50 Cent New Year's Eve At PURE Nightclub Las Vegas On The Red Carpet

via Las Vegas Weekly

As the last hour of 2009 ticked by on screens around the five-year-old club, a steady stream of guests and VIPs poured into the venue. Dressed in a sleek black ensemble of shine and lace topped with a structured blazer and shoulder pads, 24-year-old songstress Ciara stalked the red carpet outside Pure with a crew of female friends waiting to accompany her inside.

"I never really go out that often," said the singer who is reportedly dating 50 Cent, "so I'm just excited to go out and have a good time and enjoy myself."

If she hasn't been devoting much time to partying, maybe it's because Ciara simply hasn't had the time. In 2009, the multi-platinum selling artist behind tracks "Like a Boy" and "1,2 Step" released her third album, Fantasy Ride, toured with Jay-Z and made commercial appearances. Ciara seems to have had a better 2009 than most. She summed up her year as "pretty eventful, pretty fun, pretty prosperous, pretty great." Sounds pretty rare, too.

50 Cent also seemed to have missed out on some quality time in Las Vegas clubs. The rapper was last in town in April when he spent time in the Palms recording studio with Dr. Dre and Eminem for his Curtis album. "We got the chance to go to the movies a couple of times, but we didn't go out and party," 50 Cent explained.

Consider New Year's Eve making up for lost time, then.

50 started his performance on the Pure roof deck, welcoming 2010 with his suggestively titled song "Have a Baby By Me, Baby, Be a Millionaire." About half an hour past midnight, the concert continued in the club's main room.

"2010! We gonna ring it in right," the rapper called from the stage, now out of the black brocade jacket he sported for his walk down the red carpet and wearing a white jacket and his standard issue Yankees hat.

Standing next to boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr, who obligingly held up a stack of cash, 50 launched into the first song of his roughly 45-minute set, "I Got Money." The pair played off each other throughout 50's 13-song tour through his hits with so much chemistry, Mayweather might consider joining the music man on his next tour. When 50 called out "I get money!", Mayweather held up his own pile of bills, fanning them out for all to see. It was like a beautiful interpretive dance, with Benjamins.

"In Da Club," "Candy Shop," "Magic Stick," "Hate It Or Love It," "P-I-M-P" and "If I Can't" — the set list read like a track list for his greatest hits project. Surrounded by bodyguards — getting shot nine times would make anyone paranoid — 50 Cent plowed through his four-album catalog, and all the while a dapper Mayweather danced alongside, flipping off the crowd and even making it rain what looked like $100s for a moment above the packed club.

After performing for nearly an hour, 50 Cent closed out his set in an auditory hail of gunfire with the sound of shots echoing out of the speakers, as if to remind the crowd of the street legitimacy behind the now wealthy musician.

"Party time," 50 said before the spotlight suddenly cut out and he disappeared into the crowd encircled by burly men in black. Who doesn't love a dramatic exit?