Unlike past years, the day after Sun God will not be one for recovering from a massive hangover. If you thought your ears had recovered from Friday night’s activities, they’re in for another beating. The biggest name in hip-hop and the entire 2003 music scene, 50 Cent, is coming to RIMAC Arena for a stop on his nationwide tour. UCSD, which has lacked many rap tours since Wyclef Jean, De La Soul and Black Eyed Peas came two and a half years ago, has shown it’s appreciation by selling out the event just days after tickets were released.
50 Cent’s image as one who has grown up selling drugs to survive has been embraced by the hip-hop society because he has the scars to show for it. He was kicked out of high school for possessing drugs while on school grounds. 50 took his advance from the first record deal he signed and bought drugs. His son was just born, so 50 needed the money to provide for his new family. He initially tried to get into the rap business a few years ago with the help of Jam Master Jay, but his record label ended up never releasing his album, Power of the Dollar.
A few days before 50 was to shoot his first music video of the album with Destiny’s Child, he was shot nine times while sitting in the back of a friend’s car. The dimple that he has on the left side of his face is the result of one of the wounds; this one had the bullet entering in his cheek, knocking out a tooth, and coming to rest in his mouth.
A year ago, 50, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, was the biggest thing in the New York underground hip-hop scene, but was a relative unknown in mainstream hip-hop. After rehabbing from the gunshot wounds, 50 came back onto the scene through the route of New York City mix tapes. Eventually, one of his records made it’s way to the desk of Eminem. 50’s style was completely fresh to Eminem, and he wanted to sign him as soon as he could. He got 50’s single, “”Wanksta,”” on the “”8 Mile”” soundtrack, so he could introduce him to the mainstream masses.
On Feb. 6, 2003, 50 Cent finally got his own album released on Shady/Interscope Records. Within 5 days, he had sold in excess of 872,000 copies of the album, which is a record for a debut artist’s first week sales since May 1991, when those figures began to be documented. Since then, the album has become a regular of the top five weekly album sales and has combined to sell over 4.5 million records in a little over three months. Suburban hip-hop fans have found his life very appealing, as evidence from 50’s videos, “”In Da Club”” and “”21 Questions”” being mainstays on MTV’s TRL, along with BET’s 106 & Park.
In addition to his own record, every other artist seems to want a piece of 50 Cent. It is tough to turn on the radio now over a 30-minute span without hearing 50 rapping at least once. He has worked with artists such as Justin Timberlake, Missy Elliot, Eminem, Busta Rhymes, Lil’ Kim, Snoop Dogg, The Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur. Also, 50 Cent will hit the road this summer with Jay-Z, which will have the possibility of the biggest hip-hop tour since 2000’s Up In Smoke Tour. In his spare time, 50 was able to put together “”The New Breed,”” a DVD/CD that tells the story of him growing up, along with introducing his fans to his group, G-Unit.
50 Cent is also bringing along Xzibit to rock the house. This will be Xzibit’s second trip to UCSD in almost two years. He headlined the 2001 Sun God festival and is now coming back with 2 albums released since then. Xzibit has not been heard from for a while, except for a cameo in the movie “”8 Mile,”” but if his performance at Sun God was any indication, he will have us jumping out of seats with the sound of the first note.
Xzibit, a native of Detroit, is actually one of the few big names that represent for the West Coast rap scene. Using the blueprint set forth by Dr. Dre, NWA, Snoop Dogg and so many others before him, Xzibit is able to use “”g-funk”” and bass-heavy beats to meet his rap strengths to become one of the all-stars of the music. His most recent album, 2002’s Man Versus Machine, used the West Coast formula to produce the radio hits of “”Multiply”” featuring Nate Dogg, and “”Symphony in X Major”” featuring Dr. Dre.
Hip-hop and UCSD don’t usually go together, so this is a rare opportunity for RIMAC to house two of the biggest names in rap right now. The differences in styles of East and West Coast should mesh perfectly and, given these two artist’s abilities, no one should go home disappointed.
