JERSEY CITY AND BEYOND -- Rapper 50 Cent is coming to Jersey City's new Best Buy Store on 18th Street Friday night at 6 p.m. to celebrate the release of his new album Before I Self Destruct.

50 Cent, aka Curtis Jackson, will be taking photos with fans who received an exclusive pass for a photo opportunity. The rap star is known for his hits, "In da Club" and "Candy Shop." He will also be making an appearance at 9 p.m. at the Best Buy on 14th Street in Manhattan.

This is not the first JC appearance for Fifty.

In September 2003, Jackson and his entourage were shot at in the parking lot of the Doubletree Hotel on Washington Boulevard. No was wounded in the incident.

His other Jersey City connection is local resident and celebrity matrimonial lawyer Paul Catsandonis, who represented Jackson's longtime girlfriend and mother of their 11-year-old son, Shaniqua Tompkins, in her $50 million lawsuit against the rapper. However, the case was dismissed in court in February, but Catsandonis said his client is looking at a potential defamation claim against the rapper. - RK