Ruff Ryders and Cash Money Millionaires. This concert was held on Thursday, March 2, 2000. Some of the hottest rap and R&B artists included in this mix were DMX, Juvenile, Ruff Ryders, Drag On, Hot Boyz, Eve, The Lox, Lil Wayne, Big Tymers, and B.G. It was hosted at the Marine Midland Arena in Downtown Buffalo.
Tickets ranged from $40.00 to $55.00 for the five-hour-long show. The wait to get in was somewhat frightening due to a checkpoint-like station where everyone had to be searched. Police and security guards patted everyone down for drugs, weapons, and anything else they could try to stop. After the long wait to get in, you found your seat and waited for the first group.
You would think that no one would be doing any drugs due to the search before you got in there, but I was wrong. Not even ten minutes before the show, you could smell the pot in the air. That was one of the few things wrong with this wild and crazy concert. After it was over, that was all you smelled like, and you were feeling the contact buzz as it felt like things were moving in slow motion. DMX opened the concert with one of his greatest songs, It’s All Good.”
All the ladies in the place were going wild when he yelled, Where my ladies at?” while he then tore off Mike Barr’s shirt and threw it in the crowd. DMX’s time on the stage was incredible. His voice sounded good in concert, unlike most rappers’ voices. As the night passed, the music was turned up a couple of notches. All of the groups were sounding good until it got to Eve. This young lady singer is nice to hear on the radio with her vocals tuned to perfection, but in concert, it was horrible, and the crowd went from crazy to just about silent. Juvenile was the last rapper to finish the concert.
By the time he came up there, the music was so loud you couldn’t hear the guy sing. You would be singing along because you know the words, and when the bass of the beat of the song kicked in, you couldn’t hear him singing. One of his top songs, Back That Ass Up,” drove the crowd nuts as some of the ladies in the crowd became topless and started shaking their booties. But when you could hear him, he sounded excellent. By the time the whole thing was over, you were yelling, “We want more!” Getting out of the place took five times as long as it would getting out of a Sabers game.
The reason being, everyone waited until it was over. I don’t think there was one person who left during it. This was another downfall of the concert. Roads were packed as long as getting out of your parking space due to the lack of road space. You would figure they would make a one-way road so you can have two or four lanes instead of one or two.
The majority of the crowd at the concert was very pleased with the Ruff Ryder and Cash Money Millionaires Crew. Most of the people I talked to liked it a lot and had very few complaints.
Most of them wanted to know when the two crews will be in town again.
