G Unit Turned Down Into Canada

[SNaKe]

GUnitWorld.com: Stuart Derdeyn, The Province
Published: Sunday, December 04, 2005

Mark my words. Someday in the future, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson is going to be a sessional instructor at one of the Big 10 business schools. The guy is a marketing genius.

Regardless of how last night's show went down, it marked the birth of in-concert advertising.

After a trailer for his new movie Get Rich Or Die Tryin' -- "Coming This Fall" -- we were treated to an assembled news reel that gave us the rapper's mythologized life with plenty of reminders of his records sales, clothing line, video game and on and on.

If you're buyin' in, and so many are, it only got better.

"Somebody got shot the other day and they said it was my fault and didn't want to let me in the country," said Fifty. "I was in immigration for about two hours today and I thought about turning back. Young Buck got turned back. And Tony Yayo, Mobb Deep and M.O.P."

"But I stuck it out . . . F--k the police!"

Not one person in the ramped venue beefed that the stage was six singers emptier than what they'd paid for. The man who mattered was there and he was rubbing "The Man's" face in it, too. Image upon image of guns and bullet holes marched across the video screens while shots consistently rang out of the sound system. Celebrate the bullet indeed. Firearms manufacturers should be underwriting this tour and using tracks like "Piggy Bank" for ad campaigns.

Later, he led his troops, er, audience, in a rallying cry in honour of all the dead rappers before introducing Ma$e (was that a chronic cold affecting his voice?) and his non-PETA-pal fur hoodie. No comments on the culture of macho-man-killing that lead to Biggie, Tupac and others winding up dead required. Leave the sermonizing to Kanye West.

This was Mr. Tha Cent's house -- a sanctuary of very elementary messages and killer hooks.

Truth be told, the minute the canned pre-show tunage turned to classics from Dr. Dre and Snoop's back catalogue, the place went off. Warmup music typically means nothing more than that. But with a truly dancefloor-based musical style, even the dismal confines of a former hockey arena can change to feel like it's pumpin' "In Da Club."

After Lloyd Banks' "On Fire" and the addictive soundtrack ditty "Window Shopper" (which featured the voice and stomach of Olivia -- presumably Olivia, because the new G-Unit-eer didn't merit a cheering intro from the boss), there was no looking back.

"I'm always learning my trade," says Jackson. "That's how you stay on top of your game."

Compared to his last show in town, when David Banner took home top honours, this time Fifty came ready to kill live.

He certainly has enough of his brand of bravado to carry a concert. Fans would say more hits than misses mean the Queens, New York, MC is always on target.

To be sure, even short a full clip of G-Units, it was a high-calibre presentation.

[Nu Syd]

pprops on info