Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Who is 50 cent?

50 Cent - American rapper

50 Cent

Curtis James Jackson III  was born on July 6, 1975. He is better known by his stage name 50 Cent. He is an American rapper and actor. He rose to fame with the release of his albums Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2003) and The Massacre (2005). These albums have been certified eight times and five times platinum , respectively, by the RIAA (The Recording Industry Association of America.) Get Rich or Die Tryin'  has sold over 15 million copies worldwide while The Massacre has sold 11 million copies worldwide.

Drug dealer

Born in South Jamaica, Queens, Jackson began drug dealing at the age of twelve during the 1980s crack epidemic. After leaving drug dealing to pursue a rap career, he was shot at and struck by nine bullets during an incident in 2000. After releasing his album Guess Who's Back? in 2002, Jackson was discovered by rapper Eminem and signed to Interscope Records. With the help of Eminem and Dr. Dre, who produced his first major commercial successes, Jackson became one of the world's highest selling rappers. In 2003, he founded the record label G-Unit Records, which signed several successful rappers such as Young Buck, Lloyd Banks, and Tony Yayo. Jackson has also engaged in feuds with other rappers including Ja Rule, Fat Joe, Jadakiss, Cam'ron, Rick Ross, and former G-Unit members The Game and Young Buck.

Success

Jackson has pursued an acting career, appearing in the semi-autobiographical film Get Rich or Die Tryin' in 2005, the Iraq War film Home of the Brave in 2006, and Righteous Kill in 2008. 50 Cent was ranked as the sixth best artist of the 2000–2009 decade by Billboard  magazine. The magazine also ranked him as the fourth top male artist and as the third top rapper behind Eminem and Nelly.

More on 50 Cent on Wikipedia

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Who is Lady Gaga?

Her early life

Lady Gaga Concert
Lady Gaga's original name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta. She was in New York City on March 28, 1986. She is the eldest child of Italian American Joseph Germanotta, an internet entrepreneur, and Cynthia. She is left-handed[17] and began learning to play piano aged four. She wrote her first piano ballad at 13 and began performing at open mike nights (is a live show where audience members may perform at the microphone) by age 14. Lady Gaga was raised a Roman Catholic.

At age 17, Gaga gained early admission to the New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and lived in a NYU dorm on 11th Street. There she studied music and improved her songwriting skills by composing essays and analytical papers focusing on topics such as art, religion, social issues and politics.[18][28] Gaga wrote an 80-page thesis on pop artists Spencer Tunick and Damien Hirst; research that prepared her for her future career focus in "music, art, sex and celebrity.". However, she didn't finish her studies and to start her career as a singer and sonwriter.

Her career

Lady Gaga started her career by signing contract with Def Jam Recordings at the age of 19 and larter with songwriter and producer RedOne. She began experimenting with drugs soon after, while performing at neo-burlesque shows.
"Iwent to a Catholic school but it was on the New York underground that I found myself."
Her father did not understand the reason behind her drug intake and could not look at her for several months
Lady Gaga's real career started with Akon who recognized her vocal abilities, and signed her to his own label, Kon Live Distribution.

Gaga came to prominence following the release of her debut studio album The Fame (2008), which was a commercial success and achieved international popularity with the singles "Just Dance" and "Poker Face". The album reached number one on the record charts of six countries, accomplished positions within the top-ten worldwide, and topped the Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums chart while simultaneously peaking at number two on the Billboard 200 chart in the United States. Achieving similar worldwide success, The Fame Monster (2009), its follow-up, produced a further two global chart-topping singles "Bad Romance" and "Telephone" and allowed her to embark on a second global headlining concert tour, The Monster Ball Tour, just months after having finished her first, The Fame Ball Tour. Her second studio album, Born This Way, is scheduled for release on May 23, 2011 after the arrival of its eponymous lead single "Born This Way", which achieved the number-one spot in countries worldwide and was the fastest-selling single in iTunes history, selling one million copies in five days.

Influence and success

Inspired by glam rock (a style of rock and pop music that developed in the UK in the early 1970s, which was performed by singers and musicians who wore outrageous clothes, makeup and hairstyles) artists like David Bowie, Elton John and Queen, as well as pop singers such as Madonna, Michael Jackson, and Amy Winehouse, Gaga is well-recognized for her outré sense of style in fashion, in performance and in her music videos.

Her contributions to the music industry have garnered her numerous achievements including five Grammy Awards, among twelve nominations; two Guinness World Records; and the estimated sale of fifteen million albums and fifty-one million singles worldwide. Billboard named her both the Artist of the Year in 2010 and the top selling artist of 2010; ranking her as the 73rd Artist of the 2000s decade. Gaga has been included in Time magazine's annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world as well as Forbes' list of the 100 Most Powerful and Influential celebrities in the world. Forbes also placed her at number seven on their annual list of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women.

Albums

  • The Fame (2008)
  • The Fame Monster (2009)
  • Born This Way (2011)
More on Lady Gaga

Monday, May 2, 2011

Who is Bin Laden?

Osama Bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was a member of the wealthy Saudi bin Laden family and the founder of the jihadist organization al-Qaeda. Bin Laden was responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets around the world. Because Bin Laden was an advocate of violent extremist jihad, Osama bin Laden lost his Saudi citizenship and was disowned by his billionaire family.

His Beliefs

Osama Bin Laden beliefs were extremist and were based on distorted interpretations of Islamic texts.
  • Osama believed that the restoration of Sharia law - the code of conduct or religious law of Islam - will set things right in the Muslim world.
  • All other ideologies such as pan-Arabism, socialism, communism, democracy must be opposed. 
  • He believed Afghanistan under the rule of Mullah Omar's Taliban was "the only Islamic country" in the Muslim world. 
  • Osama consistently dwelt on the need for violent jihad to right what he believes are injustices against Muslims perpetrated by the United States and sometimes by other non-Muslim states.
  • The need to eliminate the state of Israel, and the necessity of forcing the US to withdraw from the Middle East was one of his goals. 
  • He also called on Americans to "reject the immoral acts of fornication (and) homosexuality, intoxicants, gambling, and usury," in an October 2002 letter.
  • Probably the most infamous part of Osama's ideology was that civilians, including women and children, are legitimate targets of jihad.
These beliefs, along with violent expansive jihad, have sometimes been called Qutbism (the ideology of Sayyid Qutb)

The death of Bin Laden

Bin Laden was on the American Federal Bureau of Investigation's lists of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives and Most Wanted Terrorists due to his involvement in the 1998 US embassy bombings. Since 2001, Osama bin Laden and his organization had been major targets of the U.S. War on Terror. Bin Laden and fellow al-Qaeda leaders were believed to be hiding near the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas.
On May 1, 2011, U.S. President Barack Obama announced on national television that bin Laden had been killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan by American military forces and the Central Intelligence Agency and that his body was in U.S. custody