Jay-Z – Magna Carter World Tour – Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA 1/29/14

There is something to be said when you pull up to a 19,000 plus seat arena and feel excitement to see a band that you love. But what if that amazing band is just one man? How could one man possibly fill all of those seats? How could one person rule a genre of music like Jay-Z does? He is a true Jack-of-all-trades: rapper, entrepreneur, producer, investor, sports agent, father and husband. But when it comes to hip-hop’s biggest player, Jay-Z, none of those questions need to be answered; he allows his success to do the talking.

With the Budweiser Made in America Fest, a two-day music festival in Philadelphia on Labor Day weekend started by Mr. Carter himself, and a brief stop to Philadelphia on the Legends of Summer tour with Justin Timberlake, Jay-Z is no stranger to the City of Brotherly Love. In fact, it seems like the Brooklyn-raised man shows Philadelphia a lot of love on the regular.

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So when the highly anticipated Magna Carter World Tour rolled into the freezing Wells Fargo Center, Jay-Z decided to bring the heat and the hits, peppered with a bit of something new. Joining him was legendary producer Timbaland, who produced countless hits with artists of all variations of music and entertainment. So, one can only imagine how this night was going to proceed.

With the classic “all black everything” attire and massive gold chain, the words spoke clearly. “Turn my music high, high, high. You don’t know what you are doing, sure I do.” A fitting way to start the night with “U Don’t Know,” off of his album, The Blueprint, before going into his first full set of new work, with some gems hidden in.

While the album, Magna Carter Holy Grail, was released originally by a Samsung cell-phone application in July 2013 with mixed reviews, Jay proved with “Crown” that this was his universe. The placement of this track on the set list was perfect, bringing to memory the many great athletes, artists and musicians that have also filled the arena. Legends walked through those same halls and on that same stage, so with the opening lines of “Crown,” “You in the presence of a king, scratch that you in the presence of a God,” some might wonder if that if that is fact or fiction within the hip-hop world.

“On To The Next One” kept heads bobbing, hands in the air and sent the bouncing crowd going into a slight frenzy, showing they were there to party. While “Holy Grail,” “Fuckwithmeyouknowigotit” and “Beach is Better,” had the audience moving, it wasn’t until the question was posed by Jay-Z, “Are you ready to take this to another level tonight,” that set the crowd into an uproar.

“99 Problems” took off and had a pleasant surprise in the middle, as Jay paid homage to the West Coast game, when he ran through parts of the 2006 hit, “Blow the Whistle,” originally by Oakland, Calif. rapper, Too $hort. The remix was a fresh take on “99 Problems,” but with that synth-laced bottom of “BTW,” it hit another level. “Picasso Baby” lightened the mood, but was well received. This posed the second question of the night from HOV, “Who was down from day one?” “Dead Presidents II” and “Can I Live” brought forth the fans that were there from the beginning.

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But nonetheless, “No Church in the Wild” brought the youngsters back to their feet. Kanye-absent parts provided the eager crowd the chance to help Jay-Z completing the verses. “Somewhere in America” was a brief slow down until “Twerk Miley, Twerk” lyrics ran into the classic, “Big Pimpin’” which went to an acoustic ending, with Jay-Z playing back-up to the audience

As set-break started, all seats stayed filled as Timbaland provided mixes and beats that any nightclub owner would wish they had at that moment. As a treat, Jay-Z provided the fans with a little bit extra. Philadelphia rapper, Meek Mill, made a surprise entrance and rolled through his own “Intro” and “Ima Boss” which featured Jay-Z lending a hand at the end.

The second set was like a greatest hits selection. “Jigga my Nigga” was followed by “Nigga What, Nigga Who,” “P.S.A.” and new track “Tom Ford.” The high point of the night was “Niggas in Paris.” Jay-Z had a story tell and an apparent drive to prove he ran the show. At one point in the tour, Mr. Carter was encouraged people to get out of their seat and party.

“They find me overnight, the fire marshal came up to me and said, you tell people to stand in the aisles we gonna find you, young man and I said, ‘Uh, listen, you know typically I do this on a song called “Niggas in Paris” and on said song there is a line, and it’s very poignant, and it goes something like this; What’s fifty grand to a muthafucka like me, can you please remind me, young man?’ So with that being said if you want to stand on your seat, stand in the aisle, dance in the aisle, you do what you wanna do, I encourage all security to stand down!”

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Now some question if Jay-Z is only in the game for the money, due to the fact many of his lyrics revolve around the dollar sign. But who can argue that even if he was, it would be hard to argue. He is on top of the world. He says it himself “Aw fuck it, I want a trillion.” As Rihanna’s voice traveled through the monitors, it was only fitting to end the show with “Run This Town,” because no matter what town he travels to, he runs it by the end of his performance.

After a brief exit from the stage, the band came back out with “Encore.” After the long night and tiresome performance, the final tracks seemed to lack energy. But then again, when you are near the end of the US leg of a World Tour, some things many lose energy. It did give a proper outro for introducing the three band members and Timbaland. “Empire State of Mind,” “Izzo (H.O.V.A)” and “Hard Knock Life” led the way to “Young Forever,” which was dedicated to the memory of Nelson Mandela.

 

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