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Jay-Z, Nov. 13, TLA
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Jay-Z, Nov. 13, TLA
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| Photo | Sam Adams |
“If you here tonight, you know you in,” Jay-Z said to a Fillmore crowd packed tight in their finest clubwear. It would have been hard to imagine a hotter ticket, and the fans certainly knew they were in for something rare and privileged. Most had paid through the nose, or risen before dawn to wait in line, or both, since even at face value tickets were well over $100. What that meant in practice was that the Fillmore was wall-to-wall with superfans, anticipating every song from the first downbeat, singing every hook.
He only stopped them once, to finish the a capella coda of “Hovi Baby.” “Can I do this?” he said, although it wasn’t really a question. For a moment, the bona fides were his alone: “Seven straight summers, critics might not admit it, but nobody in rap did it quite like I did it” Then the band — 12 strong, including a three-piece horn section and a trio of backing singers — swung into “Big Pimpin’,” and he gave the song to the crowd, which screamed out every word. “You don’t even need me no more,” he said, then quit the stage as if he’d been supplanted.
It was a ruse, of course, a calculated move like his never-quite-retirement. He closed the show with “What More Can I Say?”, his mildly defeatist mid-career summary, then went immediately into “Encore,” and then to “Roc Boys (And the Winner Is…),” the lead single from American Gangster. Although he was never really gone, it felt like he’d come back anyway.
Gangster, or at least its first half, is his strongest album in years, and Jay-Z seemed to be done resting on his laurels. Over the course of a 100-minute set, he left the stage only briefly, and seemed to get as much out of supporting his comrades as taking the lead. Beanie Siegel, Memphis Bleek, Freeway, Young Chris and Tru Life joined him, sometimes all at once, and while guest spots at hip-hop shows are often the cue to head for the toilets, the increased numbers only raised the energy level.
From the floor, Jay-Z was often blotted out by forest of Roc-a-Fella diamonds and camera phones (perhaps amateur photographers, like professionals, should be held to a three-song limit). But as the crowd stopped snapping and started listening, the set only grew strong. Even as the clock neared midnight, it felt like Jay-Z was just getting warmed up.
More pics after the break...
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| Photo | Sam Adams |
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| Photo | Sam Adams |
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| Photo | Sam Adams |
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| Photo | Sam Adams |
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| Photo | Sam Adams |
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