Atlanta, GA was buzzing all week for the arrival of Jay-Z and Kanye West. Tickets on all of the respective radio stations were being given away right and left. Last minute plans to the concert were made as scalpers outside of Phillips Arena tried to make a fortune scalping already over priced tickets. Once inside, the anticipation builds every second while the DJ played old slow jams like the Isley Brothers’ “Between the Sheets,” Little Beaver’s “Get Into the Party Life” and Hank Crawford’s “Wildflower” — all songs that have been sampled by Kanye and Jay at one time or another. Then around 9 PM ET, it happened.
The instrumental for H.A.M. came through the speakers and the crowd went bananas. The method behind the madness of Jay and Kanye was displayed as the beats from the album were made perfectly for stadium and arena performances. We just wondered why a show that had this much hype didn’t utilize a live band?
All the classics were played from both Jay and Ye’s discography. The crowd favorites of the night were 99 problems, Gold Digger, Big Pimpin’, which had an accopella verse in homage to Pimp C, as well as all of the Throne’s singles on the radio. With the Throne tone set, Kanye disappeared from the stage while Jay Z got his rocks off spitting his 1997 street banger “Where I’m From.” Throughout the night, Hov and Yeezy would trade off, rocking a few solo songs a piece, before coming together for something collaborative. ‘Ye tore through “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” and “Jesus Walks” on the solo move before Jigga reappeared for Yeezy’s “Diamonds from Sierra Leone (Remix)” which was a surprise. Every time the crowd felt the 2 hour spectacular was over the DJ would drop an instrumental and the crowd belonged to the Throne once again. “N*****s in Paris” shut everything down as expected, with the crowd jumping up and down throughout the entire song. After this track ended the mood settled and all was thought to be over then the beat from “Encore”was unleashed and it became evident that the ride was not over.
“Encore,” was followed by the inspirational “Made in America,” complete with images of Martin Luther King Jr. and “Sweet Brother” Malcolm X flashing on the big screen. The finale went back to the Throne’s album with the oh so smooth “Why I Love You,” saluting the crowd as they strolled offstage with Hov ending with a “Peace ATL, thanks for all the love. Goodnight,”
If you were one of the lucky ones or unlucky ones depending on your thoughts of the evening performance, video chat with us live right now and tell us what you thought about the performance and remember please be painfully honest…this is hip hop! Look for chat window at the lower right of your screen.
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