Gritz N' Gravy: Jay-Z & Friends, 'American Gangster' (Concert Review)
Tuesday - November 13, 2007By: Gritz
Forget about Thanksgiving -- in the past week I inaugurated a new seasonal holiday called "Hovemeber," as I set out to celebrate the God MC in various ways during the lead-up to Sunday night's (November 11) "American Gangster" show at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom. I had snagged some face value tix with a well-timed "refresh" on Ticketmaster last month (First, bitches!), and I pre-purchased American Gangster before Def Jam pulled it from iTunes (first again!). Needless to say, things were looking up for me. Then I caught Jay's "VH1 Storytellers" special and the Charlie Rose interview on PBS, where Charlie pitched some serious softballs that CEO Jigga quite rightly knocked out of the park. I listened to American Gangster four or five times. Then I listened to Reasonable Doubt. Then The Black Album. Then "How Your Remind Me" by Nickelback (that's just a good song).
Plus, we were celebrating the birthday of Mr. Arnold T. Pants! The scene was set for something epic, and after an hour of waiting to get in (some fools arrived at 3:30 p.m. for the 10:30 show) and another hour and half of Funkmaster Flex DJing horribly, Jay's larger-than-life silhouette appeared on a screen in front of the stage as voice of Denzel Washington (as Frank Lucas) hushed the crowd. Here's how it went down...
Hovi's Home!
The screen went up to reveal a ridiculous 10 piece band (rhythm, horns, backup singers, and Green Lantern on the decks) and a version of Jiggaman that was a far cry from his Charlie Rose appearance -- black shades, black jack, and black bandana flying out the back pocket. More Ludacris than Frank Lucas. He opened with "Pray," which had an atmospheric feel and showcased the sound of the band, but really didn't get it popping for an opening song. Somewhat ironically, "No Hook" got a huge response because, as it turns out, its declaration of hooklessness -- "And I don't need no hook for this shiiiiiiit!" -- is actually a pretty dope hook (despite sounding suspiciously like R. Kelly's "Shawty Is a Ten (Remix)."
The only account I'd heard from the L.A. show was that Jay ran through American Gangster all the way through in order and then did a little back cataloguing. After watching the "Storytellers" show, I was having fears that performing this album, as a whole, would be interesting, particularly in an intimate environment, but that it would be far from the hottest show that Jay could put together. Well, either my man was lying to me about the L.A. show or Jigga realized that it wasn't banging out like he wanted it to, because an unexpected turn into the "This Shit Right Here (Acapella)" then "Public Service Announcement" got the crowd extra baniddles and kicked off the rest of the concert, a.k.a. Greatest Hits of Jiggaman Volume 1.
A couple days before my L.A. informant and I were wondering if Jay-Z writes rhymes while beating Beyonce's cakes -- "I got a condo with nothin' but condoms in it, same place where the rhymes invented..." We never came to a consensus, but I can now say conclusively that he spits "Jigga What, Jigga Who" insanely hard live, and the acapella third-verse rap-off versus the audience showed that he hasn't lost a step at 48 years old.
Unfortunately, "Where I'm From" was cut short at one verse and ended up being the only foray into Volume 1 (no Reasonable Doubt either), but any angst was quickly forgotten with the appearance of Weezy F. Baby stomping around like a leaned-out Martian in a Biggie t-shirt. Forgive me for saying that "Hello Brooklyn" is a pretty bad song, but fortunately Jay graciously let Wayne chant a little "Duffle Bag Boy" while he drank some water (I'm not gonna lie, this probably got the biggest response of the evening). Weezy departed with a respectful "best rapper alive, best rapper in line" comment and then just went off somewhere (hopefully not to get arrested again).
Next up was a trio of tracks that to me represented the climax of the show. "Blue Magic" plays very well live, especially with Hype's Euro-counting images playing in the background and the drummer wildin' out. On the declaration of "money over broads, you got it, fuck Bush," Jigga stepped aside to let the lead guitarist get his Jimi Hendrix on with a whammy-heavy National Anthem. The band kicked into overdrive for "99 Problems," cheekily throwing in a riff on AC/DC's "Back In Black" during the second verse. Then "U Don't Know" absolutely shut the place down. The entire band, plus the entire crowd, throwing up the rock while Jay massacred the Just Blaze anthem...nothing was going to top that. You can debate Jay-Z's oeuvre for days, but when it comes to live music, Blueprinttakes the crown.
After the band had rocked out, it was time to bring the Roc out. Memph Bleek and Beenie Siegel stormed onstage for "You, Me, Him, and Her." My brother and I looked at each other and said, "Holy shit, Beenie is fat as hell!" Free joined the fray and it felt sort of like the old days... I'm not sure which ones. But Jay seemed like he was having fun trading rhymes with the others, and Memph Bleek seemed a little detached from the crew, which is always how I imagined it. Maybe he was wondering why he's the only one who's still wearing a durag... To cap off part one of the Roc Boys show, Young Chris came out for "Can't Stop, Won't Stop," which I thought was particularly generous. On the real, this dude does not deserve to be part of a legendary, limited stop Jay-Z tour, especially not wearing a wack polyester jumpsuit. But so it goes.
"Party Life" is one of my favorite tracks off AG, but to be honest, it sort of slowed the pace down. (Red lights and smooth soul samples are great for getting it cracking in the bedroom, but rap concerts are the most homosocial part of my weekend, so I'd like to keep it that way). A way too formally dressed Diddy brought the energy back up when he arrived for the "I Get Money (Billionaire Remix)," though I think most people were just holding their breath for 50 to bumrush the place. Didn't happen. Oh well... A rousing rendition of "Big Pimpin'," performed mostly by the crowd (and definitely by the dude standing next to me), got everyone involved again, but I would have rather just heard Jay do it by himself. If I want to sing some shit I'll go to karaoke. Needles to say, this part of the show was all cool, so I don't know why I am being a hater...
At that point, it looked like Hov was over, but of course that wasn't that case. When you've got the Black Album in your back pocket, you're pretty much obliged to do an encore. And "What More Can I Say" and "Encore" could not have set the scene more perfectly for the inevitable culmination of the evening: "Roc Boys." With the real Roc Boys! Plus Tru Life? And Jadakiss?!?
Jay stopped "Roc Boys" to introduce Jada as the newest member of Roc-A-Fella Records. This was clearly meant to be a big announcement, but it ended up just being very awkward. Jada started off "All About the Benjamins," but Jay cut him off and said, "Nah, that's Puff's song." He then tried the "Champ Is Here," but scuffed the lyrics. Should have just dropped "Why?" and been done with it, but instead he just brought to mind the question, "Why are you even alive?" Eventually Jigga snatched his mic away and went back to the proceedings.
And the winner is Hov!
Jay-Z and Friends @ Hammerstein Ballroom (Hovember 11, 2007)
- Pray
- No Hook
- Public Service Announcement
- I Know
- Jigga My Ni**a
- Jigga What, Jigga Who
- Show Me What You Got
- Where I'm From
- Hello Brooklyn 2.0 feat. Lil Wayne
- Duffle Bag Boy (Lil Wayne chorus)
- Blue Magic
- 99 Problems
- U Don't Know
- Excuse Me Miss
- You, Me, Him, and Her feat. Beenie Siegel and Memphis Bleek
- Roc the Mic (Freeway and Beenie Siegel)
- (I sort of lost track here...I think another Dynasty joint like "Change the Game" and then "What We Do" with Free)
- Can't Stop, Won't Stop feat. Young Chris
- Ignorant Shit
- Party Life
- I Just Wanna Love You
- I Get Money Billionaire Remix feat. Diddy
- Dirt Off Your Shoulders
- Hovi Baby
- Big Pimpin
- (Band Interlude – Jay-Z/Biggie medley)
- What More Can I Say
- Encore
- Roc Boys (with Beenie Siegel, Memphis Bleek, Freeway, Tru Life, and Jadakiss)
Extras
This dude has some alright YouTube footage.
A few live recordings (not from New York show)...Roc Boys, Blue Magic, Party Life, Pray.
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