MAKING MORE THAN CENTS

50 Cent, Recinto Ferial, Santa Cruz, Saturday March 27 2010

THE LONG list of government and big business sponsors blazed across the giant projection screens on either side of the stage show how seriously this concert is being taken here.

by JAMES TWEEDIE

This is 50 Cent's only appearance in Spain on his Before I Self Destruct European tour, and it's been hailed for months as a major coup for this distant island colony.

Airlines and hotels were offering deals for fans travelling to the show. A bunch of guys in T-shirts printed “Sevilla Fuckin City” (sic) prove that some have flown in from the mainland 700 miles away.

But the ten thousand or so young fans here tonight don't care about that. They're only here to party with rapper-turned fashion czar-turned actor-turned director Curtis James Jackson III, AKA 50 Cent and his group G-Unit.

Having starred in the semi-autobiographical Get Rich or Die Tryin' – named after his breakthrough album – 34 year-old Jackson has now directed and starred in another tale of ghetto hopelessness and descent into gangsterism, Before I Self Destruct, also the title of his latest album.

Given that 'Fiddy' was given his big break by fellow rapper Eminen, himself the protégé of NWA's Dr Dre, it's a shame that he hasn't brought any up-and-coming acts as support tonight. Instead we get local DJs Ser, Jonay and Dario, who were clearly delighted to be opening for the big man at Wednesday's pre-gig press conference.

Dario comes on with a bevvy of scantily-clad and outlandishly-coiffured (even for Tenerife) dancers. He mixes hip-hop from the last two decades with house, reggae and reggaeton, and the crowd like it.

Jonay catches the the beat from his compatriot and flips it old-school, with rapid cross-fades blending 70s grooves with 80's hip-hop and acid house beats. He slows down and moves forward to the less-innovative 2000s.

Jonay's set ends with a whimper when the sound cuts out suddenly, prompting cheers of anticipation from the audience.

After half an hour of suspense the lights go down and the screens light up with apocalyptic images of 50 Cent's native New York in flames amid a rain of burning dollar bills. The man himself appears in silhouette before the curtain falls and the rest of G-Unit – MCs Lloyd banks and Tony Yayo and DJ Whoo Kid – hit the stage.

The four segue back and forth through their back catalogue for the first half hour, displaying the deliberate, drawling vocal style and self-assuredness for which Jackson has been known since his first hit In The Club. They apparently sign off with the same number after just an hour, before coming back for another 45 minutes of 'encores'.

The US music industry has been criticised for only signing rap acts which conform to genre (and racial) stereotypes of sex, drugs, gangs, guns, gay-bashing and an obsession with money and consumerist status symbols. 50 Cent doesn't do much to challenge those clichés, but tonight's audience of 'Wankstas', as Fifty has dubbed wannabe gangsters, don't care one bit.

Early hits such as P.I.M.P. get the the biggest rise from the crowd, but they appreciate the occasional bursts of rapid-fire rapping amid the usual slow-tempo fare.

Concert promoter Rider Productions director Martin Rivero played to the same stereotypes on Wednesday when he assured concert-goers that security would be tight. But there is hardly any trouble here tonight, just a friendly party atmosphere.

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