Memphis Bleek has recalled a special request Michael Jackson made during his epic 2001 Summer Jam surprise appearance.
The New York rapper recently joined Drink Champs and thought back to the time JAY-Z brought the King of Pop out during his set, remembering how he asked everyone to avoid eye contact with him.
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“It was ill the Mike situation. Rest in peace to the G.O.A.T. of the G.O.A.T.s. Mike came through right — listen, if you wasn’t with Hov you had to turn around and face the wall,” Bleek said.
“His security guards came in before he came in they like this: ‘Everybody who don’t got the JAY-Z pass.’ Like, I’m with the family. You had to have that pass.
“They was making n-ggas face the wall like it was the pat-down on the block. Everybody because Mike didn’t want eye-to-eye contact. Nobody look him in his eyes.”
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The Roc-A-Fella rapper claimed he didn’t have to abide by the ridiculous rule and got a look at MJ.
“Me, I gotta see Mike. So I’m looking at everyone in the hallway facing the wall like, ‘These n-ggas is bugging,'” Bleek added, which had N.O.R.E. and EFN in stitches.
Michael Jackson touched the stage as a special guest of JAY-Z at the Nassau Coliseum in Long Island in June 2001, which made for one of the most memorable Summer Jam moments in the annual concert’s history.
“It was actually easier [to set-up] than what people would think,” Jay said to MTV News in 2003 of getting MJ to show up. “It wasn’t even difficult. I didn’t have to call a hundred times and babysit the situation.”
Former Hot 97 program director Tracy Cloherty admitted some special rules were put into place but having the King of Pop show up to Summer Jam was well worth it.
“Even though I was introduced to him, I couldn’t shake his hand or anything, and I couldn’t step within, like, a 6-foot perimeter around him,” Cloherty recalled in an interview with Complex.
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“Things like that. It certainly added another layer of security concerns and things that we had to deal with behind the scenes. But it was certainly worth it.”
The 2001 Summer Jam edition will never be forgotten for another reason — since it marked the first time Jay delivered the live debut of his Nas diss “Takeover,” which included him showing late Mobb Deep rapper Prodigy as a young dancer on the Summer Jam screen.
