Southside Queens is where the famous rapper 50 Cent (aka Curtis James Jackson III and Fiddy) started. Fiddy calls Southside his hometown neighborhood in his autobiography From Pieces to Weight: Once Upon a Time in Southside Queens and also in his film Get Rich or Die Tryin ‘ .
Southside, Queens and dates
You won’t find the name Southside on any map. For 50 Cent, Southside Queens means South Jamaica, a neighborhood in Queens, New York, which on the street is often called Southside, South Side, or Southside Jamaica.
South Jamaica is south of central Jamaica, south of the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) and Liberty Avenue, south to Baisley Boulevard. Its western side is the Van Wyck Highway, and it runs east to Merrick Boulevard (and Saint Albans) (Southside Queens Map via Google).
Northside, Queens and dates
Northside to South Jamaica is Hollis, Queens, another neighborhood of hip-hop royalty (Russell Simmons, Run DMC, LL Cool J). It is a vibrant, primarily African-American, middle-class neighborhood with tree-lined streets of single and two-family homes.
Southside Jamaica is also predominantly African American, although more and more immigrants from Latin America and the Caribbean have moved since the 1970s. It is a working-class neighborhood of mostly one- and two-family homes and small apartment buildings. There are large public housing projects that dominate two sections.
Southside, Queens in the decade of 1980
In the 1980s, Southside was an epicenter of the crack epidemic. Highly organized drug gangs made huge profits selling to crack addicts, and murdered anyone who got in their way.
The cold-blooded murder of rookie New York police officer Edward Byrnes was a watershed event in changing public and government reaction to the drug wars. The NYPD stepped up arrests and laws changed to increase prison time for drug arrests. During his 1988 election campaign, George HW Bush wore the Byrnes badge as a symbol of reunion.
Southside, Queens hoy
The violence of that time has decreased dramatically in southern Jamaica. Drugs and gangs continue to be a problem only in certain areas of Southside.
In general, life has changed for the better since the 1980s. CUNY York College moved and expanded its campus in the 1980s and early 1990s, and now enrolls 6,000 students. The AirTrain terminal to JFK was built at Archer and Sutphin, where Southside meets central Jamaica. And like New York City neighborhoods, families in southern Jamaica have benefited from the housing boom with rising property values.
Is 50 Cent really over Southside?
Southside’s 50 Cent representation is not the case for many of its residents.
However, 50 Cent’s success as an artist relies heavily on promoting events in his own life that occurred in southern Jamaica. He was in prison for drug trafficking. However, he was not a big dealer, but a street con man who threw crack. 50 Cent’s arrest by an undercover agent was at 134-25 Guy Brewer Boulevard, outside the Rochdale Village cooperatives.
50 Cent was born and raised in southern Jamaica by his grandparents. His mother was a drug dealer, killed by an unknown assailant. 50 Cent currently lives in Connecticut, preferring to stay away from the neighborhood where he was shot in May 2000, outside of his grandparents’ home.
Other famous hip-hop residents of South Jamaica
- Irv and Chris Lorenzo, formerly of the hip-hop record label Murder Inc.
- Ali Vegas, rapper and member of The Drama Kingz
- Aasim, rapper
- Lloyd Banks, rapper
- Unit G, rap group
- Grafh, rapper
- Roi Heenok, rapper
- Nicki Minaj, rapper
- Kwamé Rapper and producer
- Frenchie, rapper
- Tony Yayo, rapper
- Waka Flocka Flame, rapper
- Sutter Kain, rapper and producer
- Lost Boyz, rap group
- Mr. Cheeks, rapper
- Sticky Fingaz, rapper, actor and member of Oynx
- Fredro Starr, rapper and member of Oynx
- POnyxahe Monch, rapper and member of Organized Konfusion
