Click here to read the full article.
Jay-Z did appear to promise far in advance that his “Reasonable Doubt” 30th anniversary show would, in fact, be a celebration of the debut album that he dropped back in June 1996. That didn’t stop him from pulling out
all the stops — well, most of them, at least — during the first of his three headlining shows at Yankee Stadium on Friday night, setting off a string of performances to commemorate a pair of milestones (the other being the 25th anniversary of “The Blueprint”) plus a bonus show billed as “Extra Innings” that, as of now, has a stadium-sized question mark hanging over what it will actually be.
The Brooklyn native isn’t wont to pass up an anniversary — think back to 2006 when he paid tribute to 10 years of “Reasonable Doubt” with a Radio City show complete with a full orchestra — or make a mountain out of an already sizable molehill. The first of his Yankee Stadium gigs came a little over a month after the end of a dormant solo period when he gave a one-off, had-to-be-there headlining performance at the Roots Picnic in Philadelphia, where, backed by the legendary Roots crew, he toured his discography while paying homage to the hosting city via guest appearances from Jazmine Sullivan, Bilal, Beanie Sigel, Freeway and more.
For his “Reasonable Doubt” show, it wasn’t entirely off-script — every song from the record was performed in one way or another — yet he turned the night into a Jay-Z history lesson, weaving in bits and bobs from other hits and bringing out a murderer’s row of guests spanning his family (Beyoncé, Blue Ivy Carter) to friends and former foes (Nas, Jaz-O) in an effort to round out the world he’d built three decades ago.
That began with his wife Beyoncé, absent from the Roots Picnic stage but front and center for the Friday show’s opening at Yankee Stadium to handle Mary J. Blige’s iconic hook on “Can’t Knock the Hustle.” (Blige was, meanwhile, booked and busy performing at her Las Vegas residency.) Dressed in a pinstripe suit, Bey shocked the stadium with a megawatt appearance upfront, something usually reserved for much deeper into a show of this size.
What ensued was a jazzy, loose homage to the album that transformed him from a hustler into a honcho. “Reasonable Doubt,” a record that banked heavily on tales from the streets as a springboard away from them, was performed almost entirely in sequence, with Jay backed by a live band and flanked on either side by fans on bleachers. Decked in a bomber jacket and the hat he made more famous than a Yankee can, Jay ran through “Politics As Usual,” incorporating Frank Ocean’s hook from “Made in America” before segueing into a freestyle that was a milder version of the one he kicked in Philadelphia. (He deflated the online controversy of selling “Reasonable Doubt” vinyl at Target with classic Jay-Z wit: “I don’t listen to Twitter activists, they type, and I laugh at them / It’s really no comparison.”)
There was speculation on what Jay-Z might do for “Brooklyn’s Finest” to fill in for Notorious B.I.G.’s verse: Would he have B.I.G. affiliates Lil’ Kim and Lil’ Cease handle the verses, or perhaps make it a call-and-response with the audience? He settled largely for the latter but also turned it into an homage to his former accomplice, setting Biggie’s iconic verses against the instrumental for “One More Chance.” The spirit of New York was alive and well across the show as Nas, famously sampled on “Dead Presidents” and its sequel, emerged to perform “The World Is Yours” and “NY State of Mind” as the beat from Jay’s “Where I’m From” piped into the mix. There was even a coveted surprise appearance on “Bring It On” from Jaz-O, Jay-Z’s early mentor, who famously took issue with his protege as his star began to ascend. (The only true point deducted from the evening was Foxy Brown’s absence on “Ain’t No N—,” a single that situated Jay on club mixes early in the album cycle.)
Amid renditions of “Can I Live” and “D’Evils,” plus non-“Reasonable Doubt” songs like “Jigga My N—a” and “Excuse Me Miss,” the most emotionally resonant moment of the evening came with Jay’s daughter Blue Ivy Carter sitting behind the keys for “Feelin’ It,” a record initially produced by Ski Beatz for Camp Lo before Jay snatched it up. It was perhaps the heart of the show, a generational bridge that showed how far Blue Ivy has come in the years she’s grown up in the spotlight. She finessed the piano with ease, not a note missed; Jay-Z beamed like a proud dad, as expected.
The show came to its natural conclusion with a picture-perfect, Big Apple moment where Alicia Keys joined Jay to perform “Empire State of Mind.” But before that, Jay closed the “Reasonable Doubt” set with “Regrets,” a track that unwraps the dark side of the hustler mentality. To persevere, he contemplates, he has to learn from the mistakes he’s made to get to this point. We all live with regrets, Jay supposes; it’s what you do with them, in the end, that makes them worthwhile.
Full setlist:
Can’t Knock the Hustle with Beyoncé
Politics As Usual b/w Made in America
Freestyle
Brooklyn’s Finest
I Love the Dough
Dead Presidents
The World Is Yours with Nas
NY State of Mind b/w Where I’m From with Nas
Feelin’ It with Blue Ivy Carter
D’Evils
No Church in the Wild
Can I Live
Jigga My N—
Ain’t No N—
Excuse Me Miss
22 Two’s b/w Can I Kick It?
Friend or Foe
Coming of Age with Memphis Bleek
Cashmere Thoughts
Allure
Bring It On with Jaz-O
Regrets
Empire State of Mind with Alicia Keys
U Don’t Know (snippet)
Best of Me Pt. 2 (snippet)
