Another catalogue inside the main set
The Watcher 2 opens the programme; Encore closes it. Between them sit Song Cry, Dead Presidents, 99 Problems and Empire State of Mind. The final night of Jay-Z’s anniversary concert series, at SoFi Stadium on 24 October, is worth reading through that repertoire first. The sequence published by Variety places different periods of his catalogue within one long programme. Its organising question is more interesting than the number of famous guests: where does a section devoted to their own songs belong inside the host’s catalogue? The Los Angeles performance answers by making space for a distinct West Coast passage.[1]
Too Short’s selection is Blow the Whistle. Dre and Snoop’s passage runs through The Next Episode, California Love, Nuthin’ But a G Thang and Still D.R.E. The setlist places Snoop’s Murder Was the Case at its start. These guests bring their own repertoire rather than simply adding a voice to a Jay-Z song. The choice temporarily opens the stage to another catalogue. 99 Problems then returns the programme to its host. The collaboration can therefore be understood as a section with identifiable works and performers, before it is counted as a list of famous names.[1]
From the guest passage to the ending
For the listener, that arrangement offers a comparison between a career-spanning selection and another rap repertoire within the same evening. The continuing main set gives the guest passage a clear position in the sequence. Familiar songs placed together do not, however, establish an elaborate curatorial intention. The same medley might have been chosen to let an audience join in with well-known hits. The programme supports a narrower and sufficient conclusion: the Los Angeles collaboration uses the visitors’ own works as its material. That choice gives the anniversary selection room for a second catalogue, within a concert still organised around Jay-Z.[1]
The late connection between N—s in Paris and Big Pimpin’ invites the same reading. Two titles become one transition in the live programme, followed by Public Service Announcement and Encore. Songs are being placed in relation to one another as well as selected. A published list cannot measure tempo, balance or the execution of that transition. It can reveal the programme’s form: Jay-Z’s catalogue supplies the main line, the guests open a separate passage with their own songs, and the ending returns to the host. That arrangement of works and performers is where I would look for the anniversary’s musical substance.[1]