Jay-Z launches 30th anniversary stadium tour with Fugees cameo — SkimNews
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- Jay-Z opened his first solo tour in nine years, billed around the 30th anniversary of debut album Reasonable Doubt and playing to audiences of roughly 50,000, nearly a decade after his last album release
- The show's musical approach traces back to Jay-Z's 2001 MTV Unplugged appearance with the Roots, scaled up here with a 10-piece band and 18-piece string section that the reviewer credits with giving Empire State of Mind, Izzo (H.O.V.A.) and 99 Problems added heft
- Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean made a late-set appearance to perform Fugees classics Fu-Gee-La and Ready or Not; UK rapper Giggs performed Talkin' the Hardest and Idris Elba delivered the opening monologue
- Beyoncé sat in the VIP box for her 45th birthday — receiving a spotlight, a Happy Birthday singalong and fireworks — and appeared in an on-screen clip wielding clippers to cut Jay-Z's dreadlocks
- Jay-Z rattled off No Church in the Wild, 99 Problems, Girls, Girls, Girls, '03 Bonnie & Clyde, Excuse Me Miss and I Just Wanna Love U in rapid succession, prompting the line "We got a million of those"
Why it matters: Jay-Z is drawing 50,000-seat stadium crowds roughly nine years after his last album and 30 years after his debut — a level of sustained draw the reviewer frames as unique among fiftysomething rappers on retrospective tours. The set leans on a full live band plus 18-piece strings rather than backing tracks, and the Fugees cameo plus Lauryn Hill actually taking the stage turns the show into a hip-hop reunion event as much as a Jay-Z showcase.
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