G-Unit is an American hip hop group originating from New York City. G-Unit emerged on the New York scene by independently releasing several mixtapes. The name of the group is short for "Guerrilla Unit" as well as "Gangsta Unit".
The group's founding members, 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks, and Tony Yayo all grew up on the same block, they rapped and sold drugs together. When 50 Cent was spotted and signed to a label, both Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo worked hard on mixtapes in order to gain attention as artists themselves. 50 Cent was then dropped from his label due to him being shot 9 times in front of his grandmother's house. They saw 50 Cent as too much of a risk to keep.
After being shot, 50 Cent signed to Interscope Records. Due to the success of his debut album, Get Rich or Die Tryin', he was granted his own record label. This was when G-Unit Records was created.
The group continued to work hard and released several mixtape series which earned them a lot of attention in the rap industry. The most prominent of these being 50 Cent Is the Future, God's Plan, No Mercy, No Fear and Automatic Gunfire. G-Unit have also started a mixtape series with their DJ, DJ Whoo Kid, called G-Unit Radio.
Before the group had a chance to record its debut album, Tony Yayo was sentenced to prison for a gun-possession charge as well as bail-jumping. During Tony Yayo's prison sentence, the group signed Nashville rapper, Young Buck. They continued their activity, working on yet more mixtape recordings. In particular, their 'G-Unit Remix' to 50 Cent's "P.I.M.P." was successful.
During Tony Yayo's prison sentence, G-Unit recorded their debut album, Beg for Mercy. The album was quickly released on November 14, 2003 to combat bootlegging and had significant commercial success. Tony Yayo made only two appearances on the album, both on songs that were recorded before his arrest.
