Remember when he said there would be no guests at his Barclays Center concerts? Well Jay-Z lied. But we’ll get to that later.
Brooklyn’s MC savant officially opened the doors to the new home of the Brooklyn Nets with the first of eight concerts tonight (September 28th), and he tore it down (figuratively, of course). Superbly epic, with healthy doses of inspiration, is a modest way of describing the opening night show H.O. put on for his hometown fans.
Standing court (technically on top of a stage built atop where the far end of Nets’ herringbone floor sits during games), Jigga ran through a murderer’s row of hits from his extensive catalog. Mister Cee started the night off as the first DJ to man the wheels of steel at Barclays. Appropriately, Notorious B.I.G. cuts dominated the Hot 97 DJ’s set, warming the crowd for Hova’s entrance.
When the lights darkened, a film montage of Brooklyn accomplishments (when the borough was founded, the date its namesake bridge was built, etc.) streamed across the screen set just behind the stage, while Roy Ayers’ classic “We Live In Brooklyn, Baby” filled in the arena. A few more local musical nods (Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s “Brooklyn Zoo,” the Beastie Boys’ “No Sleep Til Brooklyn”) were also heard before Hova appeared, standing in shadow of a makeshift doorway.
“What’s up NYC, tonight is a celebration,” said Mr. Carter, sporting a Nets fitted, a hooded bubble vest, at least a few gold chains and the all new Brooklyn Nets Jersey, before proceeding to kick things off with a spirited rendition of “Where I’m From.”
From there, the hits just kept flowing, all night.
“Brooklyn We Go Hard” shifted into a Biggie tribute as notes from “Kick In The Door” led to Jay coaxing the crowd into performing the late, great rapper’s hit “Juicy.”
Commanding the stage despite being up there alone, Hova bumped the stadium’s energy up another notch with a performance of “U Don’t Know.” At this point, if you are familiar with Jay’s lyrics, it became astonishingly clear how what once were just ultra-creative rapper boasts managed to come true.
Hearing Hov spit, “And if somebody woulda told ’em that Hov’ would sell clothin’/Heh, not in this lifetime, wasn’t in my right mind,” while pointing to the jersey he is wearing, the he helped design, on stage in the arena of the NBA team he is a partial owner of isn’t rapper hyperbole. It’s the American Dream come true.
After bigging up his fallen rap brethren with a moment of silence (imagine if B.I.G. was here to witness and no doubt be a part of this?), Jigga dropped some all new bars before performing more trademark cuts like “99 Problems” and “Run This Town.” He also took a break to speak about his local roots, like growing up in Marcy Projects, which was only 15 minutes away and reminiscing his old State St apartment that sits diagonally from Barclays.
“I’m really overwhelmed with the moment,” said Jay. “Nothing feels like it feels tonight to be in Brooklyn, New York City.”
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Photos: Twitter/Instagram
Running through even more hits, more humble brag rhymes turned reality continued to spew from the speakers. “Empire State of Mind” with its aforementioned State St. shout out or “On To The Next One” where he raps, “Now I rock a tailored suit, looking like an owner,” which he is, serve as just a couple of examples.
And just when purists may have started getting restless about all the mogul Jay-Z tracks and wondering where were the introspective cuts from that classic debut, he asked, “How many people here got that Reasonable Doubt album? Can I go there Brooklyn?”
Surely. But only a couple of those gems made it (“Dead Presidents” and “Can I Live”) before giving way to selections like “Ji–a My Ni–a,” “H To The Izzo,” and “Ni–a What Ni–a Who.” What, you thought the “Ni–as In Paris” rapper’s N-word exploits were a byproduct of hanging out with Kanye West?
Around this time, things started winding down, with Hova saying, “I don’t know how I’ma do eight nights after tonight,” before closing the show, so we thought, with a rousing rendition of “Encore.”
“I want to thank ever single person in here tonight,” said Jay in closing. “This night was a dream. I look around in this arena…holy sh-t.”
“Thank you Brooklyn for making me the man that I am tonight,” he added. “Everybody is from Brooklyn tonight.”
That could have been a dope closer to the evening, but the house lights not coming on where a giveaway that there were still more songs to be performed. This is also when Hova was proven a liar.
With audio of Russell Crowe saying “Are you not entertained” from Gladiator serving as his entrance cue, fans were treated to more hits including “What More Can Say” and “Do It Again (Put Your Hands Up).” Then Jay-Z gives up the stage to a legendary Brooklyn MC that helped put him in the game, Big Daddy Kane.
The King Asiatic ran through “Ain’t No Half Steppin’,” “Set It Off” and “Warm It Up Kane,” even kick stepping along the way.
Jay-Z returned, working in current heat like his verse of G.O.O.D. Music “Clique” and Rick Ross’ “3 Kings,” the latter which features more bars turned true (“Ex-D-boy, used to park my Beamer/Now look at me, I can park in my own arena.”).
Closing the show for real this time, Shawn Carter got reflective while trying to be inspirational. “I believe every single person has genius level talent. You just gotta find it,” said Jay before closing the show with “Forever Young.” “I’m standing on this stage as living proof if you apply yourself to what you genius [have] you can do anything in the world.”
That may be so, but a lyrical genius of Jay-Z’s caliber is no common occurrence. And tonight proved that Hip-Hop’s model example of lyrical brilliance is very much Brooklyn’s own.
Check out photos from the show in the gallery below.
