You didn’t think 50 was going to forget to take off his shirt now, did ya?  

Even Wyclef took the stage last night for his song with T.I., oops, we mean Tip, during his performance of ”You Know What It Is,” uh excuse us, “You Know What It Iya.”

Even though we heard that T.I. slept through the media room (shhhh!!!), he seemed to be all smiles when he answered questions before the show started.  

So how long are these two (50 Cent and Ciara) going to avoid admitting that they’re a couple? It’s almost too unbelievable that 50 Cent has actually managed to avoid answering the question every time he’s asked (you know 50 can’t kept his mouth shut to save his life). So anyway, 50 Cent showed up at the Houston show, joining Ciara on stage during her performance of “Can’t Leave ‘Em Alone.” Everyone says the crowd went nuts.

Yawn. This is like  a repeat of Jayonce where the couple is always spotted together but never admits it. Let’s see if he shows up to any other Screamtour dates.

It’s only a few minutes til showtime, but backstage is relatively calm. To kill some time, we just wander around and check things out.

You don’t have to worry about anybody getting lost around here…

Or forgetting their set times!

You can’t do a show in the N.O. without showing some love so Baby Boy da Prince warmed the crowd up!

The view from backstage as Young Lloyd does his thing. He breezed through hits such as “Southside,” “Get It Shawty” and “You.”

After watching Lloyd do his thing, we wandered around backstage and look who we ran into:

Da Brat

Young Dro

and “106 & Park” host Rocsi gets her face touched up before hitting the stage (she was the MC for the night)

Next up, Yung Joc hit the stage and showed the audience how it’s going down with the motorcycle dance he made famous…

he then decided to show a lucky audience member the results of hardwork and a good bowflex!

…and no performance is good unless somebody makes it rain at least once!

 Meanwhile, this dude made it rain in the audience, but it wasn’t clear if he was in Joc’s crew or if he just felt generous that night (he’s flashing some big bills in the pic, but all we the audience picked up were a bunch of singles)

T-Pain took the stage next and boy, he has a ton of energy! He had the audience on its feet as he sang his hit songs like “I’m Sprung,” “Buy U A Drank” and “Bartender.” He even hit the crowd off with his verse from R. Kelly’s “I’m A Flirt.”

He does a mean snap too!

After a short break, the first of the tour’s headliners came out–Ciara. Needless to say, the crowd went nuts when she launched into hits such as “Promise” and “Crush.”

Though the sound went out while she performed her breakout hit, “Goodies,” Ciara reacted like a pro, never missing a beat.

Around 10:15 p.m., T.I. takes to the stage (or was it T.I.P.?) and the audience goes absolutely bananas, especially when he breezes through songs such as “Top Back,” “Why You Wanna” and “Bring ‘Em Out.”

Around 10:40 p.m., Ciara takes to the stage again but unfortunately, her performance was marred yet again by sound issues, with the music going out on “Get Up” and “Oh.” Though she was visibly annoyed, Ciara didn’t disappoint fans, instead launching into an acapella version of “Oh.”

 She then brought Tiffany Evans onstage, who performed her song, “Promise Ring.” Ciara told the crowd, “As soon as I saw this girl, I just knew the world was gonna love her” and judging by the audiences reaction, she was right.

Ciara reemerged after another costume change and attempted to perform her hit, “Like A Boy” but once again, the sound went out and CiCi left the stage.

T.I. came on again to close things out, breaking the crowd off with his current single, “You Know What It Is.”

He then brought out his adorable son, King, who seemed right at home onstage.

He was later joined onstage by Young Dro, who worked the crowd up with his song, “Shoulder Lean.” New Orleans native B.G. also came out to show his hometown some love. Unfortunately, we didn’t get any shots of this because we were busy backstage gushing over T.I.’s other kids, who were hanging out with his on-again-off-again fiancee, Tiny.

We did make it back out for the night’s finale–T.I. and Ciara performing T.I.P.’s song, “Big Sh*t Poppin.” Though CiCi changed clothes again, T.I. kept it gully with his outfit of choice: no shirt, some boxers and jeans.

What’s that blur? Oh, it’s just T.I. rushing offstage!

Whew! what a show! Our ears are throbbing from the screams and our feet are hurting from running back and forth, but boy was it worth it! As T.I. said, this year’s Screamfest is definitely for the grown & sexy.

It’s now almost 5 p.m. and youth from around the city are arriving for a special VIP meet-n-greet. Backstage, we run into Young Lloyd who just finished doing an on-air interview with New Orleans radio station, WQUE-Q93. Though he reps Hotlanta, Lloyd lets fans know that he’ll always be a New Orleanian at heart (he was born in the city).

Next, we make our way into the radio room where we spy Ciara protégé, Tiffany Evans, interviewing with Q93’s A.D. Berry. Though she’s not on tonight’s bill, something tells us the 15-year-old will be making an appearance onstage tonight.

In addition to doing interviews in the room, the tour’s acts are also taking time out to meet a select group of fans. After about 20 minutes with no artists in the room, the fans start to get a bit restless. However, it’s only a matter of time before the KING himself, T.I. makes his way into the room, taking time to pose for pics with the lucky fans.

These young ladies didn’t seem to mind the wait.

Looks like this young lady wasn’t too happy about having to wait so long, though.

After meeting everyone, stepped up for his radio interview.

It wasn’t long before he was joined by his Grand Hustle/Atlantic Records fam, Big Kuntry & B.G.

Yung Joc wanders in and wants in on the interview! 

It’s now almost showtime so everyone goes back to their dressing rooms to get ready…see ya in a bit!

Today’s the big day! Only a few hours til showtime so everyone’s doing soundcheck to make sure things go off without a hitch at tonight’s show. I arrive at the New Orleans Arena around 1 p.m. to check out a few of the last minute rehearsals. T-Pain and Yung Joc’s tourbuses are already there.

Bet you can’t guess who this bus belongs to?

Yung Joc’s Bus

Inside, T-Pain has just finished rehearsing and now Yung Joc is running through his set.

After sticking around for a bit, I head out to grab a bite to eat. After all, I know I’ll have a loooong night ahead of me!

Screamfest ‘07 is here and the first stop is New Orleans. The tour’s acts arrived a few days early to help spread a bit of joy to the city, since it’s still recovering from Hurricane Katrina. Today they toured the lower 9th Ward, one of the parts of town that was hit the hardest. Unfortunately, I got there and realized my camera’s batteries were dead. Boooo….