Joburg youth give JAY-Z their vote
Check out our pics of the concert on Flickr here.
You know we’re not big on the dome as a concert venue, but last night was the first time that we saw it packed to almost capacity, it’s true colours finally shining through as a well organised and smooth flowing event venue.
Jay-Z gave a sterling pe…
rformance to the thousands of young, younger and really young fans packing out the dome and getting down. Fashion, hair, diversity, colour, dancemoves, electric vibes, the Jozi youth gave their vote to jigga as their favourite MC as they sang along to every lyric of every song, most of which were not commercial hits. We were so proud of our ecclectic, loud, proud and beautiful young Joburg people who certainly know just how to Represent in their very own way! We dig you guys and are behind your mission 100%.
HipHop had a heydey in the parking lot as well as boot parties, street parties and any old sommer party thumped on through the night for those who weren’t inside the concert. The forefathers of Northgate shopping centre were probably turning in their graves as the youth of the now gave the finger to suburbia and rocked the night ghetto style.
Jay-Z was tight, with a simple stage layout and awesome central screen, it felt good not to do the neck straining thing to the side screens for a change and even though the place was packed out, it was spacey, chilled and fabulous. We missed Rihanna, on purpose, so we can’t tell you ’bout her. But as far as the ‘Hov went….as my friend Lerato put it: “Super Awesome.”
Tell us about your concert experience – leave a comment!
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We’re just reminding you that JAY-Z is here in less than two weeks… So if you ain’t got your tickets yet, best you hurry!
Before we get to the serious part of this article, did you know that on the London leg of Jay-Z’s tour NAS jumped onto stage with him? MTV tells us that NAS was hinting at joining Jay-Z on the African part of his tour – so NAS fans – get buying too! Who knows who could be jumping onto the stage.
Where do we start with Nas he has a lot going on. Last week, he jumped onstage with Jay-Z in London and said he might join Hov for more stops on the Global Express Tour.
MTV gives us the lowdown:
Nas onstage in London
“There are some conversations me and Jay are having about doing some more tour dates,” Nas said last week in the U.K. the day before taking the stage at Royal Albert Hall. “Nothing is confirmed, but there are some serious conversations about Africa and a few other countries.
“I would like to do the Africa thing,” he continued. “And that would be about it, because it’s the most important thing for Africans to see two African-Americans, their lost children, who’s been the head of hip-hop culture. … A lot of our verses are misinterpreted in other countries, and they get the N-word wrong and they don’t understand why we come up like this and why we say the things we say. So when they say it and when they do it, they just doing the gangsta mentality. They don’t understand where it comes from, so we want to bring that connection from America to Africa and show them what we mean and show the brotherhood and show that me and this brother is about peace.” More on Nas and Jay-Z.here.
“I’m not a politician. I’m just a regular person with a heart.” Jay-Z
Now the man has hooked himself up with the UN nd MTV in an effort to help the Global Water crisis…Big Ups Jay-Z and welcome to Africa.
In August Jay-Z held a press conference at the United Nations building with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, MTV President Christina Norman and others to announce a partnership aimed at bringing attention and relief to the many parts of the world where lack of safe drinking water is destroying communities and lives.
On his international tour, which begins this month, Jay will travel to several areas affected by the water crisis. His experiences will be documented by MTV for a special, “Diary of Jay-Z: Water for Life,” airing November 24.
The special will follow Jay’s learning process as he meets people who are among the 1 billion worldwide without access to safe drinking water. It will also follow Jay as he visits places where sustainable, environmentally friendly solutions are under way to bring fresh water to devastated communities.
“It’s a huge responsibility, and humbling at the same time,” Jay said, after the conference, about the role he’s taking on. “I wanted to go to these [countries I’ve never visited before] to just tour and play music. Of course, I can’t go to any place without touching the culture and seeing what’s going on. When you start getting down to Africa and places like that, you see that billions of people don’t have access to water.”
CLICK HERE FOR REST OF STORY FROM MTV
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Aug 2006
Talk about spoilt for choice… SA really is the place to be this year when it comes to big international names… To kick off our Summer how about the awesome JAY-Z – right here, live and in the flesh! Yip – take back everything you said about the last concert being your last one for the year… Kanye West was ok – let’s see what JAY-Z and Rihanna can do. We’ve always been huge fans… and are sure that this is going to be an awesome performance. Check out Jay-Z at Myspace and Rihanna too.
Get your tickets from Computicket asap:
Heineken Music, 5fm and Big Concerts are proud to announce the upcoming tour of Hip-Hop heavyweight Jay-Z, and Caribbean Queen, Rihanna. The highly talented stars will be jetting into South Africa this October, for a 3-date tour which will see them performing in Cape Town on the 11th, in Durban on the 13th, and finally in Johannesburg on the 14th.
11 October – Belville Velodrome, Cape Town
13 October – ABSA Stadium – Outer Fieds, Durban
14 October – Coca-Cola Dome, Northgate
Buy your ticket at Computicket.
Jay-Z’s recent performance at Radio City Music Hall sold out in less than two minutes, and Rihanna’s second album has already been certified Platinum. Apart from their massive global success, both artists have had significant achievement in South Africa, with their hits climbing the charts at local radio stations, especially 5fm.
Whenever hip-hop has needed a kick-start, Jay-Z a.k.a Jigga a.k.a Shawn Carter, has answered the call. With worldwide album sales in excess of 33 million, he is takes the game to the next level employing his lyrical genius, charm and intellect. These same qualities, and his penchant for knocking’ out flavourful tunes, have also earned him a horde of devout fans. After bursting onto the scene in 1990 with “The Originators”, Jay-Z hooked up with Damon Dash and Kareem Biggs to form the now multi-million dollar, multi-platinum empire, Roc-A-Fella Records. His 1996 debut album, “Reasonable Doubt”, driven by the hits “Can’t Knock The Hustle,” “Feelin’ It” and the Gold single “Ain’t No *****”, made him a household name, and cemented his reputation as an up-and-coming rhyme-wrecka’, but it wasn’t until his third album, the Grammy Award winning “Vol. 2, Hard Knock Life”, that the legend was born, and spawned one of the highest-grossing rap tours of all time. His follow up albums earned him yet another Grammy Award, two Source Awards, a BET Award, two Soul Train Award, a Billboard Music Award, and a whopping three MTV Video Music Awards. Jay-Z’s tenth album, “The Black Album”, featuring production by Eminem, Kanye West, The Neptunes, among others debuted at Number 1. The lead single, “Change Clothes,” became the fastest growing single on Billboard’s hip/R&B chart and Rhythmic Charts. USA Today said “it’s Jigga’s trademark lyrical dexterity and diversified deliveries that put him on a level all his own…” “Collision Course”, a collaboration with Rock outfit Linkin Park, has seen Hip-Hop enter yet another era of dimension, and Jay-Z has emerged as the leading “Don” of the Rap game
Rihanna, the Barbados-born beauty has re-energized the music scene with her rich, cultural fusion of dancehall and raga, with a fresh R&B soul sound. Her debut album, “Music of The Sun”, was nominated for 2005’s Record of The Year, with the first single “Pon De Replay”, debuting at No.2 on the charts, mashing up dancehalls worldwide!
Rihanna’s second world-wide phenomenon, the “Tainted Love” sampled “SOS” hit Number 1 on the charts world-side, driving her latest album, “Girl Like Me” into Platinum status, and to the top of the Billboard charts. The sultry pop diva has also been chosen to represent Clinique Happy fragrance in a new campaign to begin in December. Rihanna displays vocal dexterity way beyond her years and writes songs with substance, neatly wrapped in catchy melodies and rhythms.
Def Jam’s president and his label’s rising stars performances promise to be mind-blowing – a provocative and soulful meditation on hip-hop life, a catchy mixture of handclaps, drum rhythms and soulful sound, and the pure power of a lyrical genius.
