User:Benjamin Drew
Benjamin Paul Drew (born October 22nd 1980), better known as Plan B, is a British rapper, record producer and actor. Drew released his debut album "Who Needs Actions When You Got Words" in April 1996 through his own label, Pet Cemetery Records. The album recieved rave critical acclaim but failed to become commercially successful. His second studio album "Infinite", also released through Pet Cemetery, was released in July 1997 and peaked at #19 in the UK.
In 1998, Drew signed a recording contract with Interscope Records and released his debut major-label album "The Benjamin Drew LP" in 2000. It achieved both commercial and critical success, selling 19 million copies worldwide, became the fastest-selling solo album in United States history and won the GRAMMY Award for 'Best Rap Album'. His next two studio albums, "The Show" and "Encore", also won the GRAMMY accolade, making Drew the first artist to win Best Rap Album for three consecutive albums. "The Show" sold 19 million albums and "Encore" sold 11 million worldwide. In 2005, Drew released his first compilation album "Curtain Calls: The Hits" which became his fourth US #1 album. Following the release, Drew went on hiatus from recording music.
In 2009, Drew returned to music with the release of his sixth studio album "Relapse" which sold 5 million copies worldwide and "Recovery" was released in 2010 as his seventh studio album.
Drew is the best-selling artist of the decade on the US Nielsen SoundScan, and has sold more than 86.5 million albums worldwide to date, making him one of the best-selling music artists in the world. In 2005, Drew was ranked 79th on the VH1 100 Greatest Artists of All-Time. He was also ranked 82nd on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. He was also named the Best Rapper Alive by Vibe magazine in 2008.
Including his work with D12, Drew has achieved nine No. 1 albums on the Billboard Top 200, 7 solo (6 studio albums, 1 compilation) and 2 with D12. Drew has had 13 number one singles worldwide. In December 2009, Drew was named the Artist of the Decade by Billboard magazine. His albums The Show, The Benjamin Drew LP, and Encore (in order) ranked as the 3rd, 7th, and 40th best-selling albums of the 2000–2009 decade by Billboard magazine. Also according to Billboard, he has two of his albums among the top five highest selling albums of the 2000s.
In the UK, Eminem has sold over 12.5 million records. He has also sold more than 33 million track downloads and 39.6 million albums in the United States alone. In 2010, MTV ranked drew as the 7th biggest icon in pop music history. During 2010, Drew's music generated 94 million streams, more than any other music artist.
"Love the Way You Lie", the second single from 2010's Recovery was the best-selling single of 2010 in the United Kingdom even though it did not reach number 1 there, the first time this has happened in the UK since 1969. Drew has scored over 1 billion views on his official Vevo page on Youtube.
Personal Life[edit | edit source]
Drew has been the subject of much scrutiny, both as a rapper as well as in his personal life. Drew has been married to Kimberley Ann Scott twice. The couple met in 1991 whilst in high school and went through a violent on-off relationship. The couple married, for the first time, on July 24th 1999 and divorced by December 2001. In 2000, Scott attempted suicide and sued Drew for defamation after he depicted her violent death in his song "Kim". The couple re-married in January 2006 but had filed for divorce again by December of the same year. The couple have one biological child, Hailie Jade Drew (born December 25th 1995). Drew is also the adopted father of Scott's niece Alaine Drew and Whitney Scott, a child from a relationship by Scott.
Drew also has a son, Steven James Drew (born May 29th 2003) with Danni Jackson, someone who he dated between his marriages to Scott. Drew is the main carer of the child and Jackson only granted visitation rights.
Drug Abuse[edit | edit source]
In 2010, it was rumoured that Drew and Scott had decided to marry for a third time. The story was swiftly denied by Drew who said "I love Kim as the mother of my child but me and her won't happen again.