Shawn 'Jay-Z' Carter may brand it like Beckham, but he's never put music on the backburner. Last night, the 43-year-old husband of Beyoncé Knowles took a chance on music and for all that he was 40 minutes late and lasted for just over an hour including a lengthy interlude, the gamble paid off.
Hip-hop arena shows tend to feature a cast of dozens and be packed with visual bling of pyrotechnics, slick choreography, a stage set from the year 2545 and lavish video effects. Jay-Z, arguably the genre’s finest exponent, went against the grain and not simply because — in loose T-shirts, preposterous gold chains and comfortable trousers — he dressed like a locals darts star rather than a global megastar. He was backed by just four musicians, the stage set was unadorned, the lighting basic and the pyrotechnics absent. This left just the man and his music to carry the evening and carry it they did.
The backbeats were deliciously spartan on Clique and Tom Ford and floorquaking on the teak-tough Holy Grail and 99 Problems, but there was only one star. His dance moves consisted of pointing and walking and he was not one to banter between songs. In truth, he probably should have kept shtoom, since the irony of half of a couple who earned $95 million last year declaring “the difference between the haves and have-nots is something we got to pay more attention to” appeared lost on him.
But the master rapper wielded words wonderfully. He had the infectious chest-beating certainty of a street poet and on the ever-wondrous Empire State Of Mind and Young Forever, moments of pure pop magic. Sometimes he sells himself short, sometimes he spreads himself too thin, but last night Jay-Z was everything hip-hop set out to be.
Jay-Z plays the 02 tonight, tomorrow and Monday (0844 844 0444).
