Concert Review: Jay-Z (and Mary J)

Saturday night’s Jay-Z / Mary J. Blige co-headlining show at the United Center was a milestone concert for me. Not only was it my first live encounter with the greatest rapper of all time, it was also the first hip hop show I have attended in an arena. This only occurred to me as I was driving to the concert and I became aware that I was not entirely sure how I would adapt to watching a performance from roughly half a mile away.

The verdict? Within the confines of the arena hip hop felt a little less like hip hop. But this may have more to do with the artist than the venue. Jay-Z has become increasingly adamant that he does not in fact consider himself, first and foremost, a rapper. American Gangster is full of lines like, “Please don’t categorize this as music.” And I’m starting to think this is more than just irrelevant semantics. It is entirely possible that Jay’s phenomenal rap skill is the least important aspect of his public figure.

And herein lies the paradox: the greatest rapper of all time only raps as a hobby. Just last year he went to see American Gangster, got inspired, in three weeks churned out an album worthy of being mentioned with his best work, and then went back to selling clothing and having sex with Beyonce. Jay’s popularity, both critically and commercially, can be chalked up to the fact that people just flat out wish they were him. That’s why he can write a song like “U Don’t Know”, where he describes his wealth in perhaps the most literal terms in music history (“One million, two million, three million, four/In just 18 months, 80 million more/Now add that number up with the one I said before/You are now looking at one rich black boy”), and still have the crowd singing along word for word. Jay-Z embodies the best possible scenario for millions of Americans, and in turn this population imitates and respects him.

Take fashion for example. Jay-Z entered the rap game at a time when rappers had by and large ceased to care about style. All the flash of the ‘80s had given way to the jerseys and sagging jeans championed by N.W.A. and any number of West Coast artists. Hip hop style began to mirror the hopelessness that pervaded popular rap lyrics. Jay changed all that. His attire, like his whole demeanor, was an affront to those who would wallow in their hopelessness. And judging by his audience on Saturday night, his fans have bought into this. In sharp contrast to the typical hip hop show, much of the crowd was dressed to impress, many coming in full suits and formal dresses. (Note: The white people didn’t get the memo. Most of them (myself included) wore hoodies.)

It is in this way that Jay can spend so many lyrics rapping about his wealth and still be hailed as a socially conscious rapper. As he puts it, “I do this for my culture / to let’em know what a nigga look like when a nigga in a roaster.” Jay has given the downtrodden a voice. He has shown that it is okay to hold your head high and shout down adversity.

Perhaps this is why Jay-Z is so adamant about identifying himself as something other than a rapper. If he truly sees his life as a model for the inner-city success story, it would make sense that he would not want to play into the myth that the only way to make it out of the hood is through rap, basketball, or drug sales (never mind the fact that he has been involved in all three of these at one time or another…it is not relevant to the main point…I guess...at least not in this review…we’ll talk later.) Jay-Z portrays himself as a businessman, providing another, more realistic, career goal for inner-city youth to aim for.

What else. Oh yeah, the show. It was pretty much what I expected. Jay-Z performed with a several-piece band (who knows how many…kind of hard to tell from that distance) that sounded pretty tight. He was charismatic and possessed pretty good control over the crowd, despite the fact that it was far from the ideal setting for a rap show. New tracks were spliced in with the hits. Highlights of the set included Memphis Bleek’s appearance for a blistering one-two punch of “U Don’t Know” and “99 Problems”, sing-along versions of “Encore” and “Big Pimpin’”, and an endorsement of Barack Obama. And lots of other songs that I’m not going to mention now because, well, you get the idea. There are some set-lists floating around the Internet.

I do wish that Jay had completed more of the songs he started, even at the expense of a shorter set-list. I would have liked to hear more verses on “Say Hello”, “No Hook”, and “99 Problems.” Even “Izzo” was cut short after just one verse, though I found some humor when Jay skipped ahead to “POOF! Vamoose son of a bitch.” Just had to get the best part of the song in!

There was a unique feeling about this concert. It was closely related to the strange sensation of seeing a hip hop show in an arena, but not quite because this feeling would not have been present at a Lil Wayne, Young Jeezy, or even Kanye West show. It was not until a few days after the concert that I was able to put my finger on exactly what this feeling was. This did not seem like a show by a popular, hyped artist. It felt like a U2 concert. Or a Paul McCartney concert. And all at once it occurred to me that, of all Jay’s achievements in the rap world, perhaps the greatest of all is that he is the first rapper to have aged gracefully and morphed into a mature, arena-packing, adult contemporary (ouch…I know) act. This may not sound flattering to Jay-Z (though I doubt he cares…remember the whole sex with Beyonce thing), or a whole lot of fun to you and me, but it speaks volumes for the genre and how far it has come.

As for Mary J. Blige, she sounded very good but I am not a huge fan and was good and ready for Jay-Z by the time she brought her set to a close. What struck me about her set was how much the womenfolk LOVE her. And all the duets she did with Jay were wonderful. Show opener “Can’t Knock the Hustle” and closer “Heart of the City” were definite highlights of the evening, but for my money they both paled in comparison to a moving “Song Cry.” The Blueprint hit is one of my favorites for Jay’s unabashed willingness to confront his sensitive side and on Saturday night two legends proved that no matter how big the United Center is they were big enough to make it feel small.