Is 50 Cent slippin’? That’s the question that ran through my head on repeat after leaving the first night of his 5 Borough Tour at Manhattan’s Hammerstein Ballroom. My dude Jay Rod has the full report so I won’t go in too hard about the show, but I will say it was probably the most interesting one I’ve been to all year.

Forget the fact that we waited for Curtis for over an hour, went to get something to eat then came back and waited for an additional 90 minutes. Forget the fact that the same security guard who told me I could only shoot the first three songs of 50’s set later asked for my all access pass so he could get some groupies in the pit alongside individuals who were actually working.

50 Cent eventually made his way to the stage, with Tony Yayo, Lloyd Banks and Whoo Kid all in tow. The highlight of the night came when 50 left the stage for a couple of minutes then came back and said, “Lemme bring my man out.”

Then the unthinkable happened. Jim Jones and Juelz Santana joined 50 Cent onstage. I damn near dropped my camera at the sight of the union. After all, Diplomats head Cam’ron and 50 are at war and Jimmy and Yayo had their own verbal jabs. Last year, Yayo referred to Jim’s “Baaaaallin’ ” anthem as “Borrring”! 50 clearly has a strong influence on his crew as the two men stood side by side as if Jim was the newest member of G-Unit.

From there 50 ripped through classics from Get Rich or Die Tryin’, The Massacre and the G-Unit album. Now, I’ve seen Fif at Long Island’s Nassau Coliseum on the heels of his masterpiece, Get Rich or Die Tryin’, and when I say he made an entry that literally had the floor shaking, it made me think the second coming of Michael Jackson was upon us how crazy he had the crowd going song for song.

Last night was a different story though. There were times when 50 cut his songs short because the crowd wasn’t rocking with him like he wanted. He also intimidated a male audience member simply because homie wasn’t dancing. “Are y’all tired or something?” was asked so much through the night that I almost thought it was a scapegoat for 50 to cut his performance short. But after taking a good look into the sea of fans, some had left the theater, others were sitting down and most were just standing there watching. I stood in amazement with the homies Shaheem and Jayson.

At the end of his set, Fif told the crowd, “I’m sure I’ll see most of you at the rest of my shows.” I don’t know, homie, I wouldn’t count on that. But at least you still have Vitamin Water.