antedating (?) "Katy, bar the door" (1890)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On 10/11/07, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Speaking of "fiddy," have you read that the rapper, Curtis Jackson,
> when asked why it is that he uses the nom-de-hiphop, "50 Cent,"
> replied that his stage name represents change.

Well, that's more pleasant than his other explanation, which is that
it's an homage to the notorious triggerman Kelvin "50 Cent" Martin...

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http://www.stuffmagazine.com/articles/index.aspx?id=1112
Nobody, including family and friends, seems to know exactly how Martin
acquired the name 50 Cent. Some say he earned it in a dice game, after
he walked away with a cool $500 after an initial wager of 50 cents.
Others suspect it was because of his five-foot-three, 120-pound frame.
"He was a short guy," says 50's former criminal cohort One Arm Monk,
who fenced all the bling 50 stole. "He was little."
[...]
The pitiless mastermind of countless homicides, 50 Cent's reputation
far outweighed the money he made, and his legacy lives on through
folklore as well as through the music and imagery of Curtis "50 Cent"
Jackson. "I took the name 50 Cent because it says everything I want it
to say. I'm the same kind of person 50 Cent was. I provide for myself
by any means," says Jackson.
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--Ben Zimmer

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