JOHNSTON - Rapper 50 Cent was in town on Monday for the filming of a documentary exploring his roots.

50 Cent’s ancestry has been traced back to Edgefield County. In an interview Monday, Mark Anstendig, supervising producer of VHI who is making the documentary, said 50 Cent’s grandparents are from Edgefield and his great-grandfather, Will Jenkins, worked for Maxwell & Halford Drugstore in the 1940s and 1950s.

Tommy Stone, current owner of Maxwell & Halford, said many people in town remember Jenkins.

“It was common then for drugstores to have a porter who made deliveries on a bicycle,” he said. “They say Jenkins worked as a porter here.”

 Anstendig said it wasn’t until recently that 50 Cent’s grandmother, Beaulah Jackson, told him about his roots.

“50 Cent has expressed a deep desire to explore his roots in the Edgefield area-which go back several generations,” he said. “This documentary serves as a cinematic record of that exploration.”

Anstendig said it is his understanding that it is 50 Cent’s first return to South Carolina since his childhood.

Jackson’s aunt, Gladys Simpkins of Aiken and daughter of Will Jenkins, was on hand Monday for the filming and said she will do everything she can to help 50 Cent in his exploration.

The rapper, born Curtis James Jackson II, in the South Jamaica section of Queens, has lived in New York City all his life. According to a biography by Rod Reece, he was raised by his grandparents after his father ran out and his mother was shot when he was only 8 years old. Growing up, the Queens rapper originally wanted to be a heavyweight boxer, but eventually fell back on rapping.

His debut album, “Get Rich or Die Tryin’” was the highest debut ever with 900,000 copies sold in the first week, according to Reece. He was noted #8 on VH1’s 100 Hottest Hotties.

The documentary, “50’s Roots,” is on an Emmy-Award winning series on VH1 called “Rock Docs,” said Anstendig.
 
The rapper spent much of Wednesday in Edgefield, even taking in lunch at the Edgefield Grille.