Editing G-Unit (section)

===Formation and early years (2001–2002)===

The group's founding members, [[50 Cent]], [[Lloyd Banks]] and [[Tony Yayo]] were all friends raised in [[South Jamaica]], a neighborhood in the [[Queens, New York|Queens]] borough of [[New York City, New York]], and began rapping together.<ref>[http://www.g-unitsoldier.com/main.html Tony Yayo, in an interview, explains their past]. G Unit Soldier. Retrieved July 16, 2007.</ref><ref name=RS>Touré (April 3, 2003).[https://web.archive.org/web/20070516085920/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5939379/the_life_of_a_hunted_man/1 The Life of a Hunted Man]. ''Rolling Stone''. Retrieved July 29, 2007.</ref><ref>Adam Matthews (May 24, 2000). [https://web.archive.org/web/20070510054015/http://www.sohh.com/articles/article.php/56 SOHH Exclusive: "50 Cent Shot in New York"]. SOHH. Retrieved September 18, 2007.</ref> After 50 Cent lost his record deal with [[Columbia Records]] in 2000, the group began recording music independently, and released several mixtapes between 2002 and 2003, the most prominent of these being ''[[50 Cent Is the Future]]'', ''[[God's Plan (album)|God's Plan]]'', ''[[No Mercy, No Fear]]'' and ''Automatic Gunfire''.