“Jigga man, that’s what’s up.” And that’s what was up Saturday night in Atlanta when Jay-Z showed up with hometown guys Trey Songz and Young Jeezy as part of his Blueprint 3 tour. They did everything that they could to make it feel more like an event than just another tour stop. Even though Philips Arena was packed to capacity (sold out at 21,000+), it had an intimacy that you usually only find in smaller clubs.

As we arrived to the arena and took our seats we were greeted by a DJ spinning hit after hit, playing a lot of Atlanta’s celebrities.  Hits from Outkast and Black Rob, Notorious B.I.G. and Talib Kweli, Rob Base and Erik B and Rakim got everybody singing immediately and helped us get comfortable with each other. (Jay-Z’s not a business man; he’s a business, man.  So he probably planned it that way.) Even a couple of the security guards at the front of the stage were singing every word.

A few notable things from Trey Songz’s set:  He gave an encouraging speech about being from Atlanta and working towards his dreams, and said, “And now I’m on tour with Jay-Z!” before performing the Sam Cooke song “A Change Is Gonna Come”.

After Trey Songz’s set was finished, Jigga took the stage. This might be the only thing that didn’t feel right all night. Those of us that were expecting Young Jeezy next looked around, kind of confused, trying to find answers in someone else’s face. We assumed Jeezy was sick or had to have some emergency root canals. (Lil’ Wayne, we’re looking at you.)  Instead, Jay was trying something different, and performed about 15 songs before Jeezy came out. In other words, Jeezy performed his set in the middle of Jay-Z’s.

Jeezy began his set by coming on-stage with Jay-Z to perform “Real As It Gets” (off last year’s Blueprint 3) before taking over for his own solo set. Jeezy hadn’t performed in Atlanta in awhile, and acted like this was his homecoming, asking the crowd if they remembered him, and if he was still the king of Atlanta. He ran all over the stage, invited rapper Piles to join him for a few songs, and performed singles like “Soul Survivor” and “Put On”.  It should be noted that Jeezy was wearing enough ice to put a jeweler’s kids through college. After working up a sweat for about 30 minutes he turned the stage back over to Jay-Z. His set ended with “My President” as he was joined by Jay-Z for Jay’s verse from the remix.

Jay-Z began his first set by rising out of the floor in the center of the stage wearing “all black everything.”  Behind him was an 11 piece band and an elaborate lights display that featured giant video screens in the shape of skyscrapers. During his first song, “Run This Town”, the music video for the song played on the giant buildings in the back. The video screen skyscrapers highlighted different aspects of songs throughout the show. Jay-Z mixed singles like “Run This Town”, “D.O.A.”, and “99 Problems” with deeper cuts like the remix to Kanye West’s “Diamonds From Sierra Leone”, “Public Service Announcement”, and “Can I Live” all night.

While Jigga played a lot of songs from Blueprint 3, he also gave the fans of his older records what they wanted to hear, calling material from Reasonable Doubt, Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3, The Blueprint, The Black Album, and even Kingdom Come. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the man has enough hits to play a two hour show and and still miss out on other hits like “H to the Izzo” and material off entire albums like American Gangster. Even though Jay is touring behind his latest album, anybody that goes to his show is going to get a retrospect of his entire career, and not just a live performance of his latest album.

“The rest of the night is for my fans that been with me from the beginning,” Jigga told the audience towards the end of his second set.  “No offense, but if you came in on Blueprint 3 or The Black Album, you can go ahead and go home. Beat the traffic.” He then ripped through a medley of several songs, spitting maybe a verse and the chorus before moving on to the next one.  Somewhere in the middle of the melody Jay said, “I got a million of these!”, obviously referring to his hits. After his medley, Jay performed impassioned versions of his singles, “Can I Get A…”, “Big Pimpin’”, and “Hard Knock Life”. During Big Pimpin’ Jay-Z did an acapella version of Pimp C’s verse, asking the crowd to replace “Texas boys” with “A-Town” boys. Everybody loves to hear their own city shouted out, and we ate it up.

“Thank you in green outfit, you in the Jay-Z t-shirt,” Jigga shouted to a nearby fan, as he directed a spotlight over the thousands in attendance. “Go up in the upper deck. Thank you in the gold dress, thank you over there, thank you man.” He repeated the same thing on the right side of the arena, having the cameras zoom in on people in homemade Jay-Z shirts and people that were dressed up. He ended up in the front few rows where a guy was wearing all white.  “I’m gonna let you pick a song. Anything you want. A request. We’re supposed to be in all black, but you in all white. But that’s okay. We’re gonna let you pick a song.” The lone fan requested “Can’t Knock the Hustle” and that’s exactly what Jigga played.

Since the concert started late and the Brooklyn godfather played so long, there wouldn’t be enough time for an encore. Instead, Jigga improvised and finished with the next best thing, the all too fitting crowd favorite “Encore” which concluded the ambitious set. Fans stood breathless, the air grew cold, and the heat dug deep. In hindsight, Jigga proved to ATL that he’s not only the best in the game, but he’s above the game. He doesn’t need to play anymore because he’s won again and again. And much like Springsteen, Jay-Z breaks outside the strict confines of his genre and opts instead to deliver an experience that no one in any game could create. He’s at a great place right now in his career, a time when the term “legend” can be thrown around, and everyone should witness it.

Set List
Run This Town
Diamonds From Sierra Leone (Remix) (Interlude)
On To The Next One
D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)
U Don’t Know+
99 Problems+
Show Me What You Got+
I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)+
I Wanna Rock (Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock Cover, Snoop Dogg remix)+
Jigga My N****+
Hovi Baby+
N**** What, N**** Who (Originator 99)+
Public Service Announcement+
Heart of the City (Ain’t No Love) (featuring Trey Songz)+
Dear Summer (Interlude)
Already Home (featuring Trey Songz)+
Empire State of Mind (featuring Bridget Kelly)
Real As It Gets (featuring Young Jeezy)
Young Jeezy Set
Medley: Get Ya Mind Right, Bottom Of The Map, Welcome Back, Dey Know [Remix]
I Luv It
Go Crazy
Hard
Crazy World
Go Getta
Soul Survivor
Put On
My President (Remix) (featuring Jay-Z)
Jay-Z Set 2
Dirt Off Your Shoulder
Swagga Like Us
Venus Vs Mars Snippet
Hate
Thank You
Medley: [Fiesta (Remix), Excuse Me Miss, La-La-La (Excuse Me Again), 03 Bonnie & Clyde, Ain't No N***a, Best of Me (Part II), Money Ain’t a Thing, Lucifer, Where I’m From, Can I Live]+
Can I Get A…+
Big Pimpin’+
Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)+
Can’t Knock the Hustle (By request)+

Encore+
+with Memphis Bleek
-DJ for Jay-Z was Young Guru