Jay-Z gives us a night to remember

When you get to the level that Jay-Z has reached in his career, it's often next to impossible to top feat after feat, but the concert/event that was Wednesday night's "American Gangster" extravaganza had everyone in awe, fair-weather and hardcore fans alike. Any artist, let alone a rapper, is hard-pressed to perform over 20 songs that are certified hits.

The overall feeling of everyone present was one of good fortune. This had to do mostly with the fact that the show sold out in 30 seconds and that their favorite artist was in rare form once again.

Jigga opened up with "Pray," the first song on his new album. He then began a barrage of hits from his last six albums, injecting songs from his new album without any type of introduction. It was like he was trying to see the crowd's reaction to his new opus and even trying to soften the blow of any possible rejection by cushioning those songs with classics. "Jigga," "PSA," "Kingdom Come" and too many other hits to mention were weaved together seamlessly, creating a masterpiece of an event.

Jay-Z was backed up by a band with a horn section, singers and DJ Green Lantern, all dressed in 'gangster' outfits. There were at least three times when you could not hear Jay-Z over the crowd for whole verses or as he finished up sentences. Old and new hits were spiced up, such as "99 Problems," which was laced with the guitar riffs from "Back in Black." Jay-Z was assisted by some of his Roc-a-Fella cohorts, Memphis Bleek, Freeway and the recently freed Beanie Sigel on songs like "Change the Game" and "What We Do." The surprise guest, aka Kanye West, came on and brought the already frenzied crowd to complete pandemonium with his hits "Cant Tell Me Nothing'" and "Good Life." 'Ye and Jay then performed the crowd favorite "Encore" while the crowd screamed "HOVA, HOVA" for almost the entire length of the song.

It all ended with the new hit "Roc Boys" backed up by the live band, with everyone onstage together. With this type of performance, there may be hope for a hip hop artist to develop into one of the touring machines we know as the Rolling Stones or Madonna. If not, it was a night that won't be soon forgotten by anyone.-Rashaan Meador