December 17, 2006 @ 9:00 pm

Exclusive: G Unit Ain’t No Click, Part I

John Kennedy

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The same folks who were in your corner now await your demise. This has been the story of G Unit, 50 Cent’s close-knit crew from the slums of New York City that transformed a tireless mixtape hustle to a multi-million dollar franchise. But regardless of the hate, the collective has no intentions of easing up on the competition. G Unit plays to win. With Lloyd Banks, who made G Unit Records’ first solo release, officially restarting G Unit’s rotation with Rotten Apple (October 10, 2006), Vibe.com celebrates significant chapters of the group’s past in the first of a week crammed with features. Screw Jordan; G Unit is the New York Yankees of Hip Hop. IT WAS ALL A DREAM… April 30, 2002 is a date that Lloyd Banks will never forget. Not only was it Banks’ 20th birthday, but G Unit officially dropped 50 Cent is the Future, the faction’s first street album. With its red, white and blue color scheme, the 16-track mixtape was more collector’s item than typical mix CD. It featured 50 Cent, Tony Yayo and Lloyd Banks injecting a bit of Southside Queens into hits by everyone from Mobb Deep to Raphael Saadiq, making the transformations grittier, and often times better, than the originals. “We’re from the street, but we know what’s on the radio,” recalls Banks of their mind set. “We know what y’all want to hear. But we’re going to do it our own way.” The approach worked, and G Unit’s stream of mixtapes had teens and old heads alike shouting G Unit’s signature call throughout the streets. Hoods all through New York City were unequivocally rooting for the home team. “It was kind of like living a dream,” Banks remembers of G Unit’s early days. “Everybody who you’re trying to impress your whole life is right there in your neighborhood… I had all the fame without the finances.” G-UNIT BLOWS, YAYO GETS REPLACED? The mixtape grind led to big payoffs for 50 and his crew when a certain white rapper from Detroit heard the gang’s first CD. After Eminem signed 50 to the historic, million-dollar deal with Shady Records, Yayo and Banks hopped on the tour bus with their leader, getting shine from city to city. “I’m seeing people all over the South, the Midwest, everywhere, going crazy for our shit,” says Banks. “That’s when I really knew that we could really take this to a worldwide thing and really market ourselves to be the best.” But just as 50’s hypemen were scratching the surface of stardom, Yayo was bagged for criminal possession of a weapon. Suddenly the trio was down to two. “It was a crazy situation because Yayo left right at the time when we started signing autographs,” says Banks. “It kind of left me out there.” The triangle offense was restored when Young Buck, who was formerly signed to Juvenile’s UTP Records, stepped in. Many thought Buck was Yayo’s replacement, but the Nashville-bred rapper had been waiting in the wing since day one, when G Unit and UTP linked up to record “A Lil’ Bit of Everything,” which appears on 50 Cent is the Future. “When I first met 50, I was actually on the bus with Juve playing a record for Banks,” says Young Buck. “I actually sold that record to 50 and then he did his twist to it and made it what it is… it ended up being ‘Bloodhound’ on Get Rich or Die Trying.” “[50 Cent] was just telling me, ‘Just give me a minute and everything is gon’ work out. I’ma come back and get you,’” Buck continues. Luckily for G Unit’s southern lyricist, 50 kept his word. What initially seemed like an awkward fit to many eventually developed into an unquestionable synergy and in Nov. 2003, the group released Beg For Mercy, which went on to sell more than two million copies in the United States, according to Soundscan. WHAT GOES UP… The G Unit brand has only expanded since Beg For Mercy, venturing into a diversity of markets and adding several artists to the roster. Mid-’90s alums Mobb Deep and M.O.P. joined the crew as well as Queens songbird Olivia and new jacks Spider Loc and Young Hot Rod. As for 50’s botched draft picks, former Aftermath benchwarmer The Game played for 50’s squadron before a much-publicized fall out, which 50 has attributed to Game’s disloyalty and hardheadedness. And although, Fif’ has taken an ‘L’ for the paperwork battle with Diddy to sign Mase, he’s developed cross-promotional deals with the likes of Freeway, Lil’ Scrappy and LL Cool J. Despite the many additions to the crew, it seems that all is not well in 50’s army. After every album released on G Unit Records saw at least platinum-selling success—including solos from Banks, Buck and The Game—Yayo’s Thoughts of a Predicate Felon and Mobb Deep’s Blood Money have failed to follow suit, pushing about 500,000 and 260,000 copies in the U.S., respectively. But G Unit members are unfazed by the so-called turning of the tide. “We were happy with what we did,” says Prodigy of Mobb Deep. “I’m not even disappointed with our sales. If you look at our career… these are the numbers that we do.” But the same can’t be said for Banks, whose debut album The Hunger For More sold 1.5 million copies in the U.S. After two singles, it’s follow up, Rotten Apple, sits at about 279,283 copies sold to date. “We created this monster,” Banks says. “The fact that you expect everybody on G Unit to have the same success just shows how much people respect the approach we had.” “There ain’t no record label that the people demand that every artist make a platinum debut outside of G Unit,” Banks continues. “But in all reality, there was a time when a gold album was a platinum album.” THE LEGACY Say what you want about 50 Cent’s platoon but its winning streak is undeniable. However, with the immense success, whispers that the artists are hood sellouts are shared among loyalists. Banks assures that the artists will always embrace their roots. “It takes a lot more than a few years for you to forget the grind and remember when it was seven of us in a Dodge Caravan with no A/C with seven pistols and seven vests on,” says Banks. “We always flashback to that. At the end of the day that’s where we come from.” And with forthcoming projects from Buck and Hot Rod on the horizon, the group’s wheels show no sign of stalling. “Our team is so strong, it doesn’t matter what the fans say, it doesn’t matter what Soundscan says, it really doesn’t matter what anybody says,” Prodigy boasts. “We know the strength we got and we’re using it.” Years down the line, after all the plaques, tours and performances, Young Buck is certain of where G Unit will fall in hip hop history. “There’s never been a group that’s been successful where every individual artist had success,” says Buck. “In a sense, we’re early legends.”

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