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Steven J. Horowitz
Senior Music Writer
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Roc Nation “Can I take you to my home for a second?” asked Jay-Z as he led into “Empire State of Mind” during the first of two headlining shows at Inglewood, California’s SoFi Stadium. Thus, he did, as he’d been doing for the past hour-and-a-half, bringing Brooklyn to Los Angeles as he traced the corners of his vast discography, the backbone of a career that stretches 30 years with countless hits to match.
Jay touched down on the West Coast for an invigorated set Friday night as part of his yearlong “Jay-Z 30” celebration, which began with a one-off headlining show at Philadelphia’s Roots Picnic in late May. What followed were three back-to-back sold-out nights at Yankee Stadium, plus shows in London and Paris, and a robust eight-episode HBO docuseries breaking down the finer points of his catalog. Given all the chatter that Jay may have booked himself for Super Bowl 2027 as the Halftime Show performer — which would make sense, considering a year of unusually high activity nearly a decade after he released his last album — it was hard not to consider Friday’s concert as a test run for what could potentially be the biggest performance on the biggest stage this coming February. (After all, the Super Bowl is taking place in the same venue where he performed.)
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