It’s been 20 years since 50 Cent released one of the highest selling rap albums of all-time, Get Rich Or Die Tryin’, and while he’s been relatively quiet on the music front in recent years, you know he had to get back to rocking stages around the globe to celebrate the occasion. Seeming to almost be retired from music, mainly focused on his TV/film career along with other entrepreneurial endeavours over the past decade, 50 has dubbed his grand return to the live stage as The Final Lap Tour, which might cause some to speculate on whether this may be their last chance to see him perform live. It’s definitely his biggest concert tour since he first released Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ in 2003, as he’ll be traveling across 4 different continents and will be constantly on the road from July to December.

For Toronto fans especially, it’s been a rarity to see 50 Cent perform live in our city over the course of his career. With so many Toronto fans like myself being too young to have seen him perform when he was on top of the Hip-Hop world in the mid-2000s, we were not going to pass up this opportunity, quickly getting this original tour date at Budweiser Stage to be completely sold-out and causing 50 to book a second show here later in September. While the second Toronto show in September will be the final stop of the North American leg of the tour before 50 flies out to Europe, this July 31st date was just the second week of one of the biggest concert tours of the year.

Opening for 50 Cent on this tour would be RnB singer Jeremih, whose set my crew missed by showing up late. We were just getting settled in with our drinks as the second opener, a Hip-Hop legend in his own right, Busta Rhymes was just getting started. DJ Scratchator would take over the turntables and Spliff Star would hype up the crowd as a giant throne rotated to reveal Busta himself seated in a king’s position. He’d rise from the throne as DJ Scratchator built up the energy with the intro to M.O.P.’s “Ante Up Remix,” and the crowd went crazy as soon as that iconic beat dropped! “Busta Rhymes now! What you want now?!”

Busta Rhymes would move right along into “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See,” leaving much of his first verse blank for the crowd to fill in, and doing a soft, quieter version of the second verse to match the crowd’s energy. Things would quickly pick up though, as Busta and Spliff Star guided the crowd through a clapping routine that led into a performance of “Make It Clap,” effectively forcing the fans to put their phones away to clap to the beat, and followed up with Lumidee’s “Uh Oooh,” getting the crowd to sing along. Sticking to club records to move the crowd, Busta Rhymes would next perform his feature on The Pussycat Dolls’ “Don’t Cha,” with DJ Scratchator flipping the beat for him to rap over the bassline from The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army,” making for an epic moment.

Next slowing it down for the ladies, Busta Rhymes and Spliff Star would both perform their Mariah Carey collaboration, “I Know What You Want,” getting the crowd to help cover Mariah’s vocals and Busta even doing his own rendition of her bridge. Busta would then preview some brand new music for an upcoming album, shouting out Pharrel, Timbaland, Swizz Beatz and himself as the producers. He’d toss out some beach balls into the crowd as he performed the single “Beach Ball” just released a month ago, and would get everyone singing along to an unreleased track called “Big City Boy,” which reimagines Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin'” lyrics to sing “just a big city boy, born and raised in Brooklyn, New York!” Spliff Star got to let off a verse on this track too.

With limited time on stage as an opener rather than a headliner, Busta Rhymes quickly breezed through some of the biggest guest features of his career, getting the crowd to jump to A Tribe Called Quest’s “Scenario” as he did about half of his show-stealing verse, and restarted his verse on Chris Brown’s “Look At Me Now” midway to really show off his breath control as he spit the rapid-fire verse to an alternate beat. Next would be a special moment as Busta Rhymes would bring out a surprise guest just for Toronto, a fellow emcee with Jamaican roots, Kardinal Offishall, who got the crowd turned up to his classic “Ol’ Time Killin'” with Busta backing him up. With Kardi’s style of music being heavily influenced by Busta Rhymes, it was absolutely epic seeing them share the stage together, bringing that Caribana energy ahead of Toronto’s world-famous festival later in the week.

To close out his set, Busta Rhymes would do a couple of the most energetic songs in his setlist, although he’d cut them short to stay within his time slot. He’d start with “Break Ya Neck,” beginning to slay that rapid-fire verse but cut it off after he yells “stop!” midway. Rather than run it back and do the full thing like we saw last time he was in town, Busta was eager to begin his celebrating for the evening. Him and Spliff would pop a couple bottles of champagne, toasting to 50 Cent’s Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ 20th anniversary, Busta’s When Disaster Strikes 25th anniversary, Busta’s recent BET Lifetime Achievement award, Hip-Hop’s 50th anniversary, and lastly the city of Toronto. They’d then spray the champagne at the crowd as Busta did his iconic hook from “Pass The Courvoisier,” getting everyone to jump one last time before he left the stage. “Don’t this shit make my people wanna jump!!”

While Busta Rhymes & Spliff Star’s set was dope, displaying impeccable breath control, choreography and showmanship as they’re known for, it felt a little rushed as Busta cut some of his classic songs off early and skipped out on others altogether. He also didn’t perform any of his latest album, 2020’s critically acclaimed ELE 2: The Wrath of God, or do hits like “Dangerous,” “Gimme Some More,” “Touch It,” or “Woo Ha!! Got You All In Check.” It felt like getting a taste of what a Busta Rhymes show is really like rather than the full experience.

There would be about a half hour break between Busta Rhymes and 50 Cent, which was actually needed for those wanting to use the washroom or get more drinks, as the lines were long everywhere you went. We got back just in time to catch the beginning of 50 Cent’s set, which had his silhouette displayed on different screens before turning to smoke, and a glass box appearing in the middle of the stage. 50’s band was set up along the upper platforms of the stage, playing him in as the man himself would appear within the glass cage, the box opening up and fireworks going off behind him as he was ready to get started.

Rather than start with the obvious, 50 Cent began his set with a mixtape track, spitting some raw raps to “I’m On Some Shit” before cranking the energy up with the Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ opener we all expected, “What Up Gangsta.” G-Unit member Tony Yayo and G-Unit Records signee Uncle Murda joined 50 on stage as his hypemen, backing up his bars to give each line that added punch and getting the crowd involved as he performed. Rather than continue with the Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ album, 50 would quickly jump to some of his later hits, performing 2007’s “I Get Money,” and 2005’s “Hate It Or Love It,” getting the crowd to wave their arms to these classic beats. His set would bounce around between eras, touching on ’03 again with “If I Can’t,” which showed off his live band on the jumbo screens, before moving on to other parts of his discography.

While the band played out a remix to the “If I Can’t” beat, 50 had gone backstage to change outfits, and several female dancers had taken over the stage. With a wall filled with ladies on balconies dancing behind him, 50 re-emerged in a blue tracksuit as the beat to “Magic Stick” dropped, getting the crowd to dance along as he rapped the verses. 50, Tony Yayo and Uncle Murda would then each get a seat at the front of the stage, and some of the dancers would give them quick lap dances as the instrumental to Snoop Dogg’s “Drop It Like It’s Hot” played, bringing back memories of when Snoop was on this same stage less than a week ago. 50 would throw in the single off of his 2005 Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ movie soundtrack, “Hustler’s Ambition” before getting continuing the strip club/dance vibes.

Keeping it in ’05, 50 would pull out one of the all-time great club records he’s had his hand in, performing his featured verse and hook on Game’s “How We Do,” and letting the beat play out for the ladies to have a dance-off on stage. Each girl in the dance pack got to have a solo before 50 Cent moved on into a medley of club records, including “P.I.M.P.,” “Candy Shop” and “Disco Inferno,” with flamethrowers going off around him. Going from the upbeat dance songs to more of a slower pace, he’d follow up with a performance of “Window Shopper,” plus some more romantic songs for the ladies including “Best Friend” and “21 Questions.” Another dancer would take over the stage, showing off some moves to some Indian/Bollywood-inspired music which eventually transitioned into 50’s “Just A Lil Bit,” the crowd getting down to that sitar sample in the Scott Storch beat.

50 would next perform some songs from the later years in his career, doing the theme to the TV show he executive produced, Power, with the song “Big Rich Town” followed by a tribute to the late Pop Smoke with their collaboration, “The Woo.” Continuing with some of his RnB collaborations, 50 would get the crowd grooving to his Justin Timberlake collab “Ayo Technology,” giving his guitarist some shine with a guitar solo, and would bring Jeremih back out on stage to perform their song “Down On Me” together. Letting Jeremih take over for the fans who may have missed his opening set, 50 would go backstage as Jeremih sat behind a piano, playing the keys as he sang “Birthday Sex,” with a dancer doing a steamy performance on top of the piano.

When 50 returned to the stage, he’d come out in an all-white outfit, performing another RnB hit with his Ne-Yo collab “Baby By Me” before finally returning to his Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ album, doing the classic “Many Men” and getting the crowd to sing along. He’d pull out another obscurity from 2015, “I’m The Man,” and while some may not have been familiar with the song, the energy was high as 50’s guitarist got to perform another solo, and a huge cloud of confetti rained down on the entire crowd. There would be another instrumental interlude giving the drummer some shine before 50 pulled out the biggest hit of his career, “In Da Club,” getting the crowd to really turn up as even more confetti shot out from both the stage and the ceiling.

After giving the fans the biggest hit of his career, 50 would return backstage pretending to end the show, but we all knew there had to be an encore. Tony Yayo would get the crowd to chant for 50 to return, and some dancers would grace the stage as 50 came back with fireworks and flamethrowers going off. He’d crank the energy up with the G-Unit song “Rider Pt. 2,” followed by a throwback for the day-one fans, “Wanksta.” With the early days on the mind, 50 would give a shoutout to the two icons who signed him to the Shady Records/Aftermath Entertainment deal that led to Get Rich Or Die Tryin’, Eminem and Dr. Dre, and would perform their collaboration “Crack A Bottle,” covering Em’s chorus as well as doing his verse.

Pulling out another rarity, 50 would perform “Southside” from his 2005 video game Bulletproof before taking it back to Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ with the album’s closer, “Gotta Make It To Heaven.” Flames would ignite across the stage, emulating 50’s reference to “going through hell” in the lyrics, and even more flames would shoot up as 50 got into the big finale for the evening, “I’ll Whip Ya Head Boy.” While some fans wanted to hear more songs from Get Rich Or Die Tryin’, the beat to “I’ll Whip Ya Head Boy” is a certified head nodder, making for a dope song to close out on.

Overall, it was great seeing 50 Cent on stage, this being the first time for many fans, although his show left some of us wanting more. While his set did span across his entire career, showcasing his impact beyond music by highlighting songs from his involvement in film, TV and video games, the highest highs of 50 Cent’s career are from the Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ era, and he left plenty of those songs off of the setlist. I personally wanted to see “Heat” and “High All The Time” get performed, and with Tony Yayo backing 50 on stage as his hypeman, it felt like a missed opportunity for them to not perform “Like My Style,” “So Seductive,” or any G-Unit songs together.

Regardless, 50 brought the nostalgia factor with all of the 15 to 20-year-old club bangers he rocked, and while his flows can be simplistic, he had the visuals to make the show appealing. Between all the moving monitors, the quality of the stage visuals, and all the confetti and pyrotechnics going off throughout the show, the production value of this concert was definitely felt.

The Final Lap Tour continues through North America all summer and 50 Cent will return to Toronto for a second show September 22nd. Tickets for the entire tour can be found at 50cent.com.

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