Latest news with #GUnit
Daily Mail
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
50 Cent's rapper friend Bang Em Smurf is staying in a taxpayer-funded UK asylum hotel - after being jailed over a shootout in the US
One of rapper 50 Cent's group G-Unit is an asylum seeker living in a UK hotel at the taxpayers' expense. Bang Em Smurf, real name Daniel Calliste, was a short-lived member of the hip hop posse - even appearing in the video for the iconic 2003 chart topper In Da Club. Calliste is now living in the Novotel hotel near Stevenage in Hertfordshire, which is being used to house asylum seekers, The Sun reported. The 102-room, four-star property is currently closed to the public. Calliste is believed to have fled to the UK at the end of 2024 after claiming he was under threat from gang members in his homeland of Trinidad. He was born there but emigrated to America and started rapping age 15, ending up as part of the original G-Unit line-up and unofficially 50 Cent's head of security. 'You couldn't breathe the same air as 50 without going through Smurf. That was his shooter, his gunner,' fellow Queens Domination told Vice in 2005. However the pair later fell out when Calliste got arrested after a New York shoot out in 2004, 50 Cent - real name Curtis Jackson - refused to pay Smurf's $75,000 bail. 'That's when I first started working with Domination. I had a mixtape with Domination, and I'm on the block and my homie got a situation, and this dude he had a problem with knocked him out,' Calliste told 'Laid him flat out in front of me, and that's my dude. So we did what we did. Dudes we got in the conflict with kept it gutter. 'They got hit up, they didn't say nothing – they didn't go to no hospital in Queens. I respect their gangsta.' Smurf ended up serving three-and-a-half years for gun possession after the incident and was deported back to Trinidad upon his release. A source said: 'It's crazy he was let in after being deported from the US with a criminal record for violent offences. 'His history is well known. He is being supported by the taxpayer.' Calliste claims he came to the UK as Universal was planning to adapt his 2018 memoir Wisdom of a Wolf: The G Behind the Unit into a film. He was also spotted enjoying his 44th birthday in Battersea in South London earlier this year. Members of the group "G-Unit," Young Buck, left, 50 Cent, center, and Lloyd Banks perform at the MTV studios in New York's Times Square as part of MTV's 'Spankin' New Music Week,' Thursday, Nov. 13, 2003 It is believed that Calliste's application for asylum has been rejected and he will be deported back to his native Trinidad. He told The Sun: 'There ain't no story. You're talking to the horse's mouth. I'm telling you, that's fake news.'
The Sun
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
50 Cent's rapper pal Bang Em Smurf staying in UK asylum hotel paid for by YOU after fleeing gangs in his native Trinidad
A RAPPER pal of 50 Cent is staying in a taxpayer-funded hotel while claiming asylum. Bang Em Smurf, real name Daniel Calliste, was jailed in the US following a shootout. 5 5 He is living in a Novotel near Stevenage, Herts. Smurf is understood to have arrived here late last year claiming he needed 'safety from gangs ' in his native Trinidad. A source said: 'It's crazy he was let in after being deported from the US with a criminal record for violent offences. 'His history is well known. He is being supported by the taxpayer.' For asylum accommodation, an applicant must tick a box to say they'd otherwise be destitute. The 102-room, four-star Novotel, off the A1 near Knebworth House, is closed to the public while housing refugees. Smurf was born in Trinidad but moved to the US and began his rap career at 15. He was part of the original G-Unit rap outfit and said to be 50 Cent's head of security. He is in the video for 2003 No 1 In Da Club but they later fell out. In 2004 Smurf served 3½ years for gun possession after a New York shootout. Fury as hotel firm housing asylum seekers in 'all-inclusive resort' paid £700m a year of YOUR money 50 Cent refused to pay his bail, leading to both releasing 'diss tracks'. After his release Smurf was deported to Trinidad. He told us he came to the UK as he had a deal with Universal to turn his 2018 memoir Wisdom of a Wolf: The G Behind the Unit into a film. Instagram pictures show him in the UK from December and celebrating his 44th birthday on January 4 in Battersea, South London. 5 He appeared on podcasts and at a boxing event at Harrow Leisure Centre in February. That month, he met Lord Michael Hastings at the Lords, saying his trip was linked to young people's mental health in Trinidad. In March he launched clothing brand The Industry Fake. The Sun understands his application for asylum has been refused and he will be returned to Trinidad. The cost of housing those seeking refugee status has ballooned to £5.5million a day. Around 38,000 are currently based in 210 hotels, but the Home Office is running an audit of the migrants to see if each is eligible for taxpayer-funded aid. It declined to comment on individual cases. Smurf told our reporter: 'There ain't no story. You're talking to the horse's mouth. I'm telling you, that's fake news.' 5 5
