CONCERT REVIEW
50 Cent comes up short at Blaisdell

By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

Fans of 50 Cent paid upward of $39.50 to see a half-dollar's worth of show at the controversial hip-hop superstar's Blaisdell Arena debut last night.

Sure, every one of those fans probably went in knowing that 50 Cent had just one released album — the 4-million-selling "Get Rich Or Die Tryin' " — and a handful of stray cuts to cull all his material from. And sure, the gathered at the Blaisdell Arena did get to see another current hip-hop playa, Fabolous, throw down a half-hour of so-so opening flow to kick off the night.

But just 45 minutes on stage ... for a $39.50 headlining act? Talk about getting short-changed.

Judging by the chorus of audience boos that shook the Blaisdell briefly when it became apparent after his final song that the rapper had taken their money and ran, it was a good thing 50 Cent displayed earlier in his set that he was indeed packing Kevlar.

Not that 50's time on stage was anything to rave about anyway.

Thanks in large part to producers Dr. Dre and Eminem, 50's in da studio flow is, arguably, some of the most polished hip-hop on CD this year. But in a live format with a muddled sound system, 50 showed very little of the bona fide skills that have made him the top-selling hip-hop artist so far in 2003.

Array of apparel

Sporting a white jacket trimmed in red with matching backward baseball cap, a white tank, loose jean shorts and sneaks, 50 kicked off his set list with "U Not Like Me" pacing the stage like a ticked-off lion on a very short leash.

By the time they were into "Get Rich" hit "Wanksta," two songs into the set, 50 and his G-Unit crew had already doffed their logo-wear to reveal matching black bulletproof vests. 50 went further on a third song, "Back Down," revealing his familiar toned abs to the screams of female (and male) fans. When leaving the mike and pre-recorded backing tracks to his seven-or-so-member G-Unit posse (which he did often enough to irritate), 50's face was either a scowl of gangsta attitude or, more often, a crowd-pleasing mile-wide smile that could probably be seen as far back as the cheap seats.

Sadly, that was about it for 50's attempts at truly connecting with his audience.

With 50 lacking any semblance of real stagecraft or audience rapport short of the "throw-your-hands-in-the-air" variety, the show's many glaring faults couldn't help but stand out. 50's vocals were often almost indistinguishable from that of his soulless

G-Unit crew and his lyrics mostly incomprehensible. The murky musical backing track sounded like a Sugarhill Gang eight-track that hadn't seen much play since the 1970s. The sound system (which even irritated 50 by show's end) threatened to blow unbearable feedback our way at several points.

The best moments of the show were hardly music-related. One of these occurred when 50 singled out some poor soul near the stage who wasn't relating to his flow appropriately.

"You must be a Ja Rule fan!" chided 50, referring to his hip-hop rival, and throwing a towel at the man. The fans loved that. Another audience-pleasing moment happened near the end of the show during "Blood Hound" when 50 unexpectedly leaped into the stage-front crowd and mingled for a minute or two while security struggled to cover him.

Length questionable

The saddest thing about 50's show for fans, though, had to have been its length — something that seemed to come out of pure laziness and disregard for their support. 50 performed every song from the 70-plus minute "Get Rich" in unnecessarily truncated versions that swiftly killed what little momentum the show was managing to generate. These included everything from lame cuts like "Many Men" and "P.I.M.P." to bona fide hits and "Get Rich" highlights like "21 Questions," "Back Down," "Wanksta," and "In da Club" that I'm sure fans wanted to hear full-length.

The audience danced, waved its hands and applauded every bit of his show, but one couldn't help but feel that all it had received in return from 50 Cent was the equivalent of chump change.