G-Unit

G-Unit (short for Guerilla Unit) is an American hip hop group formed by longtime friends and East Coast rappers 50 Cent, Tony Yayo and Lloyd Banks. After releasing a string of mixtapes in the early 2000s, including 50 Cent is the Future, God's Plan and No Mercy, No Fear, the group released their debut album Beg for Mercy in 2003, which went on to ship over 4,000,000 copies in the US and was certified Quadruple Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The album, which followed the critical and commercial success of 50 Cent's major-label debut Get Rich or Die Tryin', served as a platform for Lloyd Banks, Young Buck and Tony Yayo to release their respective solo debut albums; The Hunger for More (2004), Straight Outta Cashville (2004) and Thoughts of a Predicate Felon (2005). In 2008, the group released their second album T·O·S (Terminate on Sight). During Tony Yayo's imprisonment in 2003, the group recruited Tennessee-based rapper Young Buck, who was featured throughout the Beg for Mercy album. The Game was also added to the group, a proposition made by Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine in late 2003, to promote the Aftermath/Interscope newcomer. However, due to The Game's "disloyalty" in the eyes of 50 Cent, he was soon removed from the group in March 2005. In April 2008, 50 Cent revealed Young Buck was no longer a part of the group due to his "excessive spending" and "inconsistent behavior". In early 2014, after Yayo and 50 Cent separately stated G-Unit was no more, the original members of the group reconciled and reunited at Summer Jam 2014, along with Young Buck after his six-year departure from the group. G-Unit Records artist Kidd Kidd was also added to the group upon its reformation. The group released their first collaborative project in six years, an EP titled The Beauty of Independence in August of the same year. In April 2018, Kidd Kidd announced he was leaving both the group and G-Unit Records to become independent. In June of the same year, 50 Cent announced Lloyd Banks had left the group, leaving himself and Tony Yayo as the remaining members of G-Unit.