DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM
50 Cent worked the crowd at the Blaisdell Arena Tuesday night.
50 gives Hawaii
his 2 cents and more
The metal detectors went bling-bling-bling -- and every loose coin, belt buckle and cell photo was accounted for -- as a near-capacity crowd trickled one by one into Blaisdell Arena for 50 Cent's long-anticipated Hawaii debut.
Tuesday's event drew the most security at Blaisdell Arena in recent memory, but the event went off without significant incident.
Fears that the show might drag as badly as the last Snoop Dogg concert here also proved unfounded. The unmistakable sound of a coin dropping signaled 50's entrance only a few minutes after warm-up act Fabolous departed. The sounds of coins dropping and bullets being chambered punctuated the performance thereafter as 50 gave the enthusiastic crowd a solid 45 minutes of contemporary gangsta rap.
He walked on stage with a towel draped over his head as if he didn't want to be recognized, but within three songs had tossed the towel away and ripped off his white jacket, white tank-top and famous bulletproof vest as well. (His anonymous G-Unit sidemen kept their vests for the duration as if someone in the crowd might be gunning for them, too.)
Colorful and charismatic, 50's rapport with the fans was instant and obvious. He embraced the crowd early, and they responded to his every command.
THE CROWD WAS much more diverse than usual for a rap show; there were kids barely a yard tall (some with their parents) as well as the usual mix of fans, posers and hoochie groupies trying to get backstage to hook up with the star of the moment.
50 included all the best tracks off his quadruple-platinum "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" album. "Wanksta," "What Up Gangsta" and "In Da Club" (known to many as "It's Your Birfday") were three obvious highlights, but "Many Men (Wish Death)," "Gotta Make It to Heaven," "21 Questions" and "P.I.M.P." were audience favorites as well.
It may have been a planned bit, but 50 got the crowd going when he accused someone down front of being a Ja Rule fan and tossed a towel into the audience. Lucky fans also got to grab for several items of clothing he tossed out.
Fans knew it had to be a joke when 50 thanked the crowd after performing about 30 minutes and left the stage. Sure enough, he returned in an instant smiling broadly; announced, "I changed my mind"; and got back to business. There were scattered boos 15 minutes later when it became apparent that he was gone for good, but judging from comments heard on the way out, most felt they'd gotten their money's worth.
Despite the well-publicized concerns about 50's ghetto vocabulary, the most grating outburst came when two of his anonymous sidemen spewed obscenities -- apparently on behalf of someone in prison -- after he'd left the stage.
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