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The rapper/actor/cognac mogul worked his way through his catalogue with a heavy emphasis on 2003’s Get Rich or Die Trying
Published Sep 12, 2023 • Last updated 4 hours ago • 3 minute read
US rapper Curtis James Jackson III aka 50 Cent, performs on stage during the Iconica Sevilla Fest at the Plaza de Espana in Seville on Sptember 22, 2022. Photo by CRISTINA QUICLER /AFP via Getty Images
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Show business lesson, kids, play to your strengths.
About an hour deep into his nearly two-hour set at Rogers Place Monday night, 50 Cent, at the end of a pretty incendiary guitar solo from a member of his band said to the crowd, “I can’t play guitar, but I can do this.”
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The “this” in question was a crowd-pleasing version of the song Down on Me, which brought opening act Jeremih back to the stage to sing alongside 50 Cent’s gruff raps. But more generally, the “this” was quite simple: Bring the house down.
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It’s rare at most concerts to keep the crowd on its feet for two full hours. Rock shows usually mix up the tempo and people are bound to sit down at some point, but in the case of 50 Cent Monday night, it was rare to see partygoers in their seats.
50 Cent kicked off the show in true showman style not unlike David Blaine or David Copperfield — pick your David. As a fanfare of horns piped up, a glass box appeared on the stage and filled with smoke, and when the box opened, there was 50 Cent. No ta-da, but there was plenty of flash to come.
The rapper/actor/cognac mogul (fans were treated to a loop of ads for Branson Cognac in between acts) worked his way through his catalogue with a heavy emphasis on 2003’s Get Rich or Die Trying, the rap classic being celebrated on this tour.
You could cross off all the rap stereotypes you want at the show: dancing girls, breakdancers, bras thrown from the audience, someone telling the crowd to make some mf-ing noise between songs, but that would be reductive. Ultimately, the show was a spectacle from the get-go, whether it was the fire, the fireworks, a half-dozen costume changes, yes, the dancing girls, not to mention outstanding visuals on LED displays taking us from the streets of New York to the skyscrapers to the heavens and then back to the club.
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But in spite of all the bells and whistles, this was 50’s show, and he cut a commanding presence, whether snarling through What Up Gangsta and P.I.M.P or playing to the ladies on Candy Shop and 21 Questions.
Sure, there were some moments where the bass in the show threatened to overwhelm some of the instrumental parts of some songs (particularly on my favourite, Hate It Or Love It), but for the crowd that mattered not as there was arm-waving, head-bobbing and plenty of screaming to go around, especially building from Down on Me to the end of the set.
This was in effect the largest club show in town, with or without smash hit In Da Club to finish off his main set.
Even with that climax, the encore, featuring Wanksta, Back Down and Poor Little Rich kept the crowd going.
Which was impressive, because it was basically a 4-hour standing-only affair.
Jeremih got the crowd suitably worked up, getting the floor and a lot of the bleachers up on their feet with bouncy club R&B.
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Despite some issues with his monitor, he kept the crowd moving to the deep bass and sultry grooves, especially on Birthday Sex, Oui and the Don’t Tell ‘Em, which closed out his set.
Hip-hop legend Busta Rhymes didn’t let the crowd off easy either.
The charismatic MC brought his own bag of tricks, including rapid-fire flow, Cheshire-cat grin and the ability to work the crowd.
It’s the flow that made the biggest impression, rattling off lyrics at a machine gun cadence on Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See, his blistering verse from 1991 A Tribe Called Quest posse cut Scenario, and Break Ya Neck, the subject of many a TikTok video, which sees him casting off nine words a second like it was breathing.
It was all a fitting set-up for the main act, but again proved the lesson, play to your strengths.
REVIEW
50 Cent, Busta Rhymes, Jeremih, Pressa
Where Roger Place
When Monday, Sept. 11
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