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Rapper 50 Cent arrested in New York
09/08/2006 4:23 PM, Reuters
Gail Appleson
Rapper 50 Cent was arrested for
traffic offenses while driving a silver, open-topped
Lamborghini on Friday, generating a crowd that cheered the
recording artist and jeered police as they handcuffed him.
The rapper, whose given name is Curtis Jackson, was cited
for making an unsafe lane change, driving with an expired
permit, driving without insurance and driving without a vehicle
registration, a police spokesman said.
The 31-year-old recording artist was pulled over in Midtown
Manhattan by plainclothes officers in an unmarked patrol car.
At first he refused a police order to get out of the car,
instead making a call on his cell phone, tourist Ian Parvess
said.
"Eventually the cops opened the door. ... He just got out
of the car and put his hands on the car and they put the cuffs
on him," Parvess, who videotaped the arrest, told Reuters.
50 Cent, wearing a black baseball cap over a white do-rag
and a shiny silver necklace over a white T-shirt, was taken to
a police station and released soon after being given four
summonses, a police spokeswoman said.
Spectators crowded around the scene outside the New Yorker
Hotel, insulting police and breaking into a chorus of boos when
the star was handcuffed.
The bullet-scarred, tattooed king of the hip-hop charts
last year starred in a movie based on his life, "Get Rich or
Die Tryin'."
The movie's title is the same as his 2003 debut CD, which
sold 7.6 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, which
tracks record sales. His three albums have sold 13.7 million
records overall.
New York-born Jackson, who took the name 50 Cent after of a
fabled Brooklyn thief, became the first artist to have four
songs in the top 10 of Billboard's Hot 100 since the Beatles in
1964.
His spokeswoman did not immediately return phone calls
seeking comment.
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