Jay-Z’s Storytellers Airs Tonight!
The first thing Jay-Z did was grin. “The good news is that I got seven new records. The bad news is that I got to talk you all through it, and I’m not the best public speaker.”
And with that, one of the world’s great rappers kicked-off his Storytellers show. The performance, built around the tracks from the new American Gangster disc, was shot in Brooklyn a few weeks ago, and tells the story of the rise and fall of a guy a lot like Jigga. “This is what would have happened if I didn’t become Jay-Z,” he said. “This is Shawn Carter’s story.” Make the jump for a breakdown of Jay’s set, which airs on VH1 tonight at 9pm.
The performance begins with “Pray,” and a recording of Beyonce reciting a prayer (the superstar girlfriend was in the audience, singing along to every song). Cathedrals project behind Jay as he describes the war zone that was the Marcy Projects where he grew up, just a few blocks from the taping.
New York scenes spill across the screen as a Marvin Gaye sample comes up, and Jay launches into “American Dreamin’.” He outlines the rules of the game, contemplating his own morality in the kind of clever couplets that made him famous: “I’m trying to beat life ‘cause I can’t cheat death.” Afterwards, he obsesses on the line “Surviving droughts, I wish you well,” repeating the entire stanza as a wish for the crowd. It’s this love of wordplay, and the fun he’s having, that has dragged him out of retirement.
“Let’s celebrate,” he tells the crowd before the blaring horns of “Roc Boys” come up. With the film American Gangster, he’s found his new Scarface, paralleling his success with that of Tony Montana. “Roc Boys” is the equivalent of “when [Montana] was buying tigers,” he laughs. “That’s when you know you’ve gone too far.”
At this point in the show it becomes obvious how difficult it is to rap through a three-minute song, then discuss that song for a while longer. Jay pauses, a little out of breath.
Next up is “Sweet,” which is the first inkling that the gangsta life isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Jay’s rapped about his family before (“Lost One”), and this song is about the pain of having a family member follow in your wrong-side-of-the-law footsteps.
Our hero’s demise sets in with “I Know.” Jay confesses to being addicted to the good life, and asks the crowd if it’s okay to deal with his addiction on stage, so he can “get my Lindsay Lohan on.” Addressing drugs as a fickle lover, it’s one of the best songs on the album, putting a smooth jazz horn section over a bouncing hip-hop beat.
After insisting on his “red lights,” Jay goes into “Party Life,” one of the disc’s darker songs, though full of humor and the MC’s mock swaggering (“You used to filet mignon, how you going to go back to eating ramen noodles?”). Featuring one of the most impressive instances of breath-holding, its one of his most lascivious songs yet.
Jay then launches into the final act – “Fallin’,” which we already gave you the scoop on here.
As a bonus, he drops “Blue Magic,” the stark, organ-stuttering persecution song produced by Pharrell Williams, who made an appearance via the screens that surround the back of the stage.
