US rapper 50 Cent kicks off European tour with Dublin concert

Nov 4, 2007, 23:29 GMT

Dublin - US rapper 50 Cent kicked of his European tour with a sell-out concert in Dublin on Sunday, saying performances around the world have helped earn recognition for his work and popularize the hip hop genre.

At least 6,000 fans gathered at the RDS sport and entertainment complex in Dublin to see the charismatic gangster-turned musician, whose real name is Curtis Jackson.

In just four years since the release of his debut album, Get Rich or Die Tryin, 50 Cent has become one of the biggest and most successful artists on the international hip hop scene.

Reflecting in an interview with Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa ahead of the Dublin concert, 50 Cent said concerts in cities and countries where people do not even speak English have been key to his success as a performer.

'I've been to Israel, Lebanon, Iraq, Cape Town (South Africa) and Nigeria,' he said. 'I'll go places that the other hip hop artists haven't generated enough interest to actually have them brought out to these places, like Estonia and Cypress where they've only seen Michael Jackson.'

The Dublin concert included tracks such as Ayo Technology and Follow My Lead from his latest album: Curtis, and performances of P.I.M.P., Hate It or Love It and Window Shopper from previous albums.

50's European tour follows the launch of his coffee-table book- style biography, 50 x 50: 50 Cent In His Own Words, that includes some family photographs that he found at his grandmother's house.

The rapper, who was raised by his grandmother following the death of his mother, is a former drug dealer from New York's borough of Queens. He survived an attack in which he was shot nine times in 2000.

His European tour is to include a concert in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on Monday and five concerts in Germany in late November among others.

His next album, Before I Self Destruct, is due out next year.