Jay-Z closed out a three-night run at Yankee Stadium on Sunday by bringing out Rihanna and Beyonce, capping a stand built around two career milestones: 30 years since his debut album, "Reasonable Doubt," and a quarter century since "The Blueprint" turned him into a commercial force. Rihanna sang his "Run This Town" with him before staying out to perform her own "Bitch Better Have My Money," and Beyonce, his wife, came out to sing "Drunk in Love." Pharrell Williams worked through several songs of his own, including "I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)," a track he produced as one half of the Neptunes, and the guest list kept growing with Usher, Jeezy, Clipse, The-Dream, Jadakiss, Swizz Beatz, Jermaine Dupri, Teyana Taylor and Fat Joe all joining at points in the night.
The concert was supposed to start around 9 p.m., but a crowd crush outside the stadium reportedly pushed things past midnight. Jay-Z addressed the wait from the stage, saying "it was like 10,000 people outside, and they closed all the doors and somebody rushed the doors," according to Variety, and adding that he was sorry for the delay but needed to make sure everyone outside was safe. Variety reported the show didn't wrap until roughly 3 a.m.
For anyone who knows Jay-Z mainly as a business mogul or as Beyonce's husband, the show doubled as a hip-hop history lesson. "Reasonable Doubt" was his debut album, released 30 years ago in 1996, and "The Blueprint" is the record widely regarded as his commercial breakthrough, arriving a quarter century back in 2001. Building a three-night run around both anniversaries let the rapper walk through decades of his own catalog alongside collaborators, including Pharrell Williams and Swizz Beatz, who helped shape it.
Sunday's show was the third of three Jay-Z played at Yankee Stadium this run. The two earlier nights brought out Beyonce and the couple's daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, along with a run of New York hip-hop figures including Nas, Eminem, Memphis Bleek, Jaz-O and Slick Rick.
Jay-Z isn't done with stadiums this year. He's scheduled to play stadium shows in London and Paris in September, then close out the run with an Oct. 23 date at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.
The facts
- Rihanna joined Jay-Z for "Run This Town" and her own "Bitch Better Have My Money"
- Beyonce came out to perform "Drunk in Love"
- The show reportedly started after midnight following a crowd surge outside the stadium, per Variety
- The concert closed a three-night stand marking 30 years of "Reasonable Doubt" and 25 years of "The Blueprint"
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