50 Cent reveals childhood nickname he almost used as stage name
Rapper and actor 50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, has revealed that "Boo Boo" was the childhood nickname he once considered using as his stage name before settling on the moniker that made him famous, according to E! News.
ANI
Aug 13, 2026 22:08 IST
Washington DC [US], August 13 (ANI): Rapper and actor 50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, has revealed that "Boo Boo" was the childhood nickname he once considered using as his stage name before settling on the moniker that made him famous, according to E! News.
"My first nickname was Boo Boo," Jackson said during an August 11 episode of "The Tonight Show," before joking, "It wouldn't work well," according to E! News.
The 51-year-old rapper is also familiar with questions about how his stage name should be pronounced. During a 2014 appearance on "Late Night with Seth Meyers," Jackson addressed whether fans should call him "Fifty" or "Fiddy."
"The question I get asked the most is Fifty or Fiddy?" Jackson said, emphasizing the different pronunciations of the number. "If you say fifty, call me Fifty."
The New Yorker also explained how he can tell when fans are trying to imitate his Queens accent to "try to be cool."
"If you see hundred dollar bills, call me Fifty," Jackson said while an image of cash appeared on screen, before joking, "If what you see is Benjamins, Fiddy is just fine."
Jackson eventually chose the name 50 Cent after a neighborhood figure from the Fort Greene projects in Brooklyn, New York, used the name.
"There was actually a guy from the Fort Greene projects [in Brooklyn, New York] who called himself 50 Cent," said Jackson in an interview in 2013. "I used it as a metaphor for change. Musically, I had my own way of doing things."
The rapper said he wanted to carry the neighborhood figure's drive and self-reliance into his own music.
"I took the name 50 Cent because it says everything I want it to say," he said in a 2005 interview with Stuff Magazine. "I'm the same kind of person 50 Cent was. I provide for myself by any means."
The name eventually became synonymous with Jackson's music career, including his hit songs such as "In Da Club" and "Candy Shop", and his acting work in "Get Rich or Die Tryin'," according to E! News. (ANI)
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