Thursday, August 12, 2010

Jay-Z Caps World Basketball Fest With Hit-Heavy Set

At Nike's World Basketball Festival, NBA All-Stars Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose, and Rajon Rondo kept fans entertained as they defeated the Lamar Odom-led white team in overtime, but it was Jay-Z who capped the event with the night's best performance.

The Brooklyn rapper was the special musical guest on the bill, and he was more automatic than Stephen Curry from the baseline corner. "I only got 20 minutes, so I can't wait for you to warm up," Hov said, sauntering from side to side onstage.

Performing in front of a crowd that included LeBron James, Khloé Kardashian, and Spike Lee, the iconic MC scattered an array of classic and current hits throughout his brief set.

"Ain't no living person can test him," Jay rapped on the opening number, "Hovi Baby." "Only two resting in heaven/ Can be mentioned in the same breath as him/ Seven straight summers ... "

Jay then paused and excused himself.

"Eleven straight summers, critics might not admit it/ But nobody in rap did it quite like I did it," he finished.

"Run This Town" was next, sans Rihanna, who had her own headlining show nearby at Madison Square Garden.

Swizz Beatz joined Jay-Z for "On to the Next One" before Memphis Bleek appeared alongside him for "U Don't Know."

"I'm from the streets where the 'hood could swallow a man," Jay rapped on the latter. "Bullets'll follow a man/ There's so much coke that you could run the slalom/ And cops comb the sh-- top to bottom/ They say that we are prone to violence, but it's home sweet home."

"There's a lot of kids here, I'm trying to curb it," Jay told the crowd, before telling the kids to put on their earmuffs.

"This one isn't kid-friendly," he said, as the guitar licks from "99 Problems" blasted throughout Radio City Music Hall.

The rapper returned to his debut, Reasonable Doubt, and performed "Dead Presidents II" and "Can I Live."

The Roc Nation head then ended the night with more recent fare, The Black Album's "Public Service Announcement" and his first #1 hit, "Empire State of Mind."



Jay-Z Caps World Basketball Fest With Hit-Heavy Set