Fabolous wasn't so fabulous

Fabolous came, he saw, he drank and he left. And for a crowd of approximately 500 people who waited more than an hour to see him perform, Fabolous only played for 33 minutes (10 of which were spent in a contest to determine which third of the crowd could yell the loudest…sweet).\nAs he took to the stage dawning a #31 Reggie Miller jersey, Fabolous chanted back and forth with the crowd "F-a B-o L-o U-s," his trademark method of spelling out his name. It was at that point he went into crowd-favorite song warning everyone that he was not to be trifled with. Fabolous slurred his way through a limited hit list that included "Super Woman pt. 2" (minus Lil' Mo) and "Family Affair" (minus Mary J. Blige). After hearing both of those songs, I had to do a double-take at my watch -- I've heard radio commercials last longer.\nToward the end of his set, Fabolous professed his adoration to all the short girls present in the audience and kindly invited about 20 of them onstage to dance. Soon after, his DJ laid down the record for "Youngin' (Holla' Back)" -- his biggest hit. The crowd was definitely at its wildest peak during this song. But little did it know in about three minutes the beats would shut off and the lights would go dim. Needless to say, when it became clear Fabolous was finished, the ZBT crowd felt a little used. Comments such as "Damn! That was short!" and "That's it?" could be heard throughout the crowd as everyone exited ZBT's courtyard.\nFor Fabolous to get on stage, converse with the crowd a little, sing even less and then exit stage right without blinking was a gross injustice to the enthusiastic and supportive crowd that paid $20 to watch him. I didn't have a press pass to get into his after-hours show, so I'm not sure how it went. But after calling Axis Nightclub around 10:30 p.m., I found out he still had not arrived and, a spokesperson there said, it was "totally up to him whether he would perform again or not."\nOn an enhanced closing note, I'd like to thank opening act Holistic for a solid hour-long hip-hop set. It's too bad I had to strain to hear them sing while Fabolous got a sound boost out of nowhere just because he had enough clout to complain to the sound crew and get away with it. I guess it comes with the territory when you're an over-rated, wealthy semi-rap star who cares more about getting paid than making music.