Eminem And Jay-Z To Rock Their Hometowns With Stadium Shows

Becky Bain | May 13, 2010 10:50 am

Rap fans in the Northeast and Midwest just got a double dose of awesome news today—Eminem and Jay-Z will perform two stadium concerts together in September, one in Em’s home city of Detroit, one in (where else?) Jay’s hometown of New York.

The pair (who have performed smaller shows together in the past) hit the Detroit Tigers game last night to announce their two-city tour. Eminem will headline the show at Detroit’s Comerica Park on September 2, and Jay will headline the New York show at Yankee Stadium on September 13.

This is definitely a notable set of performances, not only because it unites the two superstars who have managed to demonstrate both hit-making talent and longevity better than any other living artist in hip-hop, but because hip-hop artists rarely get to play stadium shows. Typically it’s larger-than-life rock acts like U2 and The Rolling Stones who can fill up a 60,000-seat stadium (though to be fair, Em did play shows at Comerica back in 2005). It’s also kind of special that these shows will bring together two artists who’ve achieved some of their biggest successes with songs deeply rooted in their early hometown lives (“Empire State Of Mind” and “Lose Yourself”).

Personally, we’d love to see Jay fill in for Dr. Dre on any number of Em’s songs during his set, and Marshall Mathers fill in for Mr Hudson (or more recently, Beyoncé) on “Young Forever.”

Tickets go on sale June 12. Who’s going?

[EW Music Mix]

Tags: , ,