Lloyd Banks
by Finnall on Aug.12, 2010, under Lloyd Banks
Christopher Charles Lloyd, better known by his stage name Lloyd Banks, is an American rapper.
Born 30th April 1982 in New Carrollton, Maryland but raised in South Jamaica, Queens, New York City, Lloyd took an interest in music – and especially hip hop music – from a young age. He started rapping in his early teens and soon joined the rap group G-Unit – short for Guerilla Unit – with his friends Curtis Jackson (aka 50 Cent) and Marvin Bernard (aka Tony Yayo). They spent the next few years releasing several popular mixtapes, including God’s Plan, No Mercy No Fear and Automatic Gunfire.
Banks’ first professional appearance was on the track Don’t Push Me for bandmate 50 Cent’s 2003 debut album Get Rich or Die Tryin’. G-Unit also recorded a remix of 50 Cent’s hit single P.I.M.P. featuring Snoop Dogg, which shot to number three on the Billboard Hot 100.
The group’s first official studio album release was postponed when Yayo was sent to prison for gun possession, but they soon replaced him with the Nashville rapper Young Buck and went back into the studio. Beg for Mercy was released in November 2003 and was a big commercial success. It reached number two in the US charts, selling over six million copies worldwide, and produced the Hot 100 Top 15 singles Stunt 101 and Wanna Get to Know You (ft. Joe). This was followed in 2008 by T.O.S: Terminate on Sight and the singles I Like the Way She Do It (ft. Young Buck) and Rider Pt. 2 (ft. Young Buck).
Since 2004 Banks has also enjoyed a successful solo career, releasing a total of two studio albums to date – The Hunger for More and Rotten Apple – which reached numbers one and three respectively on the Billboard 200. They have also produced hit singles like On Fire, Karma (ft. Avant) and Beamer, Benz, or Bentley (ft. Juelz Santana).
The rapper’s third solo album H.F.M. 2 is due for release in September 2010.
