JAY-Z took the stage at Yankee Stadium Friday night for the 30th anniversary celebration of Reasonable Doubt, and the show opened with a video of Beyoncé cutting his hair, which had the crowd guessing before a single bar dropped. The guessing did not last long. Beyoncé walked out for “Can’t Knock the Hustle,” the album’s opener, stepping into the part Mary J. Blige originated.
That swap only works when the person filling in is the one woman in the building nobody would question. Mary J. Blige was performing her residency the same night, so the call went to Beyoncé, and she answered it early in the set instead of saving it for a finale. Anyone who thought JAY-Z was holding his ace for the encore learned quickly that he had a deeper deck than that.Friday was the Reasonable Doubt night. Saturday belongs to The Blueprint and its 25th anniversary. Sunday closes the run with an “Extra Innings” show. Three nights, two landmark albums, one stadium, and a wife who apparently had nothing better to do than remind everyone what a hook sounds like when someone with that range delivers it.
A 30 year old debut album performed in the stadium the artist once rapped his way toward, with his wife singing the part of the woman who helped introduce him, and his old rival standing beside him in front of a sold out Bronx crowd. Culture does not get more full circle than that.
