Jay-Z : A Review

With chants of Hova pounding throughout the stadium as well as diamonds being thrown around more frivolously then a dissatisfied warlord in Sierra Leone, the capacity crowd at Yankee Stadium knew their proverbial son was about to make his entrance.

Already attending a Jay-Z concert earlier this year I figured I knew the set list and prepared for a telegraphed evening full of Roc nation and Brooklyn references. But once again the kid from Marcy blew me away. After opening with the ‘Dynatsy Intro’ Jay-Z went straight into his multiplatinum single, ‘Run This Town’.

Before I go and further I would like to mention that prior to the show I was hoping for guest spots but was very skeptical due to the fact most of Jays closest musical associates were across the country in L.A. at some after party to the VMAs. However after the playback of the second hook of ‘Run this Town’ finished, Kanye West himself decided to finish the song.

Jay and Mr. West were not done there. They then went into the brand new remix of ‘Power’, which was performed for the first time ever. Kanye then brought out Nikki Minaj of Lil Waynes label Young Money to spit a verse for a new track entitled ‘Monster”.

After bringing out Swizz Beatz to perform “On To the Next One” Eminem reemerged to ride shotgun on Jays first Blueprints, ‘Renegade’. Jay then stunned the 12 hipsters that were in the audience when he brought out Chris Martin to perform ‘Lost’, ‘Viva la Vida’ and an absolutely amazing rendition of “Heart of the City”.

Although proving to me he was popular was enough, one of the aspects that have now made me a fan of Jay was his recognition of his roots and his appreciation of those who helped get to where he is now. Mid way through the concert Jay let the sold out crowd sing verses to Notorious B.I.G.’s ‘Juicy’ and ‘One more chance’, and if P. Diddy’s “Making the Band” taught us anything its that if you don’t know the lyrics to ‘Juicy’ you’re not a fan of hip hop.

Jay then brought out so called “protégé” Drake to perform ‘Light Up’ and wife Beyonce surprised the audience as she sang the hook to ‘Forever Young’ to finish the show. Although it seems like I’m seriously showing off by name dropping all these amazing artists that I was fortunate enough to see, I’m not. Wait. Yes I am. Completely. I have my own blog for gosh sake, tooting my own horn is second nature.


Overall Jay-Z brought his best to the city that raised him. From his ability to surprise the audience, to his quick wit and candor as he called out fans trying to leave early to beat the traffic. Although different from Eminem’s multi-syllabic rhyme scheme Jays ability to inject energy through slower, more methodical rhymes was still felt from grandstand to center field.