Hip-hop's dynamic duo
Mary J. Blige, Jay-Z bring sounds of the street, and of success
A dream team by virtue of their legendary stature, Jay-Z and Mary J. Blige brought two very different sides of the hip-hop/soul coin to the Garden last night. She was transparent, emotional, and inward-looking - a victim-turned-survivor eager to empower her peers. He was cool and collected, the hustler-turned-mogul, personable but imperious.
Performing together, they made a thrilling whole for a few too-brief moments during the monumental "Heart of the City" tour, which was triumphant not just for its marquee names but for nearly 2 1/2 hours of top-flight music.
Class, not street cred, was the show's defining aesthetic, as befits a pair of pushing-40 megastars many years removed from their hardscrabble roots. Crystal chandeliers, two flights of stairs, a 12-member string and horn section, and glimmering video cityscapes set the stage for the longtime collaborators and friends, who opened the show together with "Can't Knock the Hustle," where Blige reprised the hook she sang on Jay-Z's debut record. Later they teamed up on Blige's "Real Love" and Jay-Z's "Song Cry," and once again to close the night with the tour's title song, "Heart of the City (Ain't No Love)."
But the bulk of the evening was devoted to each artist's signature sound and style. Blige's set was dynamic, a model of well-paced passion. The singer may require "No More Drama" in her romantic life, but it's Blige's stock-in-trade as an entertainer. She wrung the feeling from every note, on pitch or off, seamlessly segueing from "Love No Limit" to "Feel Like a Woman" to "Stay Down," sweat glistening, clutching her sunglasses, squatting and scurrying and not seeming to care at all that her fabulous asymmetrical bob grew more matted with every righteous beat of her fist on her chest.
Talk about empowerment.
Blige's only misstep was using three actors to pantomime a melodramatic love triangle during "Your Child." Her transcendent delivery required no visual aids.
If Blige's set felt soulfully therapeutic, Jay-Z's felt like a victory lap, brimming with bravado and confidence. His sunglasses remained firmly in place, and his opening song, "Say Hello" - one of several cuts from last year's "American Gangster" soundtrack - was followed by a long, sauntering adoration break. If Jay-Z seemed especially swaggering, it may have something to do with the announcement earlier in the day that the rapper is poised to sign a $150 million contract with Live Nation, and the fact that he and longtime girlfriend Beyoncé have reportedly obtained a marriage license.
Things are going swimmingly in Jay-Z's world (which includes a fashion empire and a piece of the NBA), so as commanding as he is as a performer, Jay-Z's hard-life raps didn't so much burn with significance as smack of nostalgia.
But snap and crackle they did. A fiery horn section spiced up an already simmering "Roc Boys," while a pair of drummers deepened the phenomenally complex rhythms of "Show Me What You Got." Rapper Memphis Bleek came out for "U Don't Know" and the rock-flavored "99 Problems," adding a burly layer to his mentor's rich, swinging flow.
At one point a huge photo of a confused-looking President Bush appeared on the screen, followed by the smiling face of Barack Obama and Jay-Z's hopeful solicitation: "We're ready for change, right?" But his brief flirtation with topicality was a tease. "Let's turn this into a club," he shouted, and burrowed virtuosically into a fistful of his greatest hits.
Joan Anderman can be reached at anderman@gobe.com.
