50 Cent’s surprise concert for his native Queens is being met with resistance from community officials who suspect the event will be mired in violence.
50, who will bus hundreds of children to a benefit concert at New Jersey’s Six Flags on August 29, set the free Queens show to commence the following day at the PS-30 schoolyard in his native South Jamaica neighborhood.
“Everybody’s gonna be there, you need to stop by there and come hang out with us. it’s gonna be a whole lot of festivities and games going on, a lot of educational stuff at the same time,” 50 Cent told AllHipHop.com. “We will have people from the DMV, there if you don’t have your drivers or permits and stuff like that you can come do that. The clinics all kind of stuff, if you are there you can come fix it.”
Even with his community outreach efforts, law enforcement are fearful that the mogul’s past street beefs could result in innocent concert goers being hurt.
“Someone’s gonna try to make a name for themselves,” an anonymous official told the NY Post. “They’re gonna take a shot at him, and they’re either gonna hit him or they’re gonna miss him and hit some poor, innocent kid or grandmother.”
The uneasiness stems from the still officially unsolved shooting of 50 Cent back in 2000.
The rapper was ambushed outside his grandmother’s house, and survived despite being wounded nine times by a 9MM handgun.
As a precaution, the NYPD is planning to utilize their gang units to shut down the 20 blocks around the South Jamaica Houses (40 Projects) to manage an expected turnout of 10,000 people.
The event is being sponsored by 50 and Bette Midler’s New York Restoration Project, which is a non-profit agency that focuses on support for low-income families.
Although 50 has been prominently featured for the show, his publicist Keesha Johnson denied he would perform a set, insisting the G-Unit CEO would be there for appearance purposes.
The NY Parks Department is finalizing arrangements for the show, which is scheduled to take place on August 30.
The concert will be preceded by the school’s “Family Day” at 5:30PM.
At press time, 50 Cent has not confirmed the artists who will perform for the benefit concert.
