The “Rock The Mic Fest” stands out as the premiere hip- hop festival for the summer of 2003. Headliners Jay-Z and 50 Cent were joined by Snoop Dog, Fabolous, Bone Crusher, the Roc-a-Fella crew and Obie Trice Thursday at the Germain Amphitheater.
The 13,400 fans came from every race and age to unite in the name of music and hip-hop.
Jay-Z performed an array of songs which showcased his lyrical style. He performed songs ranging from “Can’t Knock The Hustle” from his 1996 LP “Reasonable Doubt,” to the No. 1 single “Crazy In Love.”
From the moment the “Jigga My Nigga” beat started, the crowd started singing along and never stopped. The energy levels stayed high through club pleasers like “I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)” and mellow songs such as “Where’s The Love” and “Excuse Me Miss.”
To show respect to hip-hop’s fallen entertainers, Jay-Z performed the heartfelt “Missing You” and provided snippets from “Hail Mary” by Tupac, “Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems” by Notorious B.I.G and showed pictures of Jam Master Jay, Big Pun and other hip-hop stars on video monitors.
The performance by 50 Cent was filled with music from his “Get Rich or Die Tryin” album. With sales in excess of 5.2 million copies and counting, it is understandable that the crowd knew every song.
Wearing a Lebron James jersey, 50 Cent hopped down from a New York skyscraper set and started singing “What Up Gangsta.” The whole Amphitheater went wild during “In Da Club,” his chart-topping hit single. The performance was packed with entertaining videos and costume changes. The performace also featured a leap into the crowd.
The openers, Snoop Dogg and Fabolous both performed like veteran musicians. Snoop reached deep into his repertoire to bring the audience songs from the past decade. With such a large catalog of songs, Snoop showed how he “Paid Da Cost To Be Da Boss,” the name of his current album.
