50 CENT ON HIS INVITATION TOUR!

Guess who's back?

Rapper 50 Cent looked back to his usual bulky self while performing in Denver earlier this week as part of his Invitation Tour.

Last week, pictures surfaced of a cadaverous-looking Fiddy, who cut 50 pounds to play a cancer patient in "Things Fall Apart," a movie he wrote and which Mario Van Peebles is directing.

The pics were a shocking contrast from the he-man image of Fiddy we've come to know and love over the last few years. Shortly after 50 posted the pictures on his site, ThisIs50.com, he commented, "I'm eating again. I'll be back in shape in no time."

Since he just gained back all the weight, it's unlikely he's returned to the chiseled physique of his early hip-hop career, but the big-man look suits him a lot better than the sickly physique he took on for "Things Fall Apart."



In the film, 50 (real name Curtis Jackson) plays a football player stricken with cancer; the U.K.'s Mail Online reports the script is based on the life of a friend. The rapper's drastic weight cut (being called the most significant since Christian Bale slimmed down for "The Machinist" in 2005) is being pegged by Hollywood pundits as a sign that the hitmaker is taking a serious interest in acting.

50's film career has been mostly lukewarm thus far. After 2005's semi-autobiographical "Get Rich or Die Tryin'," 50 appeared in a string of direct-to-DVD bombs; only "Righteous Kill" with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro gained a big, national release.

His recent directorial effort, "Before I Self-Destruct," came packaged along with the CD last fall.

In an effort to increase his viability as a screen star (and decrease his time in the makeup chair), 50 Cent also had several of his signature tattoos removed from his arms. Mail Online reports Van Peebles is singing 50's praises, calling the rapper "disciplined" on set and "a dream" to direct.

Aside from "Things Fall Apart," which does not have a release date yet as per IMDB, 50 will next appear in the indie film "Twelve," where he plays Chace Crawford's drug dealer, and the action flick "13" (no relation to "Twelve") with Mickey Rourke, Jason Statham and "True Blood" star Alexander Skarsgard.