Jay-Z’s set at All Points West this Friday night was a monster – a booming, professionally executed affair, it was the work of a superstar expected to come through big, and who did just that. The appearance --pulled together after Adam “MCA” Yauch was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in his salivary gland, forcing Beastie Boys to cancel their headlining slot – was revelatory from go: immediately at the summation of a teasing ten minute countdown, Jay sauntered on-stage, in all black to the shades, to a giant riff, his grin a mile wide. The tune? “No Sleep Till Brooklyn,” a big fat heartwarming homage that doubled as a crackling set-opener. He ran through the cheeky lyrics with appropriate verve (“My job aint’ a job, it’s a damn good time!”), but it was all an excuse to get to the massive staccato chorus: “No! Sleep! Till Brooklyn!” For good measure, the DJ ran through a few bars of “Brooklyn 2.0,” which samples Ad-Rock’s “hellloooo brooooklyn” yelp from Paul’s Boutique.

From there, it was a breezy, blistering affair: alongside long-time crony Memphis Bleek, Jay ran through a reverse-chronological hit list, from “D.O.A.” to “Roc Boys” to “Give It To Me,” one of the biggest sing-a-longs of the night, then farther back to “Big Pimpin,” “Jigga What,” and “Can I Get.”  Introducing Reasonable Doubt’s “Can I Live,” he correctly predicted “some of you might not know this one,” which just gave the band room to excel – the big horns and deep groove of the track popped hard. Considering the grouchy old-man-of-hip-hop stance he assumed on “D.O.A.,” it was a surprisingly joyous affair which had more in line with the technicolor MCs of the new school than Jay may be comfortable admitting.

“Encore,” done in the style of Linkin Park (surprisingly, a good call), finished things off, but not before Hova indulged in some banter gimmickry. With the band playing the outro behind him, he pinpointed crowd members by their clothing (“babygirl, in the pink …homeboy, in the white sun glasses”)and thanked them individually for coming out. It got the biggest laugh of the night, when Hov found a fellow in tye dye – “that’s still cool wit’ ya’ll? Really? I mean, I fucks with tye dye. I was just checking with ya’ll” – but it was a definitively earnest, and appreciated, sentiment. Rap superstars aren’t supposed to hold onto the crown this easily. But at Hov, at 39, is arguably bigger than ever, and is aging very well.  

Photo Credit: Margarita Gonzalez/Prefixmag.com