The theme of this year’s Summer Jam concert was “Saving the world from wack concerts,” and last night, Hot97 did just that with a star-studded concert filled with surprises that would mark the concert’s final event in Giants’ Stadium before it’s demolished in 2010 when the new Meadowlands Stadium opens.
New York Hip Hop and R&B Radio Station, Hot97’s annual Summer Jam concert opened with deejay Mr. Cee on the turntables and a short film based on the theme “saving the world from wack concerts,” featuring the likes of Mr. Cee himself, Funkmaster Flex, and a few of the station’s other personalities.
Day 26 [click to read] then came out to perform three songs, which happened to be not only the very first performance, but the very first of many surprises, for the approximate 50,000 people in attendance, as they weren’t on the advertised list of performing artists. For many Summer Jam veterans, this was taken in stride, as the event is well-known for its surprise appearances.
It took some time for the crowd to warm up, sitting through performances of Pleasure P of Pretty Ricky, and a few Reggae performances by Serani, Movado and the proclaimed “Energy God,” Elephant Man while the audience was still pouring into the stadium.
The show was hosted by comedian Tracy Morgan and Angie Martinez, but they didn’t appear until after the Reggae artists’ performances, and only showed up one more time afterwards, leaving the most of the show to be hosted by the deejays and the artists themselves, in traditional Summer Jam fashion.
After a short intermission, the rotating portion of the stage turned to reveal a live band setup, which provided the background music for The Dream. The crowd was definitely getting warmed up, but it wasn’t until special guest Fabolous came out for “Shawty Is A Ten” and “Rockin’ That Sh*t (Remix)” that most fans really got out of their seats.
Next up was the D-Block general himself, Jadakiss, who performed some older tracks, bringing out the rest of the clique, including The L.O.X. and Styles P, and then got into some new tracks from his latest album, The Last Kiss. Before his set was over, he was sure to bring out Busta Rhymes, who was preceded by the one and only Spliff Starr, and to hit the stage shortly after was Swizz Beatz. Before Swizzy left the stage, they were sure to let the world know that the Ruff Ryder movement would be back in full swing next year.
Mary J Blige came out next, taking the crowd down memory lane, performing some of her older songs, and as she went to perform You’re All I Need, who else but Method Man himself took the stage, and performed his parts of the song. While Method Man had the spotlight, Mary J stepped off stage for a few minutes, and “feeling a little lonely,” Method Man opted for Redman to join him on stage—then performed their new single, “Ayo,” and followed up with a quick performance of “Da Rockwilder” before bowing out and letting Mary J take the stage back to complete her set with songs from her latest album, Growing Pains.
After another short intermission, Young Jeezy took the stage, performing a few tracks from his new album, and even bringing out Drake to perform “Best I Ever Had” “for the ladies.” Drake stepped aside after rapping his hit, and Jeezy took the stage back, but as soon as the beat for “Put On” dropped, the crowd got hyped and most people were out of their seats, perhaps even expecting Kanye West to make an appearance. Instead, Jay-Z came out, which brought the crowd to a deafening roar for a few minutes. At this point, all he said was, “I put on for my city,” and the crowd began to chant “Hova” while he stood and watched. He then performed his latest single “D.O.A.” (Death of Autotune), with the help of the audience and T-Pain, who came out during the performance, as if to contest Auto-Tune’s funeral.
For some, this may have well been the end of the concert, even leaving Mr. Cee speechless, not knowing what song to play during the next intermission because of the impact Jay-Z’s appearance had on the crowd.
Afterwards, T-Pain was up, but instead of the top hat, he had a new accessory of choice—his chain with the words “Big Ass Chain” written on the pendant in very large, diamond-studded letters. On his site NappyBoyOnline.com, he says that it weighs 10lbs, has 197kts in it and cost him $410,000. After performing a few of his own songs (and parts that he sang on other songs), he brought out Maino for “All The Above,” Lil Kim, DJ Khaled and Ace Hood.
For the final performance, Jim Jones and Juelz Santana took the stage with an army of people, which would have made it hard to spot them at times; if not for the large bottles of champagne they were carrying (and drinking). Ryan Leslie made a guest appearance to sing the chorus for Precious with Jim Jones. They then shared the stage with Soulja Boy, who turned his swag on for just the one song and posed for pictures before leaving the stage. Ron Browz, and DJ Webstar made quick cameos for their parts in the songs “Pop Champagne” and “Dancing On Me (remix),” respectively, then Jim Jones performed “We Fly High” for the final song of the night as the stadium began to clear out.
More information and pictures from the event can be found at the host radio station’s website, Hot97.com/SummerJam. For those in the tri-state area (NY, NJ and CT).
Reported by Richard Smith.
