Review: 50 Cent

Hip hop star 50 Cent began his concert Thursday at the Midland Theater by posing as if he were pointing a handgun at the audience.

Photos by Chuck France/Special to The Star 

Regularly punctuated with the sound of firearms, 50 Cent's performance was a disappointingly careless sonic attack.

Simulated gunfire is common at rap concerts, but it conveys special resonance for 50 Cent. Before he became one of hip-hop's most notable success stories, he was once purportedly shot nine times. He masterfully parlayed the corresponding street credibility into his breakthrough album "Get Rich Or Die Tryin'." Partly because music fans embraced the concept of a lovable thug, the 2003 release became one of the best-selling albums of the last decade. Although the quality of his recorded work remains high, 50 Cent's popularity has begun to wane.

About 1,200 loyal fans attended his 80-minute performance. The ecstatic dancing of some indicated, as 50 Cent rapped on one of his many hits, that they loved his effort "like a fat kid loves cake." Others recognized that the concert was dull, tedious and uninspired.

50 Cent is one of the most compelling and intriguing figures in hip-hop, yet his staggeringly unimaginative presentation reduced his excellent arsenal of hits into an anonymous jumble of shouts and thuds. With no live instrumentation and spartan accompaniment from rappers Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo, bone-rattling bass and crushing bolts of synthetic percussion overwhelmed the DJ-based mix. Only fragments of songs could be discerned through the sonic assault.

The alarming absence of dynamics rendered the performance numbing. Hits including "Ayo Technology," "Disco Inferno" and "Baby By Me" were stripped of their distinctive charm. The steel drums featured on "P.I.M.P." made it the only instantly recognizable song amid the otherwise interchangeable roar. The same issue afflicts many hop-hop performances, but audiences reasonably expect that one of the genre's brightest stars would possess the foresight and creativity to avoid common pitfalls.

Still somewhat gaunt after losing a significant amount of weight for a recent film project, 50 Cent retains a disarming smile. Even so, his enormous charisma couldn't salvage overcome the evening's problematic format.

Even his monstrous hit "In da Club" was reduced to an indistinct blare. It's no surprise. 50 Cent was shooting blanks all night.

| Bill Brownlee, Special to The Star

Comments

[pellboy]

This is the way hip hop is supposed to be played live.

http://www.twitvid.com/0QJ9Z

[Bewlay]

Tip of the hat to Beatmaster Bill Brownlee for enduring that drivel.

[Goose]

FIDDYY!!
BAM BAM BAM BAM!!!

duck and cover!!

[BBfan]

""Tip of the hat to Beatmaster Bill Brownlee for enduring that drivel. ""

Posted by: Bewlay
June 11, 2010 at 02:48 PM
======================
======================

X2 >>> damn right,
BB is our hero.

and that is not sarcasm, BB does a great job at some, uh, ummmm .... interesting events, and one has gotta respect that.

GO BB GO!!

[Musical Justice]

Not bad Pell... but how 'bout this one?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if9OqHL8EFU

Best live rap performance ever? :)

[Not down wit' Fiddy]

Sorry, but I'll take actual musicians and actual lyricists who can write and play music, who can actually sing, and know about melody, choruses, and song-structure. Hip Hop is, and has always been devoid of these principles. Fans of the genre are the most easily duped of all music fans. "Best" live Rap performance is an extremely dubious distinction.

[mankvill]

One evening, VH1 or MTV (can't remember which) showed Get Rich or Die Tryin', and then right after showed the Behind The Music for 50 Cent. Both those were really interesting, although the movie is really fabricated in some spots.

Other than that, pass on this.

[fiddysux]

Yo better watch out or fiddy will bust a cap in yo azz, Hey I wonder whatever happended about fiddy saying he would give up the rap business if his album sold less than that other rapper??? anyway, I recall that fiddy lost, and yet here is doin his fiddy thang.

PS
fun fact;
Q-where does the term "bust a cap in your ass" come from?

A-I am not sure, but one night I was watching "TRUE GRIT" starring the great John Wayne and at one point (when the bad guy is guarding the girl by the snake pit) the bad guys says ""if you try running away, I will "Bust a cap in your ass"" ...
I fell out of my chair roflmao.

YO-MTV RAPS(the beginning of the end)

[mankvill]

They actually adressed that whole "I'll quit rap if I get outsold by Kanye West" thing on the Behind The Music. The two are good friends and they did that just to generate sales.

And it worked!

[geeezzz]

A bet is a bet and he is a fknwelcher and a fknliar, and it is even worse if it was a bogus publicity stunt, so not only should he quit, he should be banished to Iceland.

A man is only as good as his betting word, so viola.

When I heard of that bet I was really looking to forward to one less crap rapper, but yet here they both still are, geeezzz.

TOO ICELAND WITH YOU FIDDY!!!!

[Green]

Come on Not down wit' Fiddy, what a foolish statement ... Actual musicians and actual lyricists who can write and play music, who can actually sing, and know about melody, choruses, and song-structure. Hip Hop is, and has always been devoid of these principles.

Well, first you need to listen to more hip hop, actual lyricists, performers who actually sing, its hip hop, beats and rhyms aren't given by singing. Sure at times there is some singing but its not a driving force behind the music. Thats like hating a honda civic because it can't haul a boat.

Melody, choruses, and song-structure can all be found in hip hop, try and look past what mtv is pushing and dive into the music, some nice stuff in there. Check out the Roots, Public Enemy, Run DMC, Mos Def, Fugees, Snoop, 2Pac, Jay Z, A Tribe Called Quest, Common ... these performers all write and play some bad mf beats!

[Will NEVER be down wit' Fiddy]

"Well, first you need to listen to more hip hop"

Uh, No thanks. I'll take you're word for it, as I don't want to lose IQ points after listening to all of the genre's inane 'lyrics.'

"these performers all write and play some bad mf beats!"

Naw, they DO NOT write these beats. They either PROGRAM them or more often than not, STEAL them, but please don't try and tell me that ANY of these guys has even an iota of actual musical talent, because we both know that's a load of crap. They may, in your opinion, write "bad mf beats," but what they don't write are actual songs. Their "music," for the most part, is ephemeral fodder for the feeble-minded.

[fiddler]

man, feel sorry for bill. on the one hand, he gets a treat by attending the john hammond show, then gets "numbed" by a disastrous 50 cent show. you get the sense he was ready to blast outta there after 15 minutes.

[Word Play]

This reminds me of pretty much every hip hop show I've ever attended. Exceptions to J5 and Snoop(tedious at times though)
As for Professor Corncob Up His Arse, sure one can argue the musical merits of hip hop all day long. Bach and Mozart it's not. However, the lyrical prowess of an artist whose vocabulary extends beyond bitch and motherf@ker cannot be dismissed by anyone who appreciates the written word. Good poetry and word play is talent no matter if it's placed on page or laced w/ a drum machine and record scratches. Sadly, MTV and their merry band of allies in the pop trash industry have glorified the pedestrian trash that artists like 50 cent spew. If words on page or read to me in rapid fire staccato make me feeble minded, then so be it. It's certainly more exciting than the cloud of arrogance spewing from your ass.

[Green]

Will NEVER be down wit' Fiddy ... I feel sorry for you, you have it all wrong, sure some rap and hip hop is pretty bad but to say its all crap just calls you out for not knowing a single thing, is all rock bad cause there are some lame rock bands, of course not. Seriously, i am not kidding, dive into some of this music, stay away from the big popular names, check out some of what i listed, check out some of the locals guys here in town. Go see Mark Lowrey vs Hip-Hop, he is sure to have another show, been two thus far and its damn good, no programing there, no stealing happening on the stage, its all free form on the spot music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qp73465JNtU

[Word]

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM
HIP HOP HIBBY TO THE HOP AND DONT STOP BOOPPIN AND THE BANG BANG DIDDY TO THE UP JUMP THE WIDDY AND BIG FKN bIGGY IS JUS ALL GETTIN A LIIL JIGGY

WORD!!!

hey hey hey ...yeahba,
ibe lovinda allda rapba itbe allja so goopda