June of 2024 marks 20 years since Lloyd Banks released his debut solo album, The Hunger For More, and he’s been celebrating all month with a tour across Canada. Kicking things off in Vancouver and slowly making his way out east, the former founding member of G-Unit has been connecting with fans in both major cities and smaller markets on this tour, making sure to reach as many Canadian fans as possible as he celebrates his album’s milestone. Marking the halfway point of his 10-city run through Ontario would be this stop in Waterloo, landing on the Friday night to kick off our Canada Day long weekend.

Although G-Unit may no longer be unified as a group, we got to see a glimpse of the lasting impact they had on Hip-Hop with the massive success of 50 Cent’s Final Lap Tour in 2023, which celebrated the 20th anniversary of Get Rich Or Die Tryin’. Some might say that G-Unit was an extension of 50’s solo success, as 2003’s GRODT was of course followed by the group’s debut, Beg For Mercy, and solo albums in 2004 by Lloyd Banks and Young Buck all going consistently platinum. G-Unit as a collective had a solid run of dominance in the mid-2000s, and Lloyd Banks has a legacy as one of the group’s sharpest lyricists during that run, often being called the Punch Line King (PLK) even after the group disbanded. With it being a rarity to see Lloyd Banks on tour over the years, fans across Canada have been itching to see him perform live and take us back to that G-Unit era of Hip-Hop.

While this Lloyd Banks Canadian tour is brought to us by Peter Jackson and International Touring Agency, this particular show in Waterloo would be one of several presented by Robbie G, who’s been known to use these major tours as an opportunity to showcase local artists from each city. This show would be no different, as there were several local artists warming up the stage before Lloyd Banks arrived, all at various points of developing their stage presence. I didn’t catch all their names, but one emcee stood out by having a Nu-Metal vibe to his beats, even bringing out a drum set to play while he rapped at one point, and another named N/A had some sharp rhymes despite struggling to power through a low microphone.

There would be a few familiar artists among the openers who I’d seen perform at other shows, the first being Manatee, who was pulling double-duty as both the host for the evening and as a performer, joined by Kitchener-based emcee Macsøs. After hyping the crowd up and introducing artists to the stage all night, Manatee would get to unleash his heavy metal-styled vocals as he shared the stage with Macsøs, who spit some rapid-fire raps with incredible breath control, the duo’s vocal styles complementing each other nicely with a blend of rock and rap. Similar to when I saw them open for k-os in London earlier this year, Macsøs & Manatee brought a ton of energy to the stage with their own unique style and sound.

Next would be a few Toronto-based artists who made the trip out to Waterloo, with emcees Suspect & Big Gat representing the Marmel Entertainment crew. They’d perform a mix of new joints and decade-old throwbacks, including the new “Bar Slang” and the classic “Mary Jane” that got the smell of weed smoke filling up the room, and brought that hardcore vibe with the aggressive “Face Down.” Marmel would close out their set by bringing out MC Melo, who’d move the crowd with an upbeat, old-school type of track, killing a rapid-fire flow all raw with no backing vocals.

Much of the crowd was there to support both their local and Toronto-based artists as well as see Lloyd Banks, as they chanted the next artist’s name before he graced the stage, Gamble The Greedy Grin. I’ve seen Gamble perform at a handful of shows over the years, but this may have been the sharpest performance I’ve seen him do yet. There were no sound issues with the microphone and he was able to cut through clearly while spitting his verses word-for-word with no recorded vocals cluttering the sound. Gamble nailed his flows as he performed songs like “ASAP” and “Frisky,” going acapella at times to show off his breath control. He’d also freestyle over classic beats, rapping over Pharoahe Monch’s “Simon Says” and 50 Cent’s “I Get Money,” and would close out with “Snakes,” getting the crowd behind him on the hook.

The last opener before Lloyd Banks came on stage would be Robbie G, who’s gone from helping build up the local Hip-Hop scene from scratch in the Guelph and Waterloo area to moving out to B.C. and touring the whole country with these major artists. He’d speak on this during his set, thanking the crowd for supporting local artists and reflecting on how he had to take the initiative to start booking shows himself when major promo companies weren’t giving local artists a chance to perform. Having seen him tour with D12 & Obie Trice and k-os earlier this year, much of Robbie G’s set was familiar, as he performed staples in his setlist like “Ball Drop,” “Incredible,” and “Homies” with the hometown crowd behind him. He’d also give a shoutout to Merkules, speaking on seeing him go from performing at small venues to doing an arena tour with Snoop Dogg this year, before performing their new collab “Devil’s On My Back.”

Proving to be a true professional emcee by performing all his vocals raw with no backup, even on his sung hooks, Robbie G killed his performance as he closed out with “You Know This” and getting the crowd involved. Things would move along quickly, as Lloyd Banks’ tour DJ got his gear set up shortly after Robbie G left the stage, and pretty soon it was time for the man himself to bless the stage.

While this was The Hunger For More 20th Anniversary Tour, Lloyd Banks decided to not do the predictable intro and instead opened his set with the first track off of his 2010 sequel album, Hunger For More 2, kicking things off with “Take ‘Em To War.” The crowd turned up as soon as Banks hit the stage, as he came out rocking his own tour merch and had the crowd waving their arms to the beat as he nailed his first verse. Lloyd Banks had the crowd with him from the start, as he’d perform a few G-Unit Beg For Mercy cuts and had everyone joining in for the hooks on “Eye For Eye” and “Poppin’ Them Thangs.” He’d speak on how it had been over 20 years since he last did a full tour across Canada, and you could tell these Waterloo fans were hyped to have him back after so long, most only now getting their first opportunity to see him perform live.

Lloyd Banks would take some time to reflect on the 20-year milestone for The Hunger For More, which as of midnight would be exactly 20 years-old to the date. He’d talk about how he was 19-20 years old when he wrote those songs, shouting out the fans who had the CDs with them in the crowd, and how many of the fans in the building were probably teenagers at the time when it came out. He’d then do a deep dive into the album, performing the hit singles “I’m So Fly” and “Warrior,” plus a few unexpected deep cuts with “When The Chips Are Down” and “Southside Story.” The fans were hyped and ready to keep going, me personally hoping for more album cuts like “Playboy” or “Work Magic” to get performed, but Banks would keep things moving along with a joint off his 2006 album Rotten Apple, dedicating “Survival” to all the hard workers in the building.

Being sure to keep the crowd engaged between songs, Banks would ask the crowd if they could smell anything in particular, and fans were quick to shout “pussy!!!” as he got into a performance of the G-Unit cut “I Smell Pussy.” This would then turn into a segment of Lloyd Banks’ more romantic songs for the ladies, as he hit us with the hits like “Karma,” “Wanna Get To Know You” and “Smile,” getting everyone grooving to the upbeat vibes. He’d then take some time to thank all the fans in the building, from those who’ve been rocking with him for 20 years to those just discovering his music tonight, being truly humbled by the support he’s received over the years. Following the mini speech would be one of the most hype songs of the evening, as he performed the lead single off of The Hunger For More, “On Fire,” and got the entire crowd waving their arms to the beat. He had been doing just one verse for each song he performed all night, but made sure to perform his biggest hit in its entirety.

Rather than ending the show and having the crowd cheer for an encore, Lloyd Banks has a part of the show where he mentions that he’s performed as many songs as he’s been paid to do, so that any songs from that point on are just out of love for the fans. With The Hunger For More celebration over with, Banks would pull from some of his subsequent album releases for this segment, performing the 2006 hit “Hands Up” followed by 2010’s “Any Girl.” Catching some fans with their heads in their phones (me being one of the guilty ones making notes for this blog), he’d restart the song and got everyone to put their phones away, pointing out specific fans he could see weren’t turning up. With the lights dimmed, Banks would crank the energy as he performed some more 2010 singles, tossing water onto the crowd and himself as he rocked “Start It Up,” and closed out with the hit “Beamer, Benz or Bentley.” The crowd definitely gave him their energy as he left it all out on stage for this last segment before thanking them one last time and heading backstage for the meet-and-greet with VIP fans.

I’m not sure if this is the Waterloo fans being more passionate than Toronto fans, or if Lloyd Banks is just in a better zone while being in the rhythm of a full scale tour, but this show was much more energetic than when we saw Banks perform a one-off concert at Toronto’s Opera House just last year. The crowd had a lot more energy for Lloyd Banks to feed off of, and he was much more interactive with the fans this time around, really connecting and being humbled knowing he still has passionate fans supporting him all these years later. While last year he’d cut songs off without performing his verse or would skip over major hits completely, this show felt a bit more compassionate with better curation around the setlist.

This was an overall great time celebrating The Hunger For More with Lloyd Banks, although I’m sure fans would’ve liked to see more songs off of the album get performed, or see full songs performed rather than cutting them off after the first verse. Fans who have been supporting Banks’ newest music may have also been disappointed, as he completely skipped over his Course Of The Inevitable (COTI) trilogy of albums released throughout the 2020s, arguably being among his best work despite having an underground niche. Seeming to be more of a studio artist by nature, Lloyd Banks’ live performance had moments where it felt more like him playing hypeman to his own recording than actually performing, but it’s the nostalgia factor around these songs that still made the concert epic. The fans in the building were happy to rap along to all of the throwbacks Lloyd Banks served up, and the connection Banks had with his fans was strong.

The Hunger For More 20th Anniversary Tour continues through Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia; dates and tickets can be found here!

Big thank you to Robbie G and Robbie G Presents for granting this blog access to review this show!

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