As gangsta as I could ever be. ever.50cent/G-Unit in Prishtina, Kosove
a day prior to the show, we had no tickets. i got the ipko mobile number but no tickets. I work for ipko, but i still did not have a ticket! man, I could use my gangsta genes and put a bullet in someones behind. But kept my calm and went to drink some nice warm tea. It's not that I did not want to go to the concert, because I knew 2 measly 50cent songs, but because of this huge huge event where a world superstar (talk all you want, he is a superstar - in a weird way), come up in this place at a such crucial time in history. I could argue that Boots to the Moon was the biggest star that ever set foot in Prishtina, and his gigs gathered people (numbers remain confidential), and he was all gangsta and that, but still 50cent is 50cent! so yeah, i wanted to be in a place with 20,000other people, and use this one-time free life opportunity to get a taste of what people experience at such these concerts.
50cent was promoting his latest album, and i thought once or twice how this concert would impact his album sales here. it would probably, since (almost) all who were at the concert have a new superhero - 50cent - and they would go out and buy the album > pirated copy of course (we're almost a country with almost no "enforced" copyright laws). It's like, you take a kid to see the newest spiderman movie, and the next thing the kid thinks he's spiderman and wants to buy spiderman-stuff. See, it's quite normal, since you see this uber-real guy dressed up in a tight latex suit that is super strong, and you want to be like him. That i could argue and relate with people going out and buying 50cent/G-Unit gear/stuff and want to be like hime, since we could not believe that the all powerful 50cent (come on, it's FI'RIcent) is there.
The pre-show performance that Albanian rappers (NR, K-OS, BimmBimma, Tingulli3, Real1 & DJ Blunt) put on display just showed how they are: 1) scared, 2) lost, 3) unprepared for a crowd of +20,000. I don't blame them, in fact, I support them a lot even if some of them really suck. K-OS were constantly promoting their new album/single, and when they brought Nora "Rrezik" Istrefi on stage, the crowd went nuts. She must have been nuts for going out dressed as if it was 28C and not -8C, but i was assured that she was not harmed during her (almost) invisible/minor performance that sent people rioting (almost). K-OS handed out t-shirts, and at times it seemed as if they did not know if they should throw shirts or sing. BimBimma was lonely and lost and his mic-sound was so low that you could only listen to the beats. But i still like the guy, he has some interesting thoughts. NR light up the stage, partly because Ergen (member) said "Qifsha shkijet" and asked if they wanted to come now and "shoot us down with your snipers" - the crowd (almost all) liked that, but i laughed when he said that and was a bit shocked (and waited for the UNMIK guys to come and wash his mouth out with soap). But he is the most expressive one, and i really like how he raps. After G3nti said "Une jom qaj qe nana jote me adhuron", people started throwing stuff at him. I was not offended, but people were. Real1 was just killing time, telling people to say "Eh, Oh, Yeah, DJ-Blunt, etc." which was so repetitive. Even Vedat was onstage for NR's song of "Axha Sneq", and it was hilarious to see vedat rap like that. The locals were done for the night.
We were at the stands /VIP entrance, VIP stand, that had no benefit from other people/ from 6:20PM, and the show started at 7-8PM I think. It was soo sooo cold that time froze as well. It looked like 50cent was not coming, and I had this feeling that they will trick us again (it happened with other super-big DJs who were scheduled to come, but never did, and people were given a stupid excuse), and thought that they will bring another gorilla onstage (a fake 50cent double). Anyways, people were shouting their heads off, when some spotted the 17vehicle motorcade approaching the stadium. After some 30minutes of shouts, three guys (G-unit presumably) jumped onstage and people went really nuts, more nuts than independence-nuts. The visuals that were projected while these guys performed were to be admired: guns, flames, more guns, a lot more guns, diamonds, coin emblems of 50cent, women... 50cent was flashing his entire gun arsenal, that had only a nuclear warhead missing from the collection. There was a time when someone from the stage asked the crowd "Do you smoke weed?" twice. Of course we all do. The lights went green, visuals marijuana, and a Dr.Dre song was sung. But the lights, visual effects and the super sound made Prishtina stadium really loud and shinny. Being as gangsta as I could ever be, I danced (otherwise I would have frozen). Nita screamed her lungs out, but it was another defense mechanism against the cold i guess. Some time passed (an hour i think) and then the moment came: 50cent on stage! it was unbelievable, but it was true, he came! (i must admit that it was just after the half of his performance that i really believed that was 50cent - always had that feeling of "they're-gonna-fcuk-us-again-bastards!"). He sang all of his hits, partially, but he performed. No political statements, just his biggest hits that sent waves of hands up and down, up and down, now at the side, side, side, and up and down. the whole G-Unit/50cent dance was funny, because they looked like they were humping someone (us?). It was also funny to see how 50cent would shout: "now hold your hands up in the air", and gun-shot effects, as if "stick your hands up where I can see them" and then shooting the guy. but that's gangsta i guess. There were some fights that broke in the crowd, and i also saw a dance-off challenge that people threw to see who is the sickest dancer of the show. People found "other" ways to enter into the stadium, and it was almost packed.
My hunch is that the fireworks show (+all that smoke that came out) put on only seconds after 50cent said goodbye, was a way of distracting us as 50cent left the building. Nita was afraid that the firework pieces that were landing like crazy in the stadium would set her on fire. I reassured that i won't happen because we saw 50cent live. It was a great finish to a good concert, people were happy, parents secured that their children did not misbehave (how could they think that this concert is an ordinary one where people parade in good clothes, or no-clothes for that matter, instead of gun-shooting, marijuana-seeing, curse-words used and danced-to concert?).
Good times. Our legs froze, but that was some good times.
P.S.: BBC, Reutres and some other news agencies commented the story.
