PROVIDENCE — Next Friday is HOT Night 2008 at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center, and the police are determined that nothing will boil over.

HOT Night 2008 is a hip-hop concert, with some rhythm and blues mixed in, that features headliners Lil’ Wayne and Fabolous. Both performers have criminal records and gang associations, according to the police.

And they will be coming at an especially tense time, the police say, for gang and neighborhood feuds in Providence. They are concerned that rivals might clash at the concert.

“It’s going to appeal to young inner-city kids,” said police Lt. Timothy Lee.

So the Dunk is arranging for extra security at the request of the police: tentatively 22 police officers on off-duty detail, including two mounted officers, to add muscle to the Dunk’s security force of 60. Typically, 12 detail officers are on duty at a concert.

Providence Place mall, where gang and youth violence has flared occasionally, also is taking the precaution of hiring 13 off-duty police officers for that night, or five more than usual.

Lawrence J. Lepore, general manager of the Dunk, and police officers met with the city Board of Licenses at City Hall yesterday to discuss the safety plan for the board-sanctioned event.

At the insistence of the police, the performers as well as the patrons will be subjected to pat-down searches for weapons and contraband and checks with metal-detecting wands.

“We want to make sure that we are the only ones with guns in the building,” Lee has said.

Despite the police concerns, Lepore said, “This is not a gang-oriented event…” and he said the ticket prices, which range from $37 to $67, tend to be out of the reach of urban youngsters.

“The majority is going to be suburban white girls,” Lepore said of the anticipated audience. The seating capacity is 9,646 and nearly 7,000 tickets have been sold so far. Even counting up to 1,000 walk-ups on concert night, Lepore said he does not expect a sellout.

No alcohol will be served at the event, which is sponsored by the radio station HOT 106.

Rob Buswell, a veteran promoter who is bringing in the show, and the Dunk have agreed to forbid after-hours parties associated with the concert — again, at the insistence of the police. Trouble sometimes occurs at parties following hip-hop and rap concerts across the nation, according to the police.

HOT 106 had an after-hours party scheduled at Lupo’s nightclub downtown, but the board yesterday refused to license the affair.

Lil’ Wayne has faced drug and weapons charges at least four times. He was arrested as recently as January, when federal agents said they found illegal drugs, including cocaine, on his charter bus at a Border Patrol checkpoint near Yuma, Ariz.

Fabolous was shot on the street in New York City in October 2006, and when the police stopped his fleeing sport utility vehicle, they said they found two loaded guns inside.

In January 2003 he was arrested twice in New York City and charged with two counts of gun possession as well as driving with a suspended license. Two months later he was arrested again, in Montreal, and charged with gun possession.

The outcomes of these and other criminal cases involving both performers could not be determined yesterday.

The Dunk has not staged a hip-hop concert in several years. In March 2007 an 18-year-old Providence promoter attempted to mount a hip-hop concert, but the police opposed it, and after the board attached onerous conditions to the license, the event was canceled.

Lee said the police do not oppose Friday’s concert because the acts, although they are notorious, are less ominous and have less overt gang links than the acts that were invited last year.

A lot of people are expected to crowd into downtown Friday night, because in addition to the concert, there is a full WaterFire Providence display and the Rhode Island School of Design is celebrating its graduation weekend.

The police will have a standard detail of 16 assigned for a full WaterFire.

Scheduled performers on the bill for HOT Night 2008 also include, among others, The Dream, Baby Bash, Sheek Louch, 2 Pistols and C-Side.

gsmith@projo.com