Walking up to the stadium, I could already sense the excitement amongst fans as they ushered into the venue. Two of hip hop’s most accomplished artists were about to ignite the stage, both of them Grammy award winners and Billboard Kings, not to mention the rumor that both had a few tricks up their sleeves, mainly superstar guest appearances.
The stage was massive and the stadium was sold out for the evening, scalpers were offering up to $300 for upper deck tickets right before show time.
Once the crowd settled in, Eminem’s set began with a recap of the past few years of his life in words across the Yankee Stadium screens. Recently he’s overcome a tumultuous battle with drug addiction and had a hard time coping with the murder of his best friend Proof.
His demons eventually led him to the brink of suicide and right as he hit rock bottom, he bounced back up with last year’s release “Relapse,” which was received with much commercial success but garnered harsh critical ridicule amongst both fans and music critics.
Oddly enough in “Talkin’ to Myself,” a track off of Eminem’s groundbreaking smash hit of the year, “Recovery,” he touches on the subject directly:
“Them last two albums didn’t count /Encore I was on drugs/ Relapse I was flushing them out/ I’ve come to make it up to you/ Now no more f&^king around/ I’ve got something to prove to fans cuz it feels like I let em’ down/ So please accept my apology/ I finally feel like I’m back to normal/ I feel like me again……”
Indeed, Eminem did make it up to fans this year with “Recovery,” and after his short story was told on the screens, he stormed the stage for the first song of the night “Won’t Back Down,” with his traditional hoodie nearly covering his eyes as he hit every lyric on point and looked as agile as he has in years during a live performance, bouncing back and forth across the stage.
After a few tracks off “Recovery,” including “No Love” featuring currently incarcerated rap star Lil Wayne, which prompted the sold out crowd to chant “Free Weezy,” Em brought up and coming artist B.O.B on stage to perform their hit single of the summer “Airplanes Pt. 2.”
Following the first guest appearance, Slim returned to the stage and did a few more classics including the chilling “Stan,”” the award winning song that really branched his music far beyond hip hop as he performed it with Elton John live at the Grammy Awards.
Suddenly a huge roar could be heard from the Yankee Stadium crowd as Queens’ native 50 Cent took the stage. 50 received a very warm reception as he performed “Patiently Waiting” with Eminem, his most memorable hit “In Da Club,” and later had the lights cut out in the stadium and was joined by Tony Yayo and Lloyd Banks of G- Unit as they donned glow in the dark outfits and performed “I Get Money,” arguably the most notable performance of the night so far.
That was until Dr. Dre made his way onto the stage and I thought a bomb had gone off in the stadium the crowed roared so damn loud upon his introduction.
Dre came out to perform “Still D.R.E” and then went into “Nothin’ But A G Thang,” with Eminem filling in admirably for Snoop Dogg’s verses.
Following Dre’s exit, Eminem went into current hits off “Recovery,” including a captivating performance of “Love The Way You Lie” (minus Rihanna) before going into old school hits “The Real Slim Shady” and “Without Me,” which about 80% of the crowd tried to rap back to him, bar for bar.
The lights dimmed and Eminem took a few emotional minutes to personally thank his fans for continuing to support him during the past few years of his life changing experiences.
He admitted that he was wrong in so many ways and never wanted to find himself in such a rough place again before the chorus for “Not Afraid” began echoing in and his best performance of the night began.
The whole stadium was rapping along with him as he confessed his sins in the hit song and reminded them that:
“It was my decision to get clean/I did it for me/Admittedly, I probably did it subliminally for you/So I could come back a brand new me/You helped see me through/and don’t even realize what you did/ Believe me you/I been through the ringer/But there’s little they can do to the middle finger/ I got a tear in my eye/I feel like the King of …my world/Haters can make like bees with no stingers and drop dead.”
“Not Afraid” live at Yankee Stadium sent chills down my spine, Em delivered every verse flawlessly and the live band backing him had him dancing across the stage after his final verse, for the first time during a live performance in years, Marshall Mathers looked like he was at peace. Eminem thanked the fans one more time and exited the stage.
However, the crowd wasn’t going to let him get off that easy.
Chants of “Slim,” “Em,” “Marshall,” and of course “E-MI-NEM,” ripped through the sold out crowd, the lights came back on and the superstar delivered his Oscar Winning song from the film “8 Mile” “Lose Yourself.” The fans went wild and I even jumped out of my seat to give him a round of applause.
A short firework show followed his exit, the lights went dim, and on a chilly night in the Bronx thousands began anticipating the entrance of the King of New York.
A strobe light shot down onto the stage as Jay Z rose from below gripping the mic and the thousands of fans in attendance began chanting “HOVA” at the top of their lungs as Brooklyn’s beloved emcee began his opening number, The Intro track from his “The Dynasty: Roc La Familia” album.
After the freestyle, he began a current one in which he rapped:
“Break a record in this b&^ch, HOV/ Hit them with that BALCO.”
Undoubtedly, Jay Z and Eminem were already breaking records with the tour, all four shows had sold out shortly after they went on sale months ago, the previous night’s show was the first ever concert at the new Yankee Stadium, and tonight was the grand finale, which in hip hop slang “would put up MJ Numbers.”
Jay Z knew what was at stake and what he was about to deliver was the most epic performance I’ve ever witnessed live.
After the opening tracks, Jay went into “Run This Town,” flashing strobe lights were everywhere, cameras snapped pictures, and Jay had the crowd do their best impersonation of Rihanna on the chorus before Kanye West ran onto the stage decked out in a bright red suit with gold chains and viciously delivered his closing verse to the hit single off of Jay’s “Blueprint 3” album. Kanye and Jay did a mini-set together as they performed their new hits “Monster,” and the remix to Kanye’s single “Power.”
After the duo mesmerized the fans in attendance, Jay took time for an interlude and spoke about meeting a legend the day before. Apparently, Jay ran across hip hop pioneer Kool Herc the day before and invited Herc to join him at Yankee Stadium for tonight’s concert.
Hova had the crowd give Herc a standing ovation and thanked the hip hop legend for his impact:
“We wouldn’t be here without you.”
After the acknowledgment of Herc’s presence, Kanye jumped into “Good Life,” the most colorful set of the night, as West rapped and the screens on the stage lit up like a carnival. Following Ye’s exit from the stage, Jay brought out legendary producer Swizz Beatz for Hova’s hit “On To The Next One,” before bringing out Slim Shady for their verbal spar “Renegade,” which was released on Hova’s original “Blueprint” album.
After the duo’s performance, Eminem embraced Jay Z and thanked him for the tour, with Jay responding that the feeling was mutual, then Em turned to the fans and once again thanked them for coming out, he was so emotional I thought he was going to shed a tear upon his exit.
The show continued with Jay performing a new single ft. Rick Ross, who was mia for the set, entitled “Free Mason,” in which Jay strikes back at those who believe he is involved with Freemasonry:
“I told you I’m amazin’/ Not that I’m a Mason!”
Jay rapped during the set, which included Christianity symbols portrayed on the screens. Shortly after, up and coming rap superstar Drake joined Jigga on stage for their song “Light Up,” which both emcees breezed through smoothly and Drake donned a Yankee fitted to pay respects to the city he was in.
However, Drake’s performance of “Up All Night,” ft. Nicki Minaj, who joined him on stage, was a little bit rough as he seemed to slip up on a few lines, but most of the fans didn’t even notice (guess I’m just pickyJ)
During his 90 minute set Jay also paid respects to a few of hip hop’s fallen soldiers as he rapped Pimp C’s verse acapella off of “Big Pimpin’” and demanded that the DJ play Notorious BIG’s hits “Juicy,” and “One More Chance,” as he instructed the crowd to rap the lyrics.
Images of New York City began to flash across the screens and the Yankee symbol down on the field was illuminated as the beat kicked in for “Empire State of Mind,” fans raised their cell phone screens and lighters, making the stadium look as if one big light show was going on.
Screams of “BROOKLYN!” “HARLEM!” “QUEENS!” “SOUTH BRONX!” “STATEN SON!” “YONKERS!” “EAST BK!” and of course, my sole “WESTCOAST!” filtered through the stadium as Jay rapped about the city that made him who he is today and dropped his now famous line:
“S%^t I made the Yankee hat more famous than a Yankee can.”
However, by far the most captivating song of the night was when Jigga brought out his “wifey” Beyonce to sing the chorus for “Young Forever,” jaws were dropping all around the stadium upon the entrance of the beautiful pop Queen.
Just like in real life, they made a perfect combination on stage, leaving me to believe that true love just might still exist in today’s society.
Beyonce exited the stage and Jigga began to perform “Thank You,” before stopping halfway through and jumping into “Encore,” which many thought would be his swan song for the evening. But the self proclaimed “God Emcee” was far from done.
“New York City it sounds like you’re not ready to go home yet!?”
Jay asked his fans.
Everybody began throwing up the Dynasty Diamond and chanting HOVA, HOVA, HOVA, before Jigga responded: “For anyone who hasn’t been down since “Reasonable Doubt,” you can head to the exit.” Jay Z’s protégé Memphis Bleek joined him for an encore that included verses from old school Jigga hits “Where I’m From,” “Dirt Off Your Shoulder,” “Best of Me (Remix),” and “Jigga My N&*ga.”
Finally, Jay spent about 15 minutes thanking all the fans in attendance for a memorable night and their continuous support, the lights at Yankee Stadium came on and the thousands of people in attendance ushered toward the exits to jump on the subway or hop in their cars.
On my way out of the stadium it finally donned on me that I had just witnessed history and these artists are truly the voice of our generation.
To say I was inspired by the show would be a major understatement, now more than ever I realize I have to do whatever it takes to make my dreams come true, life is too short to not make your dreams reality………………………
These are the "major" voices in our generation. Its obvious whats happening to music right now. I laugh about it but its true, these are the last REAL artists. I can imagine the bass dropping on the "I get money", with the lights out?!?! You told it well. Shoot me the next blogs.
ReplyDeleteSam, I am completely impressed with you writting. You can tell that you care about this topic, it comes out in your writting. I have always thought that in ones life they should have that one experience that will stick with them forever. Whether it be seeing a sunset with a special person, a child come into this world or in your case a concert that truly means something to you. Congrats Sam.
ReplyDeleteI feel like I was there! That must have been amazing. Have you stopped smiling yet? As always, I love reading your work.
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