G-Unit is an American hip hop group originating from New York City. G-Unit emerged on the New York scene by independently releasing several mixtapes.

The name of the group is short for "Guerrilla Unit" as well as "Gangsta Unit". The group's founding members, 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks, and Tony Yayo all grew up on the same block, they rapped and sold drugs together.

When 50 Cent was spotted and signed to a label, both Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo worked hard on mixtapes in order to gain attention as artists themselves. 50 Cent was then dropped from his label due to him being shot 9 times in front of his grandmother's house.

They saw 50 Cent as too much of a risk to keep. In 2003, the groups debut album, Beg for Mercy, was released. However, whilst the album was being recorded, Tony Yayo was sentenced to jail on charges of gun possession. Therefore, he only makes two appearances both on pre-recorded tracks.

His face is seen on the brick wall of the album cover because he could not be photographed on account of his jail sentence. Beg for Mercy sold 2.3 million copies in the U.S. and 4 million copies worldwide. The only featured guest on the album was R&B singer, Joe. Production came from Hi-Tek, Dr. Dre, Scott Storch as well as others.

G-Unit have confirmed that they are currently working and recording for their second album, Locked & Loaded, which will be releases during 2007.