“I feel like I got jerked at the Grammys. I don’t understand how they get best new artist." From 50 Cent invading the stage to Eminem still grumbling about it years later, the story behind Evanescence's chaotic first big awards win

50 Cent on stage with a bemused Evanescence.

You couldn't move for 50 Cent come the start of 2004. The rap megastar born Curtis Jackson had been dominating mainstream media for a year straight: his debut album, Get Rich Or Die Tryin', was the biggest-selling LP of 2003 and the fastest-selling debut album by any hip hop artist in history, shifting a cool 872,000 copies in its first week, and going onto sell over 12 million more.

Fiddy's instantaneous, club-ready bangers (In Da Club is in your head right now, admit it), superstar associates (discovered by Eminem, produced by Dr. Dre) and bad boy image (dealt narcotics at school, shot nine times in front of his grandma's house in Queens - instant anti-hero folklore) made him the poster boy for an imminent new wave of gangsta rap and one of the single biggest young names in music. By the time of the 2004 Grammys, it seemed like a shoe-in that he'd be walking home with the Best New Artist gong.