Artists from all regions of the country came out bringing their A-game to the stage at Hot 97‘s 20th Anniversary Summer Jam; repping their sets and claiming their region.
Fabolous made it his business to make sure that everyone in the MetLife Stadium knew that Brooklyn was definitely in the building by bringing out Lil Kim to bless the stage; making her long-awaited premiere. Magic was made solely through her presence, along with the idea of her and Foxy Brown wrecking the stage together. Although Brown never surfaced, the anticipation ceased any and all rumors that beef still remained between two of hip-hop’s most prominent female MC’s. Lil Kim relied on an old classic to turn up the audience, however, New York was still more than happy to have their “Queen B” back in the spotlight.
W’s were soaring through the stadium when Wu Tang came together to perform their legendary jam “Triumph”, and it was as if the Clan had never left the scene. The supportive energy flowing throughout Method Man‘s “Bring the Pain” performance remained steady until the sound of the final record scratched.
The crowd’s response to older records seemed to be a reoccurring wave of positive energy as the mood transitioned from 808 drops to slower, sensual, R & B vibes when Wale made his appearance and performed one of 2012′s hottest hits, “Lotus Flower Bomb”, along with his new ladies’ anthem; “Bad”.
For everybody that thought for a moment that Bone Thugs N Harmony were finished making history, their performance demolished that idea! A$AP mob embraced the crew while new heads A$AP Rocky, 2 Chainz, Kendrick Lamar, and (a small appearance from Trinidad James) proved that the new era of hip hop is on and coming for their spot in the history books.
A$AP Rocky performed hits from his recently-released debut album “Love, Life, A$AP” including smash hits “Pesos” and “F-ckin’ Problems”, where he took the time to acknowledge his Harlem crew before bringing out West Coast hard-hitter, and feature on the hit single, Kendrick Lamar.
The Compton rapper shut the show down during his 28-minute set; performing a variety of singles from “B*tch, Don’t Kill My Vibe”, “Money Trees”, and “M.A.A.D City” where he basically brought out the entire city of Compton. He featured SchoolBoy Q and Ab Soul, fellow Black Hippy crew and members of T.D.E, and entirely stole the highlight of the event. As the rain started to come down, he used that as fuel to amp up the energy and give his all until the end. He definitely gave people expecting him to be the next Tupac some reassurance on why he’s next up out of L.A.
2 Chainz took to the stage solo to debut his new song “Feds Watching;” a traditional hype-sounding record from the Atlanta-bred artist that will definitely be making a lot of noise in the club: declaring he’ll “Be fresh as hell if the feds watching!” Although the audience was clueless of how to accept this new song, his energy forcibly engaged them into the performance. His set instantly turnt all the way up when Queen’s barbie, Nicki Minaj made her way through the crowd to join him to perform their single “Yeah, I love Them Strippers.” Dispite her and Peter Rosenberg making amends lately on Hot 97′s morning show, it’s safe to say that it was nothing less than a surprise to see Nicki on stage after the high-tension beef with the DJ after being accused of selling out and embodying a pop-persona. Yesterday definitely declared her official return to hip hop!
Miguel made it through his first live music event appearance since his mishap at the Billboard Award’s show successfully! Nobody was sent home in a neck brace, but rather left praising the collaborations he included in his set. Arguably one of the most memorable moments of the day was shared between Miguel and Mariah Carey as they performed “Beautiful.” Miguel then brought out special guest J. Cole to assist him on the verses of their hit single “Power Trip”, the first single off of J. Cole’s 2nd studio album “Born Sinner,” hitting stands this month.
-A. Retina Stewart
@RZYGI
