Sinatra was playing over the speakers at Yankee Stadium, but the night wasn’t over, not quite. No, as Frank’s voice rang out at 2:30 a.m., in the wee small hours of Monday morning — “I want to beee a part of it …” — Jay-Z still had a few more verses left in him.
Seeing Jay live is a rare enough treat in these days when the man who was once rap’s most prolific hitmaker is more or less retired, for real this time, emerging only when he wants to say something to the generations of hip-hop fans who still revere him like no other. This past weekend, he celebrated two milestones by looking back with a pair of concerts dedicated to full performances of his 1996 debut, Reasonable Doubt, and his 2001 high point, The Blueprint. Those albums are turning 30 and 25 this year, but they’re only the tip of Iceberg Slim’s unparalleled catalog. So, when those two shows sold out instantly, he added a third night at the stadium and called it “Extra Innings.”
The extreme demand for these shows — driven even higher after two headline-making nights — meant huge crowds of would-be concertgoers outside the ballpark on Sunday evening. Amid reports of gatecrashers forcing their way past security and entrances locking down, the show was delayed more than three hours from its scheduled 9 p.m. start. Those who had made it to their seats sat around in the packed stadium and gradually grew restive. When the house speakers blasted Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise” for a second time that night, it drew loud boos. Rumors rippled through the crowd that the show would be canceled entirely. But hey, it was a beautiful night in the Bronx, and we were already there. What else could we do but wait?
Those who did, which was just about everyone in the building, were rewarded with a show they’ll be bragging about seeing for a long time. Jay has always been one of the strongest live acts in hip-hop, or pop music at large for that matter, someone who never, ever phones in a performance. In his prime, his shows were unforgettable displays of verbal dexterity and abundant charm. If you thought he might have lost a step since then, you were wrong. He still performs live without backing vocals or prompter, just one incredibly gifted performer keeping an enormous crowd hooked on his words. In an era when some young rappers question whether it’s fair to expect them to rap at all, it’s refreshing to see how much pleasure Jay-Z takes in rapping really well. When he’s doing his thing, it doesn’t feel like a lost art.
“New York City, what’s up?” Jay asked the crowd after appearing onstage around 12:15 a.m. in a pinstriped jacket, crisp jeans, a Yankee hat with an umlaut on the logo, and Timberlands. He offered an explanation for the long delay, and an apology: “There were, like, 10,000 people outside. I didn’t want to start the music and people get trampled.… I’m sorry for the inconvenience. We’re gonna have a good time tonight. I got some shit for you.”
That he did. He had the crowd fully locked in from the opening pair of iconic songs about his home borough — “Brooklyn’s Finest,” where he hyped up Biggie’s punch lines, and “Where I’m From.” He got the stadium shaking with “U Don’t Know” and brought out Harlem’s own star of stage and screen, Teyana Taylor, to sing the hook on “Can’t Knock the Hustle.” He delivered a key boast from that song a cappella (“Bouncing on the highway, switching four lanes/Screaming through the sunroof …”) and smiled as the audience completed the line for him: “Money ain’t a thang!” That cued his next guest, Jermaine Dupri, to do their 1998 hit of that name, followed by another friend from Atlanta, the beneficently beaming Jeezy in a snowman-logo suit (“Seen It All,” “Go Crazy”).
As 1 a.m. approached, Jay started cracking jokes. “Loosen up,” he told the crowd full of rap fans who remember the Nineties. “I know you were waiting a long time. Some of your backs are hurting, right?” (Right.) “Loosen up,” he repeated. “We’re gonna go till, like, 5 a.m. Let’s go.”
He gave us a Blueprint mini set with “Hola Hovito” and “Heart of the City,” assisted on the latter song by Usher, who came out to nail that Al Green vocal sample. Usher went on to remove his leather jacket to reveal a sculpted bare torso, to screams of delight from much of the audience.
Jay got emotional on “Never Change” and “Song Cry,” and brightened the mood with “Izzo (H.O.V.A.).” After a couple more lyrical showcases, nailing the tricky flows from “FuckwithmeyouknowIgotit” and “Jigga What, Jigga Who,” he brought out someone who performs even less often than he does: Rihanna. The impeccably stylish star tore the house down with “Run This Town” and her own “Bitch Better Have My Money,” which she made into a moment of radiant joy. “Oh my god,” she said excitedly. “I missed this shit, y’all!”
The tour of Jay-Z’s discography continued from there, with “Dead Presidents” and “Can I Live” bringing it back to ’96, and “Girls, Girls, Girls” and “99 Problems” bringing us up to ’01 and ’03, respectively. Swizz Beatz came out for a bit of “Money, Cash, Hoes” and “Ruff Ryders Anthem,” plus “Welcome to the Jungle,” “Jigga My N—a,” and “On to the Next One.” Pharrell showed up in Louis Vuitton logo shorts and a white windbreaker to add his falsetto to “I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me),” “Frontin’,” and “Allure.” Virginia’s finest sibling duo, the Clipse, weren’t far behind, and Pusha T looked delighted as he and Malice emerged to run through “Grindin’” with one of their biggest heroes.
“It’s 2 a.m., guys,” Jay observed around this point in the show. “You ready to go home yet? I’m trying to take my time with it.”
After a pause of a minute or two, a procession of women in all-white came out. These were the Mayyas, a Lebanese dance group with precise choreography, and they were there to accompany Beyoncé, who looked and sounded flawless as ever as she performed “Drunk in Love” with her husband. The two world-class performers shared a sweet, genuine moment onstage as the song came to a close. “I love you all so much,” Beyoncé said. “I appreciate your loyalty to this man right here.”
“It’s been a night,” Jay added. “We’re just enjoying the night. It’s one of those legendary nights … We’re about to go into overtime!”
Jay kept the energy up with “N—-s in Paris” and “Big Pimpin’,” two songs that can get even a very tired crowd rapping along. He introduced “Public Service Announcement” as “the national anthem,” and it did kinda feel that way if you had listened to The Black Album enough at a formative time of life.
There was more to come, including that Sinatra singalong, an Alicia-less “Empire State of Mind,” and a Fat Joe-ful “New York.” Jay stood alone onstage to do his “Dear Summer” verse a cappella: “Gimme a couple years, shit, I might just sneak in a couple words/And like Peaches and Herb/We’ll be reunited, and it feels so hood/Have the whole world saying, ‘How you still so good?”
Then another beat came in, and another: “Lucifer,” then “Encore.” He looked like he was having the time of his life. He waved goodbye to 45,000 or so people who continued chanting “Hova!” and throwing up diamond hand signs as the band filed offstage. It was nearly 3 a.m., and the case was clear, once again, that Jay-Z is one of the all-time greats. As if there were ever any doubt.
Jay-Z Extra Innings Set List
“Brooklyn’s Finest”
“Where I’m From”
“I Know”
“U Don’t Know”
“Can’t Knock the Hustle” (with Teyana Taylor)
“Money Ain’t a Thang” (with Jermaine Dupri)
“Seen It All” (with Jeezy)
“Go Crazy” (with Jeezy)
“Hola Hovito”
“Heart of the City” (with Usher)
“Throwback” (with Usher)
“Never Change”
“Song Cry”
“Izzo (H.O.V.A.)”
“Beach is Better”
“FuckwithmeyouknowIgotit”
“Jigga What, Jigga Who”
“No Church in the Wild” (with The-Dream)
“Clique”
“Run This Town” (with Rihanna)
“Bitch Better Have My Money” (with Rihanna)
“Dead Presidents II”
“Can I Live”
“Girls, Girls, Girls”
“’03 Bonnie & Clyde”
“99 Problems”
“Jigga My N—a” (with Swizz Beatz)
“On to the Next One” (with Swizz Beatz)
“Ain’t No N—a”
“Excuse Me Miss” (with Pharrell)
“La La La” (with Pharrell)
“I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)” (with Pharrell)
“Frontin’” (with Pharrell)
“Allure” (with Pharrell)
“Grindin’” (with Clipse and Pharrell)
“Drunk in Love” (with Beyoncé)
“N—as in Paris”
“Public Service Announcement”
“Empire State of Mind”
“New York” (with Fat Joe and Jadakiss)
“Lucifer”
“Encore”
