50 Cent takes over the world
Billboard magazine’s No. 1 selling artist, 50 Cent, teamed up with Master P, the 504 Boyz and Choppa for the Street Baller Tour which hit the Dallas Convention Center Arena Saturday night.
The show was a grueling five hours long. Doors opened at 7 p.m., and herds of concert goers filed into the arena to wait another hour for the show to begin.
As if it wasn’t frigid enough outside, the interior of the arena was chilly as well. Bored patrons either parked themselves in the line for the snack bar or socialized in the hallways.
At about 8 p.m. the first act took the stage. A local group tried to cash in on the crowd’s desire to see 50 Cent by rhyming two of their songs over the “Wanksta” and “In da Club” tracks.
Comedian Cheryl Underwood had a five-minute spot before introducing a forgettable all-girl rap group from New Orleans. They were followed by Louisiana acts 5th Ward Weebie, Choppa and Silkk the Shocker.
Several times during the silence between acts, the audience chanted for 50 Cent. When Silkk was announced, the disgruntled crowd booed and returned to chanting for 50. Its attitude changed when Silkk performed his most popular songs.
Upon Silkk’s departure from the stage, Master P took the final opening act spot before 50 performed. Master P was scheduled as the tour’s headliner. However, since 50 Cent’s album sold 1.3 million copies in less than a week, P had to play second fiddle to the new star.
The Louisiana performers put on a moderate show. The highlight was when 5th Ward Weebie gave his microphone to his hype man so he could show off his dance skills, much to the crowd’s liking.
The anticipation was palatable by the time 50 Cent took the stage and the arena roared as he ran onto the stage dressed in a throwback basketball jacket and jersey with a red hat and obligatory baggy jeans.
Much like P’s performance, 50’s stage was lined with his roadies, not doing anything except standing around looking “hard.”
50 was a pure showman during his performance, climbing on top of the 10-foot speakers, jumping into the crowd and running back and forth on the stage tirelessly.
He stripped down from his jacket to his jersey to his bulletproof vest to a tank top and finally down to his muscular, bare chest as his set progressed. Every female fan in the arena seemed to appreciate every minute of it.
Unfortunately, everyone waited so long to see him, that after he performed his two biggest hits, “Wanksta” and “In da Club,” a significant amount of people began to leave.
Though the crowd dwindled, the remaining concert goers gave an enthusiastic “no” when 50 asked if they were ready for him to leave.
He gave a 45-minute set and performed more or less the first verse from each song on his album, Die or Get Rich Tryin’.
The setup for the concert was about as sparse as sparse gets. Outside of the light-fixtures, the only setup for the show was a modest stage and the speakers.
If 50 didn’t give such a high-energy performance his fans could have left feeling cheated, but he proved that raw talent and showmanship easily outshine flashy props and back-up dancers.
