MICHAEL JACKSON!
After over 20 years, the entire legendary set by JAY-Z at Hot 97’s 2001 Summer Jam concert has been released.
Courtesy of Hip Hop VCR, the nearly one-hour footage captures Jiggman performing his early hits including “Hard Knock Life”, “What’s My Name”, “Big Pimpin”, and “I Just Wanna Love U”. He also was joined on stage by his his Roc-A-Fella camp, Missy Elliott, violinist Miri Ben-Ari, and more.
With his Blueprint album due in a few months, Hov previewed some music off the classic album. At about the 6 minute mark, Hov debuted his Mobb Deep and Nas diss record, “Takeover”, which sparked one of hip hop’s greatest battle.
Closing out the iconic show, Jay brought out his surprise guest Michael Jackson at about the 51 minute mark, before segueing into the Blueprint‘s first single, “IZZO (H.O.V.A.)”.
The historic event took place at New York’s Nassau Coliseum on June 28, 2001 with acts Destiny’s Child, OutKast, Ludacris, Nelly, Eve, and more.