Friday night (July 17) was a movie. Accompanied by special guest Fabolous, G-Unit took the stage in London for the first time in 7 years. Unfortunately, Young Buck couldn’t make it but the remaining members definitely held it down for him.
50 Cent’s Power co-star Rotimi takes the stage and while most are unfamiliar with him, there’s a liveliness in his step. Three or four club records go by and he not only spits but sings too. By the end of his set, he earns respect from London. When it’s announced that Fabolous is just moments away from performing, people’s ears perk up. Loso goes back and forth between old and new songs without ever really losing momentum in the set. It’s a much needed reminder that he’s really a young OG and deserves far more respect than he receives.
Finally, 50 comes out to ‘Hustler’, the Jake One-produced standout from his last street album Animal Ambition. It’s far from his biggest record but he commands the stage effortlessly. A few records in and it’s time to take it back to Queens. The unmistakable bass from ‘What Up Gangsta’ hits and garners easily the biggest reaction of the night so far. Perhaps this should have been the show opener.
The next notable moment is ‘I Get Money’ for which 50 brings out a young boy to share the stage with him. He’s shy and looks no older than 11 or 12, likely the winner of a competition and largely unaware of the amount of jealous eyes on him. He stares innocently into the crowd while 50 talks about “spraying the lead” and making hundreds of millions of dollars. It’s an interesting juxtaposition. After a few seconds of discomfort, 50 props him up onto a speaker. All of a sudden we hear ‘P.I.M.P.”s steel drums hit and anyone in the arena who wasn’t on their feet before certainly is now to sing in unison.
Soon enough it’s Banks’ time to shine. The ‘Start It Up’ instrumental is by far one of the most underrated beats of our generation and it sounds amazing throughout the O2’s system. If Banks is the reserved member of the group, it’s difficult to tell now. To top it off, Fab jumps back on stage to perform his verse on the record as well as on ‘Beamer Benz Or Bentley’ before performing the ‘Cuffin Season’ remix with 50. Our minds are taken right back to Summer Jam 2014 when the duo debuted the remix, the same night that G-Unit reunited. It’s been a good year for them.
Just hours ago, Tony Yayo was updating his Instagram with pictures of himself at Big Ben, The London Eye and Buckingham Palace. He seems truly grateful to be here and fills his unofficial role as the crew’s hypeman well. Not to mention that ‘So Seductive’ receives one of the biggest pops of the night.
50 then does ‘Hold On’ and is soon followed by another banger from Animal Ambition, ‘Don’t Worry Bout It’. It’s an ironic song choice considering 50’s recent filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy. Taking a look at the chain swinging around his neck, I have a feeling that he won’t be going broke any time soon.
It’s Kidd Kidd’s time to prove himself now and he starts it off with his new banger ‘Ejected‘. He gets caught up in the heat of the moment and jumps off stage to shake hands with fans lucky enough to be in the front row, all while performing the Lil Wayne collaboration. For many like myself, the first introduction to Kidd Kidd was back when he was with Young Money in 2008. Going by Nutt Da Kidd at the time (thank God for the name change), he was on the original version of Drake’s smash ‘Forever’ and later laid a verse on Wayne’s C3 single ‘Mrs. Officer’. Just like 50 describes him later in the night, he’s a “Freshman veteran“. Regardless of what’s said of his career trajectory, it’s good to see him finally shine in London and make the most of it. Just like he lets us know later in the night while he’s in a moshpit, all he ever wanted was a ‘Big Body Benz’.
Considerably early in the show, 50 brings Rotimi back out for their collaboration ‘Lotto’. My friend turns to me and says “it’s crazy how 50’s putting him on“. I agree with him but the more and more I think about it, the less crazy it seems. For over 10 years, 50’s consistently given such opportunities to those around him. Even while Banks, Kidd Kidd, Yayo and Rotimi pace in front of the crowd of 15,000+ with a confidence level to be envious of, it’s hard to keep your eyes off of 50. He has a way of demanding attention that is admirable. It’s a testament to his permanent position in the game.
50 Cent requests that the arena’s lights are switched off so that the crowd of 15,000 can light up the room themselves. It’s time for classic cut ‘Many Men’. This is an anthem. Everyone raps the verse and sings the chorus at the top of their lungs until the song’s end. It doesn’t get much better than this.
“F*ck it. Let’s go.”
Without warning there’s a huge explosion of confetti and ‘In Da Club’ hits. Nope, this is the one. No matter what remote area of the World 50 visits, no matter how big another song could get for him, this is the record he can’t escape from. It will receive the craziest reaction from the live crowd. When the song finishes, it’s been an hour since G-Unit touched the stage. They pretend to leave before an encore although I have a feeling that even if the night really ended here, it wouldn’t be much of a disappointment.
A few minutes of the DJ telling the crowd to get louder and louder eventually leads to ’21 Questions’, ‘Pilot’, ‘Gunz Come Out’, the inspiring hook of ‘If I Can’t’, the bass heavy ‘Baby By Me’, ‘Stunt 101’ and ‘Patiently Waiting’. The catalogue is crazy.
Towards the end of the night, energy is still high. 50 jokes about going all night and all jokes aside, he probably could. ‘Hate It Or Love It’, ‘How We Do’ and ‘Candy Shop’ are all highlights. Even after a countless amount of crowd winners, you could list a handful of records that weren’t performed that would have received great reaction too. “I’ll get fined. Y’all got a curfew, ten something? I don’t give a f*ck.”
More time goes by and 50 responds to those running things backstage who tell him his time is up. “They say I got two minutes. What the f*ck is that? What can you do in two minutes?” He runs up to the DJ booth, takes the laptop himself and plays Kidd Kidd’s ‘I’m A G’.
All in all, it was surprising how little tracks from The Beauty Of Independence and The Beast Is G-Unit were played. This made it feel more like a 50 Cent & Friends performance rather than a G-Unit show, though you’ll hear complaints from neither us nor The Unit. If you left the O2 Arena knowing only one thing, it’s that 50 Cent has hits on top of hits. He ran through classic records like it was nothing. G-Unit was definitely in the house.
Watch some fan captured footage on YouTube.
– by Akaash Sharma