Lloyd Banks

Christopher Charles Lloyd (born April 30, 1982), better known by his stage name Lloyd Banks, is an American rapper.

He began his career as a member of East Coast hip hop group G-Unit, alongside childhood friends 50 Cent and Tony Yayo.

On September 10, 2001, Banks was shot twice while leaving a nightclub in Southside Jamaica, Queens.

He was hit in the back and stomach, and ran to the nearest hospital after suffering the injuries.

He woke up the next morning to news of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and watched from his hospital bed as the Twin Towers fell to the ground.

After the group released their debut album Beg for Mercy (2003), Banks released his debut solo album, The Hunger for More in 2004.

The album was met with positive reception, peaked atop the Billboard 200, and spawned the Billboard Hot 100- top ten single, "On Fire".

Soon after the group had established their own record label, G-Unit Records, G-Unit released their first official group album Beg for Mercy in November 2003, which went on to be certified double platinum.

Lloyd Banks released his solo debut album The Hunger for More in June 2004.

The first single was the summer smash hit "On Fire" which featured 50 Cent, however he was uncredited.

Banks explained the reasoning behind the album's title:

When I say The Hunger for More, it could be referring to more success.

It could be more money.

Or Respect.

More power.

More understanding.

All those things lead up to that hunger for more, because my more isn't everybody else's more.

I feel like I made it already, because I got already what everybody on the corners of the neighborhood I grew up in is striving to get.

During August 2005, Lloyd Banks, Young Buck, and their entourage were traveling in a van, when the vehicle was pulled over after passing through a red light in midtown Manhattan.

Officers said they discovered a loaded handgun and another weapon in the van.

Prosecutors asked a judge to dismiss the charges after an investigation determined that neither Lloyd Banks nor Young Buck were in possession of the weapons.

He followed up with his second album Rotten Apple (2006), which saw mixed reviews and a commercial decline.

Felony gun charges against Lloyd Banks and Young Buck were dropped on November 8, 2006.

Banks then left Interscope Records and signed with EMI in 2010—along with his G-Unit cohorts—to release his third album, H.F.M. 2 (The Hunger For More 2) in November that year, which was met with improved critical reception and moderate commercial response.

Over a decade later, he independently released his fourth album, The Course of the Inevitable (2021) to critical acclaim.

Christopher Lloyd was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and raised in the South Jamaica section of the Queens borough in New York City; he is of mixed Puerto Rican and African-American descent.

His father spent most of Lloyd's childhood in prison, leaving his mother to raise him and his two siblings.

Lloyd attended August Martin High School but dropped out at the age of 16.

For his stage name, he took his great, great-grandfather's name Banks, which was passed on by his uncles who also shared it.

G-Unit was founded when childhood friends Lloyd Banks, 50 Cent, and Tony Yayo decided to form a group.

They met Young Buck when UTP group came to New York and 50 Cent heard Young Buck rapping.

After 50 Cent signed his contract with Aftermath Entertainment they took Young Buck in the group and signed him.

Tony Yayo, being an older and more experienced rapper, joined 50 Cent on the Nas Promo Tour, the Cash Money Tour and the Ruff Ryders Tour.

As Banks remained at home waiting for 50 and Yayo to return, he started rapping around the neighborhood to further increase his buzz on the streets.

He then hooked up with neighborhood producers and recorded tracks for local mixtapes, becoming renowned on the mixtape scene.

While Banks was recording Mixtapes, 50 Cent was soon granted his own record label by Dr. Dre and released the album Get Rich or Die Tryin' ; Lloyd Banks was featured on the song "Don't Push Me", and the remixed version of "P.I.M.P".

In the early morning hours of January 9, 2010, in a Kitchener, Ontario hotel, an alleged altercation took place between Banks and a concert promoter over performance fees.

Banks, and three of his associates, were later charged with forcible confinement, aggravated assault and robbery, and released on $50,000 bail.

The most well known feud involving Lloyd Banks is the feud between himself and The Game, which became public after The Game left G-Unit.

Banks speculates that The Game was jealous about the attention Banks received after the success of his debut album The Hunger for More as well as Banks winning a lyricist title.