THE truce is over between 50 Cent and the Game.
At Sunday’s Hot 97 Summer Jam concert, the Game rekindled the soap opera dramatics between the two – which escalated to gunplay earlier this year – during his set at Giants Stadium.
Game’s performance could only be described as tight and right on – it should have pleased any hip-hop fan. But Jersey-side revelers dissed him with the silent treatment at the end of each song.
Game had a tough act to follow, arriving onstage after 53,000 fans hailed Jay-Z’s surprise appearance with Kanye West by chanting “Hova, Hova, Hova.”
But the dead-in-the-water reception, which rattled the rapper, had little to do with what went before.
You didn’t need to know the history of ill will between Fiddy and Game to know the man was steaming mad. Still, Game performed with hopes that the power of his set would win fans over.
Game used every move he knew to make the house rock. Then he implored the fans, “Don’t hate me.”
They did anyway. Hate filled air and the crowd breathed it in. So Game snapped.
He had a lackey fetch his diamond-encrusted G-Unit chain, a relic from when he was part of 50 Cent’s posse. Then Game flinged the bling out to the 50 yard line, where it fell into the hands of a very lucky fan, and told 50 Cent “you can suck my [you know what].”
Even though 50 Cent, on tour with Eminem, wasn’t there to hear Game’s declaration, the truce died that instant. And the goodwill generated by the pair’s peacemaking press conference earlier this year at Harlem’s Center for African Studies shattered.
Game went on to trash Fiddy’s honor and manhood, referring to his bulletriddled enemy by the “B” word. Then he sought to undermine his former mentor’s street cred: “He ain’t no real n- – – – -. He lives in Connecticut and he won’t even step out of his front door. I’m a real n- – – – -.”
Even without the Game’s Glock ‘n’ roll outburst, this four-hour hip-hop extravaganza was one of the most exciting concerts of the season.
The lineup read like a who’s who of rap royalty, including sexy crunk girl Ciara, Lil John, super-toker Snoop Dogg and studio genius Kanye West. Not to mention Ludacris, Jadakis and Cam’ron.
Each of the big-name acts featured their own guest. Ludacris made the mistake of having R&B singer Bobby Valentino join him for a flat-footed set, while Lil John killed by teaming with Daddy Yankee for a crunk-meets-Spanish Harlem segment.
But with all the darts and arrows launched by the Game, forgetting it’s about the music was all too easy. Deejays at Hot 97 had been predicting for weeks before this show that 2005 is gonna have a long, hot summer. Who’d have guessed how right they were?
