Listen to Lloyd Banks on Batanga

Lloyd Banks was born Christopher Lloyd in Baltimore, Maryland and was raised in South Jamaica, Queens. His mother is Puerto Rican and his father was African American. His parents were young and never married when Banks was born. His father spent most of Banks' childhood in prison which left Lloyd Banks' mother to raise him and his siblings alone. Lloyd Banks was left to care for his younger brothers alone when his mother was not around.

Banks started writing something resembling poetry at a young age and it started taking form. Eventually, he got the courage and rapped his rhymes on the streets of New York. People's reaction to it stunned him. He kept free styling and participating in local battles, creating an unstoppable growing buzz for himself.

Lloyd Banks grew up around the corner from 50 Cent and Tony Yayo so they would usually rap together; they starred in many city shows. Lloyd Banks attended August Martin High School in Queens, New York. Even when he was in school, instead of doing his school work he would write down everything that came to mind. Even when he wasn't rapping, he would write. It was something he did in his spare time. He could not flourish lyrically in a structured school environment, so he dropped out before he turned 16. He took his great, great grandfather's name, "Banks", which was passed on by his uncles who also shared it.

Tony Yayo, being an older and more experienced rapper, joined 50 Cent on the Nas Promo Tour, the Cash Money Tour and the Ruff Ryders Tour. As Banks remained at home waiting for 50 and Yayo to return, he started rapping around the neighborhood to further increase his buzz on the streets. He then hooked up with neighborhood producers and made tracks for local mixtapes. Lloyd Banks has a renowned reputation on the mixtape scene. In 2004, he was awarded 2004's Mixtape artist of the Year at the Mixtape Awards.

G-Unit was founded when childhood friends, Lloyd Banks, 50 Cent, and Tony Yayo decided to make a group with each other. They met Young Buck when Cash Money group came to New York and 50 Cent heard Young Buck rapping. After 50 Cent signed his contract with Aftermath Entertainment they took Young Buck in the group and signed him. Tony Yayo was later sent to prison on weapons charges.

Fronted by 50 Cent, G-Unit quickly redefined the urban music industry back to gangsta rap. They produced a series of mixtape albums with original numbers and high quality artwork, making the discs something more than a bootleg, but not quite an independent release. 50 Cent was soon granted his own record label by Dr. Dre and released the album Get Rich or Die Tryin', Lloyd Banks was featured on the song "Don't Push Me". Soon after the group had established their own record label, G-Unit Records, G-Unit released their first official group album Beg for Mercy in November of 2003, which went on to be certified 2× Platinum.

Lloyd Banks released his solo debut album The Hunger for More in June of 2004. The first single was the summer smash hit "On Fire" which featured 50 Cent. The album debuted at number 1 on the Billboard charts with 433,000 copies sold in the first week. The album has since sold over two million copies and has been certified platinum by the RIAA. Due to the leak of his second album, The Big Withdraw, Lloyd Banks began work on Rotten Apple. "Rotten Apple" is a play on New York City's nickname "The Big Apple". It was released on October 10, 2006.