POP MUSIC
Monday, February 13, 2006; Page C05
Ginuwine
Washington native Ginuwine was the true headliner of the Ladies Night Out tour at the Show Place Arena on Friday night, even though R&B quartet Jagged Edge closed the show. Fliers advertising the concert gave him top billing, as did the venue's box office, which announced ticket sales with a sign that read: "Ginuwine $51."
With a mix of the playfully explicit sex songs that made him famous and the more mature themes of 2005's "Back II Da Basics," the self-proclaimed "Pride of Washington D.C." stole the spotlight from every crooner on the lineup -- not only JE, but also singers Case and Donnell Jones.
  Fort Minor, led by Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda, gave the crowd at Nation a tight rock-like rap concert. (By Greg Waterman) |
Ginuwine joined a woman inside an enormous prop pair of denim pants for the smooth, seductive "In Those Jeans" from 2003's "The Senior," and danced around, insisting that he hasn't changed a bit from his days as Forestville High School student Elgin Lumpkin during "Same Ol' G." But the artist was more focused on singing than footwork and sight gags while performing his new moaning-and-groaning-dependent ballad "When We Make Love," and his most popular slow jam to date, the wedding favorite "Differences."
Fans rushed out of the arena in the middle of "Pony," the Timbaland-produced breakout hit from Ginuwine's 1996 debut, "The Bachelor," but only to get in line to have their pictures snapped with the star after he left the stage. But before Ginuwine could start posing with the public, Prince George's County Sheriff Michael Jackson surprised the artist with two proclamations at the end of his set, one of which declared the entire day a celebration of Ginuwine's life and work -- as if there were any doubt.
-- Sarah Godfrey
Fort Minor
It took only one song for Fort Minor's Mike Shinoda to ask the crowd at Nation on Friday to put their hands up and wave them from side to side. The rapper-songwriter, also a member of Linkin Park, later had a contest to see which side of the club's audience was louder and asked to see fans' lighters and cell phones during a ballad-rap. It was all so comforting.
But when Shinoda wasn't engaging in every hip-hop performance cliche in the book, he and his crew brought the noise. And what a crew it was: two violinists, a cellist, a drummer, three backup singers, singer Holly Brook, DJ Cheapshot and Styles of Beyond's rappers Ryu and Tak.
While the string section was little more than decoration, the rest of the group played off one another in an appealingly loose fashion. It was the last night of Fort Minor's first U.S. tour, and Shinoda, fresh from performing with Linkin Park, Jay-Z and Paul McCartney at the Grammy Awards, was ready to celebrate. He also was about to turn 29 the next day, so a birthday singalong and a big shot of Crown Royal helped.
Over the course of 15 songs, Fort Minor played hip-hop like a rock band, with a firm sense of dynamics and flow. Unlike so many rap performances, where microphones bleed from the manic vocal abuse heaped upon them, Shinoda, Ryu and Tak always sounded tight and audible.
