This past weekend, Jay Z, man of the people, wrapped up his historic sold-out, eight-run (September 28-October 6, October 2nd not scheduled) concert event at the Barclays Center. If you missed out on the recent live stream, watch the entire footage of the final show, which took place this past Saturday, above at the header. The Live In Brooklyn EP will be made available on Tuesday, October 9th, which will include eight tracks and eight videos from the final performance. It is available for pre-order and is set to release exclusively through iTunes. Throw your diamonds in the sky.
UPDATE: Check out the transcript and retro-liveblog after the pics…
UPDATE 2: The original YouTube video was wiped. Here is another video (above) via Yardie. It starts 2 minutes later than the originally posted video, so adjust accordingly, regarding the time-code, with the retro-liveblog.
–@teemunny
RETRO LIVEBLOG
3:20 Lights go out. The crowd of 18,000, cheers in the sparkling new, high-tech arena.
3:30 Appropriately, the show starts with Roy Ayers’ We Live In Brooklyn, Baby.
3:44 The a rolling timeline of the history of Brooklyn is projected on the stage set. It starts with, “-1646- Village of Breucklyn (sic, Breuckelen) Established,” then:
-1767- Population: 1,603
-1834- Brooklyn Incorporated as a City
-1855- Bushwick & Williamsburg Join Brooklyn
“indiscernible” Population: “indiscernible”
-1862- Brooklyn Railroad “indiscernible”
“indiscernible” Population: “indiscernible”
-1883- Brooklyn Bridge Completed
-1890- Population: 838,547
-1894- Flatbush & Gravesend Join Brooklyn
-1895- Brooklyn Museum Founded
-1896- Brooklyn Public Library Established
-1898- Brooklyn Becomes a Borough of NYC
-1899- Al Capone Born – Downtown Brooklyn
-1913- Ebbets Field Opens
-1945- Brooklyn Civil Rights Movement Begins
-1947- Jackie Robinson Joins the Brooklyn Dodgers
(No Sleep till Brooklyn by the Beastie Boys starts in)
-1949- Marcy Projects Built
-1957- Final Brooklyn Dodgers Game
-1960- Jean-Michel Basquiat Born – Brooklyn Hospital
-1960- Ebbets Field Demolished
-1963- Michael Jordan Born – Fort Greene
(the “MCA” from“Ain’t seen the light since we started this band, MCA, get on the mic my man” is perfectly synced here)
-1964- Beastie Boys Adam Yauch : MCA Born – Downtown Brooklyn
-1966- Mike Tyson Born – Bedford Stuyvesant
-1968- Ol’ Dirty Bastard Born – Fort Greene
-1972- Notorious B.I.G. Born – Stuyvesant
-1979- Aaliyah Born – Stuyvesant
-1986- Beastie Boys “License to Ill” Released
-1988- Fab 5 Freddy Debuts “Yo! MTV Raps”
-1988- Big Daddy Kane debuts “Long Live the Kane”
-1989- Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing” Released
-1990- Chris Rock Joins Cast of “SNL”
-1994- Biggie Releases “Ready to Die”
-1996- Jay-Z Releases “Reasonable Doubt”
-2010- Population: 2,504,700
(Brooklyn Zoo by Ol’ Dirty Bastard drops)
-2012- Brooklyn Nets Inaugural Season
5:15 Lights go out. One of the trap doors on the stage set can be seen coming down. Night time footage of a drive on the Brooklyn streets is projected onto the set.
5:57 Jigga walks down a tunnel, presumably where the trap door opened, and pauses with a spotlight shining behind him. Only his silhouette is visible.
6:14 Intro to Where I’m From starts.
6:23 “Wassup?! Tonight’s a celebration of where I’m from. So tonight everybody here from Brooklyn. So when I say, “Brooklyn in the house?” I wanna hear everybody in this building. IS BROOKLYN IN THE HOUSE?!”
6:55 Crowd erupts.
7:00 The beat to Where I’m From, from In My Lifetime Vol. 1, drops. Homeboy is rocking a grey Nets snapback, a black Brooklyn Nets jersey, black jeans, black Timbos, and a black goose down vest. All black everything except a couple of gold chains. The Black Frank Sinatra kinda looks like a turtle in that goose down. No disrespect, Jigga.
8:10 “I’m from Brooklyn just thought I’d remind y’all!” segues into Empire State of Mind by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys. Where’s Alicia? The DJ lays some heavy scratches.
12:50 Brooklyn Go Hard featuring Santigold.
15:15 “Biggie!” The beginning of Biggie Smalls’ Kick in the Door plays.
15:39 The Notorious B.I.G.’s Juicy kicks in. Jay leads a sing-along, acting as a hypeman.
16:23 Jay grabs a bottle of Armand de Brignac Brut Gold (Ace of Spades), pours out a little on the stage in memory of Biggie, then takes a swig himself and sets the golden bottle on the ground.
16:49 U Don’t Know off of 2001’s The Blueprint.
19:40 Dude throws up the rock.
20:15 “I like how this is going.” Dude takes off his turtle shell, er, I mean, goose down vest. It’s getting hot in hurr.
20:47 “We’re amidst an incredible run here. This is the eighth show. This is the eighth and final show. (crowd cheers) So we can’t play no games tonight. We gotta turn this shit all the way up. It’s no coincidence that this site that we on right now is where the Brooklyn Dodgers closed the deal. I still call ‘em the Brooklyn Dodgers. It’s no coincidence that Jackie Robinson was the first African-American to play baseball was on that team. It’s no coincidence that I stand before you, part of the ownership of the Nets that brought the team back to Brooklyn. I want every single person to welcome Rachel Robinson, Jackie Robinson’s wife is in the house tonight. 90 years old. (crowd cheers) We are honored by your presence. We’ve come so far, we still got far to go. If you notice in any media, well, most media, they try to refer to my, uh, participation in the team. They talk these numbers, “Zero, zero, fifteen,” whatever, I don’t know where they get that numbers from but, hey…
(Math might not be Hov’s best subject, the suggested figure was one-fifteenth of a percent (1/15 of 1% = 0.067) not 0.0015.)
…That’s their way of diminishing our accomplishments. Don’t ever let anyone diminish your accomplishment…
(A great point, haters gonna hate.)
…That’s not the story. Here’s the story. A young, black, African male was raised in a single-parent home in low-income housing and I stand before you as a owner of the Brooklyn Nets. (crowd cheers) So…don’t let anyone diminish your accomplishments. Always be inspired. You don’t gotta be inspired by me. Be inspired by Barack Obama, if you choose to. (crowd cheers) Latinos in here, be the first Latino president. Ladies in here, be the first female president. Don’t ever let anyone diminish your accomplishments. And on that note everybody put a middle finger in the air one time tonight. And we gonna sing this to all those that try to.”
23:40 “If you havin’ girl problems I feel bad for you, Son…” 99 Problems.
24:37 99 Problems gets mashed up with AC/DC’s Back in Black
26:00 Run This Town by Jay Z featuring Rihanna and Kanye West.
28:33 Sing along with Ri-Ri (background track that is)! Hov is finally starting to break a sweat.
29:18 D.A.N.C.E. by Justice starts in. Lasers flickering
30:00 On to the Next One produced by Swizz Beatz, off 2009’s The Blueprint 3.
32:50 Dirt off Your Shoulder, Hov’ gives a shoutout to Timbaland, the producer of this track, who is apparently in the house. As Hova spits, “…at the 40/40 Club, ESPN on the screen,” he points to the resident in-house 40/40 Club. Baller.
35:30 I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)
36:37 Big Pimpin’ featuring UGK.
39:09 Jay goes a capella on the late Pimp C’s verse. Really cool
39:40 Clique by Kanye, Jay-Z and Big Sean.
41:38 ’03 Bonnie & Clyde featuring Beyoncé Knowles. Cue…
43:10 “We just getting’ started.” Aw shit, Bey-Bey in the house. Beyoncé Knowles, baby-momma aka wifey, makes the exact entrance as hubby. (crowd cheers)
43:37 Bey starts spittin’ Diva. She’s rocking a black leather Brooklyn Nets snapback and then flings it. Lady swag. A dance number ensues with her four back-up dancers.
45:10 Bey scans the crowd like the diva she is. Fierce. (crowd cheers) She starts laughing hysterically. It’s charming. “Thank you so much. Wassup, Brooklyn?” All gully-like, “I said, WASSUP, BROOKLYN?! I’m so proud to be here. I wanna say ‘Happy Birthday’ to a special friend of mine. Gwyn (Gwyneth Paltrow who recently turned 40 years old. I roll my eyes, can’t stand the actress.), I love you. Can I do one more for y’all?” (crowd cheers)
46:20 Crazy in Love by Beyoncé.
47:30 Hubby Jay-Z joins her back onstage for his verse.
49:26 Bey is out.
50:00 “Make some noise for (Big Daddy) Kane one time, Y’all.” Jay shouts out artists Big Daddy Kane and Memphis Bleek, who made appearances during the run’s previous shows.
52:00 Dead Presidents II off of Reasonable Doubt, the first album. I love this track.
53:12 Can I Live, another classic off of Hov’s magical debut album.
57:00 Public Service Announcement, from The Black Album. “Only God can judge me, so I’m gone, Either love me or leave me alone.”
59:28 Heart of the City (Ain’t No Love) from the 2001 album, The Blueprint. Kanye West produced the track which was built around a sample of Bobby Bland‘s Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City.
1:03:27 Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)
1:06:18 “Turn on the lights, Man. I need to see what I’m rocking with tonight.”
(The master MC takes a breather and starts doing some crowd work.)
“Wassup, Shorty Tube Top? Wassup, my Man? Yezzir. You been here before, huh? This ain’t yo first time, huh? Homeboy with the Yankee cap, you know every single word. You must got a lot of albums. I appreciate you. Homeboy with the shirt, you kinda close (to the upper rail). Please don’t…stop, stop, stop. You scarin’ me. I see you, the wifebeater, white shirt. Where my homegirl? You! You might be the hardest one in this whole building. What’s your name? Huh? (lets her answer) Of course your name is “Cookie”! (crows erupts in laughter) Wassup? You want some cookie!”
1:11:25 Jay honestly mentions that the best shows were the odd nights of the 8-show run, as in nights 3, 5 and 7, were particularly alive. This evening is close, he says. He goes to tell the story about how he came into the ownership of the Nets. How Jason Kidd mentioned, in passing at the 40/40 Club, that the Nets were for sale and how he eventually met Bruce Ratner, former majority owner.
1:14:28 Numb/Encore with Linkin Park. Do you want more?
1:19:23 Lights out. Obligatory curtain call.
1:20:40 Jigga returns, “We gotta turn this arena into a club…Get ready to get loose wit me…”
1:22:12 Wardrobe change, white jersey. What More Can I Say?
1:26:28 Jigga My Nigga off of Vol. 3… Life and Times of S. Carter.
1:28:10 Izzo (H.O.V.A.) off of The Blueprint.
1:30:14 Nigga What, Nigga Who (Originator 99). Dude can still spit this. The over-the-hill MC is still hard as fuck and far from over-the-hill. Originator.
1:32:35 Money Ain’t a Thang is the second single from rapper Jermaine Dupri‘s 1998 album Life in 1472.
1:34:17 The Best of Me (Remix) by Mýa. I loved her. What happened to her gorgeous and talented ass? Sigh.
1:34:50 Take You Home with Me a.k.a. Body from The Best of Both Worlds the 2002 collaborative album by R. Kelly and Jay-Z. Great collaboration, disaster of a tour.
1:36:00 La-La-La (Excuse Me Miss Again)
1:36:22 Excuse Me Miss featuring Pharrell.
1:37:32 I Wanna Rock (The Kings G-Mix) by Snoop Dogg featuring Jay-Z.
1:39:50 3 Kings by Rick Ross featuring Dr. Dre and Jay-Z.
1:42:12 (Jay doing his best Tony Robbins/Oprah impression as motivational guy and inspiration to his fans) “I believe everybody on the planet Earth has genius-level talent. We’re all God’s children. I don’t believe God picks certain people to have genius-level talent. I think we all have genius-level talent. I think we just have to find out what we are genius at and then apply ourselves in a way that supports that genius. First thing you do, you recognize that genius. Then you believe in it, get all the outside noise out because they put their fears and their insecurities on you so you can’t reach up for this potential. You know there’s guys in Harlem, Earl Manigault, who could’ve been better than Michael Jordan but all the outside things got in the way. Doin’ drugs, sellin’ drugs, he never realized his talent. But he had genius-level talent. And I believe every single person in this building has genius-level talent. Outside noise and shit get in the way. Like, my first demo I went and I took it to my uncle. I was happy and shit, I was a kid, I played my demo and was lookin’ at him, seein’ if he liked it. I didn’t know what he was gonna say and when it went off and he was like, “Nigga, you ain’t never gonna be better than LL Cool J.” (crowd laughs, OUCH. At least LL has a middling acting career?) I was expecting some encouragement and shit. But I think, you know, maybe he had a problem, maybe he tried to realize his genius-level talent and it didn’t work out for him. So his fears, he tried to put his fears on me. So, please don’t let anybody put their fears or they insecurities on you. I mean, I forgive him (uncle), of course. Recognize your genius-level talent. I believe I’m in the building with somebody that’s gonna change the world OR 19,000 people that will change the world. You just gotta keep your mind clear and almost stay as a child and stay forever young.” (nice segue)
1:44:25 Beyoncé reemerges for the Young Forever duet with Jay. The rapper clutches his bottle Ace of Spades and briefly serenades his beautiful chanteuse wife. It’s a cute moment. Holla. Jay-Z roams the stage and makes one final lap.
1:47:56 The legendary MC urges his fans to sing along and they do. The crowd of 18,000-plus sings the chorus of Young Forever, in unison, twice. It is goosebump-inducing. Wow, it would be hard for a cynic to downplay this special moment.
1:48:38 “I’m gonna leave you with this. Don’t be good, Brooklyn, be great. Be great. Thank you for tonight. Thank you for tonight. I LOVE YOU!” Cue buttrock guitar version of Forever Young.
1:51:09 Close. An impressive production and historic show. It is quite the love letter and homage to hometown and roots of the artist, rapper and mogul. Jay-Z hasn’t lost a step. Amazing. Remember when he said he was going to retire? Hah, sure, Buddy…
