VIDEO:50 Cent Unites NYC Hip-Hop At ThisIs50 Festival

“I wanted to make a festival that didn’t necessarily have to have an artist [who has a] single in rotation at the time,” 50 explained to MTV News at the show. “That doesn’t directly reflect good hip-hop. It reflects marketing dollars spent by the major corporations, the companies. Tonight we have everybody that means something to us musically in one spot. When I bring Cory Gunz, Trav, Maino …”

Just then D-Block rolled up.

“Check this out, this is impressive: Now we got Jadakiss out here. This is real! Tell me anywhere else you can go where you can see everybody. It represents different portions of hip-hop. You got the Lox, the new young gunners Cory Gunz, Trav, Maino. Jimmy [Jones] and Juelz [Santana] coming. They say New York City, we don’t actually get along, that’s not true. We could work together and get more money than we can get apart, and they gonna see us do it in the future.”

Fif’s bill also included openers Wale and Kid Cudi, who brought all the hits from their young careers such as “Chillin’ ” and “Day N’ Nite,” respectively. Then you had Papoose, Slaughterhouse, the aforementioned Cory Gunz and Trav, then the more established crews — Diplomats, D-Block and G-Unit — closing out.”