Lloyd Banks

He was born to a Puerto Rican mother, Rosa Lloyd and an African American father. His father was mostly in prison while young Lloyd grew up and he was primarily raised by his mother.

He attended August Martin High School for some time but dropped out at the age of 16.

He grew up in the same neighbourhood as did 50 Cent and Tony Yayo, and the three boys became close friends. Their neighbourhood was marked by street violence and the boys sought solace in music and rapping.

As a youngster Lloyd started making mixtapes which made him popular in his locality. His neighbourhood producers appreciated his talents and he planned to start his own group. His friends 50 Cent and Tony Yayo were also promising rappers and the trio started their own hip hop group G-Unit.

The group released several mixtapes series. Their first official mixtape was ’50 Cent Is the Future’ which was out in 2002. This was followed by the mixtapes ‘God’s Plan’, ‘No Mercy’, and ‘Automatic Gunfire’.

G-Unit planned to record an album, but Tony Yayo was sentenced to prison for gun-possession before they could record it. During Yayo’s prison sentence the group signed the rapper Young Buck.

The group’s debut album ‘Beg for Mercy’ was released in November 2003. The album was a big hit which featured the tracks ‘Wanna Get to Know You’, and ‘My Buddy’.

Banks embarked on a solo career and brought out his album ‘The Hunger for More’ in 2004. It also featured his band mates from G-Unit. The album had the singles ‘On Fire’ and ‘Karma’, the former of which was a top ten hit single. ‘On Fire’ was also nominated for a Grammy award for Best Rap Solo Performance.

His debut album ‘The Hunger for More’ debuted at No.1 on the U.S. Billboard 200. The album was positively reviewed and accredited multi-platinum in the U.S. and platinum in Canada.