50 and co. bring the party to Gampel

50 Cent was all smiles.

And why shouldn't he be? He's got another album dropping in the next few months, a No. 1 single with label-mates and long-time friends Dr. Dre and Eminem, and on Friday night, he had a near-capacity Gampel Pavilion grooving to his beats and flows as if it were some kind of oversized, basketball-themed club.

SUBOG's annual spring concert is usually held on Spring Weekend but was moved with the hope of reducing some of the hoopla surrounding UConn's (in)famous three-day party. The concert also featured hip-hop legends Naughty By Nature as the opening act. The show went on without a hitch, unlike last year's show, which, as many may remember, was marred by a two-hour delay due to a generator failure.

There were no surprises on the set list for 50 and his G-Unit crew - the gravelly-voiced Lloyd Banks and the self proclaimed "talk of New York" Tony Yayo - yet there was plenty of excitement and energy on stage and in the audience.

Taking the stage after a charismatic and all-around valiant effort by opening act Naughty By Nature, 50 (decked out in a green and blue Hartford Whalers hat and jacket) wasted no time diving into his hour-long set, starting with his latest single "Crack A Bottle."

Besides a few cuts from the G-Unit albums (like show closer "Straight Outta Southside") and Banks and Yayo's solo albums (songs "Hands Up" and "So Seductive" respectively), the setlist was what one would imaging 50's greatest hits album to look like. All the expected hits were there - "Wanksta," "In Da Club," "Ayo Techology" - the list goes on and on.

Banks and Yayo served more as hype men throughout the show, finishing 50's lines or entertaining the audience during his wardrobe changes; it would have been nice to see a bit more from them. The audience, however, didn't seem to mind.

"It was just awesome," said Anthony Stein, 1st-semester business major. "'In Da Club' was definitely my favorite part."

It's understandable for 50 to perform his biggest songs - it's his job as entertainer to keep the crowd moving - but his setlist could have done without songs like the R&B-esque "Follow My Lead" and the tacky "Magic Stick." These were balanced however with some of the better tracks from his catalog, "Many Men" and "Get Up."

Naughty By Nature brought the audience back to "19-naughty-one" with a set full of old hits and hip-hop tributes.

Dan Tobjy, a 2nd-semester exploratory major, said, "Naughty By Nature was just classic. 'Feel Me Flow,' 'O.P.P.' were great. It was all very classic."

The group's standout leader, Treach, has survided the test of time, as he sounded just as he did when "O.P.P." was recorded in 1991. Other notable moments in their set included "Craziest," "Ghetto Bastard," "Guard Your Grill" and "Hip-Hop Hooray." Despite staying off the radar for the better part of the past 15 years, they entertained an enthusiastic audience that had their hands in the air, cheering at every call.

Naysayers can argue all they want about 50 Cent's rapping abilities or how his love for lyricism has become something more commercial. If there's one thing that is for certain, this man can put on a hell of a show.