away with $500. The nickname may also be an allusion to his physically tiny stature - he weighed only 120 pounds and his height was 5'2".^{[1][dead link]}

Friends estimate that, throughout his life, Martin had sustained about 24 bullet wounds and murdered at least 30 people. Ultimately, gunshot wounds were his cause of death. He was shot on October 20, 1987 on the stairway of his girlfriend's project building, dying in Kings County Hospital four days later. Julio "Wemo" Acevedo was convicted of first-degree manslaughter and sentenced to a minimum of eight years in prison for Martin's killing.^{[2][dead link]}

His life and influence were chronicled in an in-depth, biographical documentary, starting from his upbringing and carrying through past his death. The documentary is called Infamous Times: The Original 50 Cent.^[3] Another documentary about him is called, The Original 50 Cent: The True Story of The Legend Who Inspired The Biggest Name In Rap.

References

1. ^ "Get Rich or Die Trying", Stuff Magazine, August, 2005
2. ^ "Get Rich or Die Trying", Stuff Magazine, August, 2005
3. ^ IMDB page for Infamous Times: The Original 50 Cent

See also

• KrookedLettaMan. ""Kelvin Martin Part 1of10", youtube.com. October 12, 2006. Retrieved March 28, 2008.

Persondata
Name	Martin, Kelvin
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1964
Place of birth
Date of death	1987
Place of death