50 Cent’s first gig for his American tour was also my first rap concert.  His “The Invitation” tour opened up in Detroit’s own Chene Park and will wrap up June 25^th in Atlantic City.  In addition to his performance, he had Lloyd Banks and Ludacris open up for him. The Mighty Snowcone brought his raw and hilarious comedy to kick off the show.

I ended up right in front to get a pretty good view of the stage.  As soon as Lloyd Banks appeared and the music exploded,  the crowd just went nuts.  The speakers tore right through me. It was as if I were wrapped up in a blanket of sound.  He opened up with “I’m So Fly.”  Later on, he unleashed other hits such as “Warrior” and “Hands Up.”  When he introduced his DJ, Whoo Kid, I remembered his name for the mixtapes that he’s been behind.

When Ludacris started his set, I took up the same spot.  From the moment that he strutted out, I knew that it would be an experience.  Luda came out and just owned the audience.  Throughout his performance, he alternated between spitfire delivery to a more relaxed flow.  The high point was hearing him perform “Stand Up” off of his 2003 album Chicken-n-Beer. I’m not the type to normally rap along.  However, I couldn’t resist and joined in especially for the choruses.  The hair on the back of my neck stood on end.

His performance was electric.  One of the best parts of him doing “Stand Up” was calling attention to the diversity of his audience and acknowledging his Caucasian, Latino, African-American fans, etc.  It made for a beautiful moment.  Luda also asked the audience to put up their lighters and cellphones to light up Chene Park.  There was almost nothing that the audience wouldn’t have done.

His set covered his entire career.  For someone like me that knows some but not all of his songs, at least not by name, I was absorbed with hearing song after song from “Hos,” “Everybody Drunk,” “Damn,” “Pussy Popping” and “Move.”  In addition to watching Luda tearing it up, the other highpoint was watching his DJ, Jaycee, who is a Detroit native, and also one of his Disturbing Tha Peace artists.  Besides letting loose the usual DJ moves, Jaycee even manipulated the turntables with his nose as if he were some sort of Jimi Hendrix on the steel wheels.

50′s set was the one that I looked forward to the most.  However, as with Banks’ set, it wasn’t one that I was feeling.  In addition to Banks, he also joined by additional G-Unit member, Tony Yayo, onstage.  I was pretty familiar with many of his popular hits such “Magic Stick” and “In Da Club.”  I also ended up hearing “Get Down.”  Mostly, the only songs that I heard were just the older hits.  I was disappointed that I really couldn’t hear 50′s voice through the mix.  I really wanted to savor his slurred, angry delivery.

Hands down, Ludacris had the best of the three sets.  During his whole set, he was brimming with charisma and established a strong connection with the audience.  Of the three, Luda was the only one to literally reach out and touch his audience.  Also, as I said earlier, his set had an ebb and flow to it.  Luda didn’t set out to beat his audience into submission with his harder songs.  All of this considered, my first concert will not be my last.

Author: José A. Rodríguez