Jay-Z’s Fade to Black Concert

Fade To Black

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Fade To Black Concert/Documentary

Full Length Fade To Black Concert/Documentary

Shawn Corey Carter also known as Jay-Z was born in Brooklyn, NY on December 4, 1969. He was raised in Marcy projects; a drug infested environment. Before Shawn became the artist known as Jay-Z, he would use music as an escape from his harsh surroundings.

As a rap artist, Jay-Z has won 19 Grammys, released 10 studio albums; 7 of them were stamped as number 1 albums, and sold 55,000,000 albums worldwide. His rap career cultivated success over the span of 27 years.

He is one of the few rap artists that has had longevity in the music industry. He has used his success in the rap genre to catapult him into different ventures, such as: becoming the president of Def Jam Records, part owner of Roc Nation promotions, owner of Roc-A-Wear clothing, owner of Roc-A-Fella films, owner of 40/40 sports bar, owner of Roc Nation Sports management company, and owner of Tidal stream service. Jay-Z once said, “I’m not a businessman, I’m a business.” Thus far he has done nothing but be business minded.

In 2003, Jay-Z performed his legendary concert Fade To Black in Madison Square Garden. The concert unexpectedly sold out the arena in 2 hours. This event was cultivated to mark the ending of his solo performing career. The night was filled with a culmination of Jay-Z’s career recordings, and guest performers such as: The band Roots, Beyoncé, Mary J. Blige, Missy Elliott, R. Kelly, Foxy Brown, Pharrell, Questlove, and Roc-A-Fella records artist.

I choose to attend this concert because no living rap artist is bigger than Jay-Z. In The Washington Post, Richard Harrington stated, “Jay-Z is a supremely confident performer and deft lyricist with a masterfully elastic flow and perhaps the most commanding and accessible stage presence of any rap artist”. Jay-Z has proven over and over again that you can turn nothing into something. Jay-Z is relatable to me. He has provided the world with unlimited knowledge through his music. He thought me that failure breeds success, money can be your uprising and down fall, and never to take love and life for granted.

Jay’s Madison Square Garden performance was a milestone, not only in his career, but in the Rap genre. A standard of performance was displayed by the talented artist. He performed multiple number 1 hits like: Change Clothes, I Just Wanna Love U, Can I Get A, I’ll