Lloyd Banks

Met with critical and commercial success, it peaked atop the Billboard 200 and spawned the Billboard Hot 100-top ten single, "On Fire", as well as the top 20 single "Karma" (featuring Avant or Kevin Cossom). His second album, Rotten Apple (2006) peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 and saw mixed reviews. In 2010, Banks left Interscope Records and signed with EMI —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 saw a critical rebound and peaked at number 26 on the chart. Over a decade later, he independently released his fourth album, The Course of the Inevitable (2021) to critical acclaim.

• Name — Lloyd Banks • Alias — Blue Hefner • Birth Name — Christopher Charles Lloyd • Born — 30 April 1982 • Birthplace — Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. • Origin — Queens, New York City, U.S. • Genre — East Coast hip-hop • Occupation — * Rapper • songwriter • Years Active — 2001–present • Label — * Money by Any Means • Empire • Interscope • G-Unit • EMI • Past Member Of — G-Unit • Website — lloydbanks.com

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 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 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". Soon after the group 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.

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.

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

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. The album was a commercial success, receiving positive reviews. It debuted at number 1 on the Billboard charts with over 433,000 copies sold in the first week. The album has since sold over 1.5 million copies and has been certified platinum by the RIAA. During an interview, Lloyd Banks commented on his first week sales: That's the kind of debut that veteran artists have," says Banks. "That showed me that following 50's moves and studying the way that he played the game had put me in an incredible position. Two other singles were also released from The Hunger For More, "I'm So Fly" and "Karma", the latter was a hit reaching number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 9 on the R&B charts and number 6 on the rap charts. At the time of the album's release, Lloyd Banks was managed by Sha Money XL and Teamwork Music.

• Illustration — Banks performing in 2006 The Big Withdrawal was originally intended to be Lloyd Banks' second album. The album was leaked to the internet after Banks had a ménage à trois encounter with two women and left the CD album behind. The leaked version of the album contained 23 tracks. During an interview, Lloyd Banks commented on the issue, he said: Due to the leak, Lloyd Banks began work on Rotten Apple. "Rotten Apple" is a play on New York City's nickname "The Big Apple". It was released on October 10, 2006. The album debuted at #3, selling 143,000 copies in its first week. Rotten Apple was not considered as a commercial success because his debut album sold a significantly higher number of copies in its first week. He has released three singles from Rotten Apple: "Hands Up", "The Cake", and "Help".

Banks was dropped from Interscope Records in 2009. He is still signed to G-Unit Records, which will release his new album. Banks released a mixtape on his 27th birthday, which fell on April 30, 2009; it included the track "Officer Down" that dissed Rick Ross. Banks also released a mixtape in 2009 called V5. In 2010, Interscope Records reached back out to try to re-sign Lloyd Banks. Banks did not go for it and put his third album out under G-Unit Records.

In late January 2010, it was announced that Banks would release a new song, "Beamer, Benz, or Bentley" featuring Juelz Santana, from his upcoming third studio album. "Beamer, Benz, or Bentley" charted at #49 on the Billboard Hot 100. In early June, Banks released the second single off the album, "Any Girl" featuring R&B singer Lloyd. In November 2010, he released the third single Start It Up featuring Swizz Beatz, Kanye West, Ryan Leslie and Fabolous. Lloyd released the fourth single off the album, "I Don't Deserve You", featuring R&B singer Jeremih. Banks release info via his Twitter announcing that the title for his third album has tentatively been called 'The Hunger for More 2' and will attempt to take him back to his best work. The title of the album was confirmed by 50 Cent as The Hunger for More 2 in an interview with MTV News. According to Banks, Interscope was trying to get him back due to the success of the single "Beamer, Benz, or Bentley", but failed when Lloyd Banks revealed that he had signed a deal with EMI. After being dropped by Interscope Records in 2009, Lloyd Banks announced in August 2010, on MTV News that EMI Label Services signed a deal with 50 Cent's label, G-Unit Records, in which EMI will distribute and promote releases on the G-Unit roster in North America including Lloyd Banks third album H.F.M. 2 (Hunger for More 2). In October 2011, Banks was featured on the remix of Queen's Rapper Trav's single "Ride The Wave" alongside Juelz Santana. Banks' had this to say about the deal,It's refreshing to see the EMI staff excited about my project, they have the passion and energy I haven't seen in while.

During a performance at BB King's in New York City on August 2, 2015, Banks addressed his long-awaited Cold Corner 3 mixtape and expressed disappointment at the current state of hip-hop. He explained that the project would be released commercially, and available for pre-order. However, if he's not satisfied with the pre-order numbers, it will not be released.

• Illustration — Banks performing in Australia in 2019 In June 2018, Lloyd banks left G-Unit Records, as announced in an Instagram post by 50 Cent. Despite public perception largely being that the relationship between 50 Cent and Lloyd Banks was amicable, as 50 Cent had recently told fans to check out Banks' new mixtape, 50 Cent later spoke about the different members of G-Unit in an interview with Big Boy and said "Banks, he just... I don't even know. He couldn't even tell you like at any point when you speak to him where the problem is. I put him like where I put Marquise, like they just have something internal going on with them that gives them some sort of resentment towards me, and I just don't even care about what's going on". Trav, a former associate of G-Unit, went on Instagram live and addressed the matter, saying: "Banks [sic] father died, bro, and Banks was sad, bro. All Banks wanted to do was him to pull up like, 'yo, bro. I'm sorry for your condolences.' Because the nigga 50 don't come from no family, he tried to play like this fake role. Like man, you ain't even know your father". 50 Cent went on to call Lloyd Banks "lazy" in his book Hustle Harder, Hustle Smarter, which Lloyd Banks seemingly responded to in his song Stranger Things. Lloyd Banks hasn't spoke on the matter publicly, however he has sent words that seem to be aimed at 50 Cent on numerous songs, including Cold Summer Freestyle and Stranger Things. In-between Lloyd Banks departure from G-Unit and June 2021, he remained relatively quiet other than introducing a clothing line and touring places such as Australia. Lloyd banks wasn't doing interviews or releasing any new projects other than some freestyles. Lloyd Banks hadn't released a new project since his mixtape Halloween Havoc 3 in 2016. He would also go on to twitter to tweet things such as "Let's be real..ain't nobody checking for Banks anymore", leaving fans wondering if Lloyd Banks was done with music. In April 2021, he released a post on Instagram that teased possible new music which continued on May 25, when a video was released with a brief spoken-word monologue from poet Rashan Brown. A tracklist and cover art were revealed the same day. The album was released on June 4, 2021. His 4th album and first album in 11 years was named The Course of the Inevitable, and sold 12,000 copies in its first week. The album received very positive reviews. Lloyd Banks seemed happy with the reception, as he spoke about more upcoming music at a concert he held in Sony Hall.

• Film — Role — Year — Notes • Before I Self Destruct — School Teacher — 2009 — uncredited • Morning Glory — Himself — 2010 • Sleepless — Gunman — 2017

• Year — Film — Role — Notes • 2003–04 — The Howard Stern Show — Himself — 2 Episodes • 2004–05 — Jimmy Kimmel Live! — Himself — 3 Episodes • 2006 — Flavor of Love — Himself — Famous Friends and Strangeness • 2007 — MTV Cribs — Himself • 2008 — 50 Cent: The Money and the Power — Himself • 2010 — The Mo'Nique Show — Himself — Episode 172 • 2010 — Chelsea Lately — Himself — Season 4: Episode 159 • Video Games • Year — Title — Role — Notes • 2005 — 50 Cent: Bulletproof — Himself — Voice role and likeness • 2009 — 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand — Himself — Voice role and likeness

Lloyd Banks was born on 30 April 1982 in Baltimore. Banks held the nationality of United States. Banks was educated at August Martin High School. Banks worked as rapper, songwriter and musician. Banks was active from 1999. The fields Banks worked in include hip-hop, East Coast hip-hop, gangsta rap and hardcore hip-hop. Banks played the voice.

• Studio albums • The Hunger for More (2004) • Rotten Apple (2006) • H.F.M. 2 (The Hunger for More 2) (2010) • The Course of the Inevitable (2021) • The Course of the Inevitable 2 (2022) • The Course of the Inevitable III: Pieces of My Pain (2023); • Collaborative albums • Beg for Mercy (with G-Unit) (2003) • T·O·S (Terminate on Sight) (with G-Unit) (2008)