It’s been over three years since 50 Cent officially announced that G-Unit was no more and stopped releasing music.
It was a disappointing end of an era, but one that we all saw coming in the group’s tumultuous and legendary run in the hip-hop game.
G-Unit abbreviated from Guerilla Unit is the East Coast hip-hop crew and record label composed of its core members 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks, Tony Yayo as well as Young Buck.
These guys practically defined the early 2000s with their countless platinum albums and chart-topping singles. But it was more than just their music, it was the brand and the lifestyle that G-Unit had encompassed that had the hip hop community and if we’re being frank, the entire world in a chokehold.
From the baggy throwback jerseys to spinner G-Unit chains, they were a cultural staple. They represented the hood in America and hip-hop in a bold way. Everywhere you looked, it seemed like someone would be talking about or playing some G-Unit songs.
Unfortunately today, we don’t hear about G-Unit as often as we used to. We of course see the mogul that 50 Cent has transformed himself into but what happened to Lloyd Banks, Young Buck and Tony Yayo? Let’s talk about it!
In 2002, 50 Cent had signed a million dollar joint record deal with Eminem and Dr Dre’s labels Shady Aftermath and after the ultra success of his debut album Get Rich or Die Trying which had features from multiple crew members like Lloyd Banks, Tony Yayo and Young Buck. This led to 50 quickly starting his own record label G-Unit records where he immediately signed Lloyd Banks and Young Buck to begin working on their debut group project “Beg for Mercy.”
Tony Yayo was in prison at the time for most of this recording, so most of it was left to 50, Banks and Buck and the debut was a huge success as Beg for Mercy sold 5 million copies at this point. G-Unit was on top of the world and looking to expand.
West Coast rapper The Game who was discovered by Jimmy Iovine and Dr Dre was introduced to G-Unit as an additional member.
This seemed to work very well for the crew at the time as G-unit’s main members were all mostly from New York aside from Young Buck who’s from Tennessee. So to have this upcoming rapper from Compton California emerging and backed by Dr Dre to also be a member of G-Unit was really an example of how dominant they were at the time.
Adding the game to G-Unit really did seem to work as his debut album the “Documentary” generated multiple top 10 billboard hit songs and the album itself sold considerably well.
With so much success coming from this G-Unit camp, Lloyd Banks, Young Buck and The Game had each released their own solo albums and they each went platinum individually with each generating a charting rap single. This type of unanimous dominance across one camp is very rare to see, so what went wrong?
At the beginning of 2005, tensions started rising between 50 Cent and The Game which eventually led to one of the biggest feuds in hip-hop history with a slew of diss tracks and even led to a shooting outside of the Hot 97 radio station while 50 Cent was giving an interview.
Though nobody was killed, it was still evident of how serious and to what extent this beef was getting to. It was so serious that a press conference was held between the two rappers to call them to order.
Michael Jackson had also called The Game telling him to end the beef with 50 Cent.
Related: Popular rappers who had financial issues in their careers.
In 2008, it was announced by 50 that Young Buck was officially no longer a member of G-Unit, though he was still assigned to the label. 50 stated the reason for him being removed from the group was his inconsistent behavior and excessive spending.
50 also released a recorded phone call between the two men discussing their problems where Young Buck broke down crying to be let back into the crew.
It’s kind of a hit to your reputation when you’re part of one of the biggest gangster rock groups of all time and then a phone call gets released of you crying. It’s just not a good look. This led to Young Buck releasing a diss track titled the taped conversation where he addresses the whole thing.
At this point G-Unit as a group moved into obscurity and we didn’t hear or see much of Lloyd Banks or Tony Yayo and it seemed that 50 had transitioned more into a businessman. Primarily, while the focus of his music took a backseat, 50 started a number of business ventures including his lucrative vitamin water deal and starting the hit series Power in February of 2014.
Tony Yayo claimed that G-Unit had broken up and he said he was no longer friends with 50. This led to 50 responding in an interview a few months later after Yayo’s comments, saying that due to the group’s inner turmoil G-Unit had been dismantled. So just as it seemed, G-Unit was officially over on June 1st of the same year.
The group reunited on stage at summer jam with all the original members and Louisiana rapper Kidd Kidd as an addition. The only person who was not included in the reunion was The Game. This reunion was followed up with multiple EPs, remixes and music videos. However, these releases did not receive the attention and acclaim as their previous work.
In 2018, it was announced by Kidd Kidd that he was leaving G-Unit as a group and record label, the same year 50 released a song titled Crazy featuring PnB Rock where he claimed that Lloyd Banks and him are no longer on speaking terms.
Shortly after this, Banks announced his departure from the group which now currently leaves only 50 and Tony Yayo on the roster. 50’s career as a mogul blossomed and only continued to get bigger. But much of 50’s mentality that he got from the streets had remained as he seems to have a lot of tough love for the unit.
So what are the rest of the G-Unit members up to now? Well, Lloyd Banks stayed pretty quiet from his 2018 departure up until now. Lloyd was dealing with a lot at the time, including the passing of his father. Some time in June, Banks released The Course of the Inevitable which sold 12,000 copies and received generally positive reviews. It was the first album Lloyd Banks had released in 11 years.
Young Buck who has probably had the hardest transition since departing from G-Unit has filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy earlier this year. To make matters even worse, 50 was going after him in court stating that Young Buck still contractually owes him either two albums or 250 thousand dollars from his previous contract.
He was allegedly asking the court to dismiss the whole bankruptcy application for this reason alone, which is pretty savage considering 50 is well aware of what Young Buck’s financial situation is. Although 50 said that this is his problem to deal with.
For Tony Yayo, not much is known about him currently, as he flies pretty under the radar. But if there’s anything that we know for certain it’s probably that him and 50 are most likely not cool anymore.
