How does one measure their own legacy: In a series of shows, in the decades since a debut album, in an exhaustive eight-part docuseries breaking down the intricacies of rhymes laid down years ago? That seemed to be the existential question looming over “Jay-Z 30,” a yearlong celebration that began with a spectacular one-off headlining performance at the Roots Picnic in late May and concluded on Saturday night with the second of two shows at Inglewood, California’s SoFi Stadium. For Jay, legacy has clearly been weighing on his mind.
A new generation of hip-hop artists has emerged, and the decade-long gap since he released an album has opened a space for that generation to question his legacy. So it made sense that he’d revisit his catalog brick by brick, show by show, celebrating a career-long work in progress that crescendoed to a global tour after nearly a decade of artistic dormancy. At SoFi, much like his previous concerts, his performance was a reminder — no, a reinforcement — that nothing at that scale is by accident.
And he said as much as the curtain fell on an hour-and-a-half finale of his “Jay-Z 30” series, encouraging those in attendance to believe in what they’ve actually witnessed. People will tell you that the music wasn’t great, but you got ears. You gotta understand, you gotta question everything.
This world with AI and everything, it’s been going on forever. They called it propaganda before. But now, the technology has caught up and people are tricked.
A lot of tricknology for us… Make sure you question everything you feel.” Jay makes that music that you can feel. That’s been the thrill of his shows over the past five months. For those who experienced his rise in real time (and, frankly, many at SoFi probably had, based on their millennial look), Jay has been a pop impresario, a cultural touchstone who helped graft hip-hop culture onto the mainstream.
He’s done it through a breathless string of number one albums and hits, and in boardrooms and closed-door meetings. Much like his other performances, the setlist at Jay’s final night at SoFi was somewhat static — “Girls, Girls, Girls,” for instance, once again bled into “’03 Bonnie & Clyde,” while “N—s in Paris” delightfully mashed into “Big Pimpin’.” But the finer details are what make a Jay show such an experience. At each of his shows, he’s found a way to pay homage to the city that’s welcomed him.
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