Lloyd Banks

Lloyd Banks, born Christopher Charles Lloyd on April 30, 1982, is a rapper from Queens, New York, and one of the founding members of G-Unit, the collective assembled by 50 Cent that came to dominate mainstream hip-hop in the mid-2000s. Nicknamed the Punch Line King for his dense, wordplay-heavy verses, Banks built his reputation on a rapid-fire delivery and vivid street narratives rooted in the ghetto-struggle and gang themes typical of that era's New York rap.

Over a career spanning six studio albums and more than a dozen mixtapes, Banks earned platinum certification and worked alongside artists including Eminem, 50 Cent, Rakim, Raekwon, and Jadakiss. Kanye West has cited him among his favorite rappers. His catalog includes tracks like «Beamer, Benz, or Bentley», «Karma», and «Start It Up».

After parting ways with G-Unit in 2018, Banks reinvented himself as an independent artist, releasing music on his own terms. Since 2021 he has issued a series of albums under the banner The Course of the Inevitable, showing a more mature, structurally complex style shaped by fatherhood and years of experience, while still rooted in his punchline-driven foundation.