50 Cent gave fans in the Carrier Dome a taste of the 2000’s at University Union’s sold out Block Party event on Friday night. The rapper, who was covered in bling, seemed out of place in an arena of college students.

He was joined on stage with four-person group G-Unit throughout his set, singing classics such as “Candy Shop” and “Disco Inferno.”

Around 20 minutes after his entrance, 50 Cent attempted to energize the quickly fading audience with faster beats and more of his hit songs.

“This is the motherf*cking good part, Syracuse,” the rapper said, as he immediately began singing “Hate It or Love It.”

Young Buck of G-Unit repeatedly threw water onto a crowd that bobbed their heads to the beat, but didn’t know the words to most of the throwback songs. Students could be seen leaving the floor or sitting down to take a break from the almost four-hour concert lineup.

But when the 39-year-old rapper played “In Da Club,” a few students leaped over the barricade separating the first level of the Dome from the ground floor, leaving security guards unhappy. As two men rolled on the floor, they immediately sprang up and jumped into the then-dancing crowd.

Kygo, an up-and-coming DJ and producer, gave the crowd an opportunity to dance during the night with his dreamy mixes. The Norwegian DJ stood on stage behind his lit-up booth and, to the crowd’s liking, played his popular remixes of “Sexual Healing” by Marvin Gaye and “Younger” by Seinabo Sey.

He popped up onstage and immediately opened his electronic-heavy set with a remix of Ed Sheeran’s “I See Fire.” Kygo mouthed the words and beat the entire time with a giant smile on his face.

Kygo said very little throughout his set — his manager said he was feeling ill earlier in the night. But behind his booth that flashed lyrics and brightly colored shapes with each drop in the song, the DJ could be seen bouncing his knees to the beat — a kind of energy audience members couldn’t see. The never-ending stream of rainbow confetti and smoke that hit the crowd made up for Kygo’s personal lack of liveliness.

The openers of the night, rapper duo Rae Sremmurd, amped up the Dome for the rest of the evening. The two young brothers came out bursting with energy and told the small crowd to put their hands up. They played one of their biggest hits, “No Flex Zone,” second during their set.

A shirtless Aaquil “Slim Jimmy” Brown jumped into the crowd on the Dome floor. When he returned to the stage with his brother, Khalif “Swae Lee” Brown, the two continuously pumped their arms and danced around to keep up the hype.

Joyce Zhang, a sophomore from Cornell University, came to Block Party ready to dance. She made two signs for artists Rae Sremmurd and Kygo, and was ecstatic when Rae Sremmurd took her “No Flex Zone” poster onstage and signed it for her near the end of their performance.

“It felt amazing. I didn’t know what was going to happen when they took my sign, but it was awesome that they noticed me,” Zhang said.

Students left the concert, kicking streamers, stepping on free water cups and mouthing the words to their favorite throwback jams.

Megan Barnes, president of UU and a senior political science major, said the show was extremely successful and that she couldn’t have been happier with the turnout.

“To hear 50 (Cent) live, it was awesome to hear. I grew up hearing his stuff, so to hear it live was incredible,” Barnes said. “He did a little bit of new, and a little bit of old, and just mixed it all together.”

Published on April 25, 2015 at 12:34 am

Contact Jackie: jmfrere@syr.edu | @jackie_frere