The Jay-Z
«Lord forgive me I never would've made it without sin» from Jay-Z - Free Mason
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Personal >> Surprising concert of Jay-ZSurprising concert of Jay-Z
In 2005 Jay-Z performed for WWPR-FM, which is known as well as "Power105.1". This is an Urban Contemporary radio station serving New York metropolitan area. The radio format they use (Urban Contemporary) was called this way by Frankie Crocker, a New York DJ. The playlists at such stations consist of hip hop, rap, urban pop, contemporary R&B and at times Caribbean music, soca, reggae. Radio station with Urban Contemporary format appeared in the cities with large African-American population and actually it is associated much with African-American music style, because Latinos, for instance, have music which is more Latin urban Reggaeton.
The annual concert WWPR-FM arranged was headlined by Jay-Z as it was mentioned above. It was called "I Declare War" which also caused much discussion. The previous events could explain the meaning of the title. MTV News, for example, wrote that Jay-Z was going to declare war on some rappers, who talked greasy about him. Jay-Z was sure in his victory, he said at the radio station that he spent too much time on recording and time has come to face his rivals. He decided that time has come for the excellent New York show. He declared that he was going to smash people who planned to be in his way therefore it was time to make up with him and become his friend. The battle seemed a sheer trifle for Hov and he felt superior to his opponents. He was sure that the battle was going to be the icing on the cake and he was going to make a good show for his army of fans. On the concert the artist expressed his attitude upon many things as the President of Def Jam which included his views upon the plans of the Oval Office. The event was highly publicized and was well sponsored by the radio station. In spite of the Jay-Z's warning it happened to be something like a peace fest. The beginning of the concert was rather stunning and unexpected for the audience. People who came to the concert heard the appeal with the taboo word, but approved of it and then surprise after surprise followed.
They became witnesses of the reconciliation between Jay-Z and Nas and meant that the conflict is in the past. They performed the song together. This was "Dead Presidents" of Jay-Z combined with song of Nas "The world is yours". Solidarity united all people who came to the concert. In spite of Jay-Z's gap in the activity, it didn't affect the admiration of his fans.
The reconciliation of two hip-hop stars was not the only surprise. Jay-Z invited a boy from the crowd to be a hypeman for him and the boy played impromptu. Hova gave the boy advices how to act and then asked if he liked summer. Then the mega-star performed "Dear Summer", the popular song of 2004. During the concert Freeway came out on the stage to sing the verse from the song "What We Do". The Jay-Z announced that they were waiting on the stage to some sh*t to complete the whole thing and after that Beanie Sigel in the hood appeared, a person who was once a Freeway's mentor. Beanie Sigel performed the song, after that the stage was also graced by the appearance of Sauce Money, the Lox, with performance of "Reservoir Dogs", then Diddy followed, who was scorned by the Lox some time ago. It will take time to list all those who came to this concert to the admiration of the crowd. To understand the grandeur of the event some names of the stars will be mentioned only, such as Tupac, Rosa Parks (Civil Right icon), Biggie, Aaliyah, Big L, Kenye West, Paul Wall, Memphis Bleek and many others.
This is natural that journalists and gossip mongers expected some attacks of Jay-Z. They speculated much about it and thought that megastar would go after 50 Cent, for instance, or Jim Jones, The Game, Cam'ron or somebody else but nothing of the kind happened. The long-lasting feud with Nas was over, so it turned into a harmony of hip hop performers. This way Jay-Z did not keep his promise to turn the concert into a battle but nobody was disappointed as the fans witnessed historical figures on the concert, enjoyed brilliant performance of many stars, and the Jay-Z's ovation was deafening.