50 Cent's skills as an MC are limited, his beats pedestrian, and his show the very definition of low concept. Beneath his veneer of showmanship, there is little to maintain interest.
Just in time for his sold-out gig in Cork – for which tickets were 60 smackers a pop – Fiddy helpfully tells us how rich he is in rap form. The reason why he’s so loaded is because he can make even this subject matter sound appealing, damn him. There’s no massive hook and the lyrics are a little hard to decipher, but he oozes confidence and originality, which is enough to get my vote.
50 Cent has had his heterosexuality questioned by Deadlee, the Californian rhymer who’s headlining the upcoming gay, lesbian and bisexual HomoRevolution tour.
50 Cent’s rise to the top of the rap game has been impressive, but he remains dogged by critics who claim that his fame owes more to a compelling personal history than any remarkable talent. Shows like this represent an excellent, defiant response to the haters, but not quite enough to dispel all lingering doubts about his rap credentials.
In the wake of Eminem's cancellation of Slane, fellow rapper 50 Cent has announced an extra date in addition to his 18 December date at The Point, Dublin.
There's some consolation to rap fans disappointed at the news that Eminem's cancelled Slane - fellow homie (or whatever the lingo is in the hood these days) 50 Cent will is confirmed to carry on with his own show at The Point.
A former drug dealer, he’s been shot at nine times and lived to tell the tale, emerging as one of the most controversial and uncompromising figures in rap. But there's more to 50 Cent than the popular legend suggests. For a start, there’s a new commercial edge to the music, as his US and Irish number one album The Massacre demonstrates. Plus, as one of the new faces of Reebok’s ‘I Am What I Am’ campaign, he’s taken to the role of cultural icon with considerable zest. Oh, and besides, he’s a bit of a wow with the ladies.
The only serious present-day heir to sainted founding fathers DMC and NWA, ex-crack dealer 50 Cent became an overnight hip-hop Godhead with his beyond-phenomenal debut Get Rich or Die Tryin’, an echoing, booming, bloodthirsty beast saturated with paranoia, claustrophobia and general violent vibes. It sold ten million-plus copies, and Eminem aside, the spliff-toting kids in my less-than-Bronxlike suburb scarcely listen to anybody else.
What better way to gauge the state of contemporary hip-hop than checking out the latest singles from 50 Cent and Chingy, two of the genre’s brightest young things.
How much of the 50 Cent phenomenon is for real and how much for effect? Danielle Brigham meets the mainman and his crew in Dublin and attempts to make sense of the shootings and the sales figures.
Music Review | Live
10 Oct 2003
Phil Udell
It’s mostly pretty crap, dull and uninspired, a booming set of backing tracks over which 50 and his two cohorts rap indistinctly.
Only the most blinkered rap aficionados could claim themselves immune to yet another record padded out with the same old routines about homicidal life on the street.
