Jay Z Joins Jay Electronica At Brooklyn Hip-Hop Fest: Watch
Jay Z surprised the Brooklyn Hip Hop Fest crowd last weekend during Jay Electronica‘s headlining set. Jay Z also made the impromptu set feel like a proper homecoming, having been raised in Brooklyn’s Marcy Projects. “Feels so good to be home!” he yelled to the crowd. Still, watching Hov perform did feel a little surreal, considering Jay Z has become such a household name. After all, he stopped by the festival in between dates of his and Beyonce‘s On the Run tour, now the premise of an HBO special.
When Jay Z raps over Big Daddy Kane‘s “Young, Gifted and Black,” he compares himself to Public Enemy co-founder Chuck D, who recently criticized the liberal use of the n-word at Hot 97’s Summer Jam – hip-hop’s most well-known festival. However, during their remix of Soulja Boy‘s “We Made It,” Hov crows of his Forbes cover, where he was pictured next to businessman and billionaire Warren Buffett. Jay Z also performed 2003’s “Public Service Announcement,” a song that details his drug-dealing past (“I used to move snowflakes by the O-Z”) but has since been blared as walk-on music in sports stadiums. His eyes lit up not when he rapped of being part of a counterculture, but of the mainstream culture.
“I’m not a pop star, rock ‘n’ roller,” Big Daddy had declared in “Young, Gifted and Black.” Meanwhile, Jay Z seems to take pride in being called precisely that. Watch him perform with Jay Electronica up top.
[via Rolling Stone]
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