The Game

Name at birth: Jayceon Taylor, a.k.a. The Game, is a California rapper whose 2005 debut album, The Documentary, entered the charts at no. 1 -- just weeks before a public feud with rapper 50 Cent resulted in a shooting that made national headlines. The Game grew up in Compton, home of hip-hop's "gangsta" sound and the likes of Ice Cube and Dr. Dre. A gang member and drug dealer, Taylor was attacked in his home in 2001 and shot five times. He survived a three-day coma and decided to devote himself to a career in music. An independently produced demo, Untold Story, sold a few thousand copies and caught the attention of music producer-mogul Dr. Dre, who began working with The Game in 2002. The Game's first album was highly anticipated, thanks to the news that collaborators included Dre, Kanye West and 50 Cent. A duet with 50 Cent, the single "How We Do," added to the excitement, and when The Documentary was released it sold nearly 600,000 copies in the first week. Coinciding with The Game's chart success was a public beef with 50 Cent which reached its peak with a shooting incident outside a New York radio station in March of 2005.

Extra credit: The Game provides a voice in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2005, also with the voice of Samuel L. Jackson).