It started with a text: “He said, ‘It’s time,’ so that’s all I needed to hear,” says Adam Blackstone, Jay-Z’s bassist and longtime collaborator. He’s discussing the first word he received about the string of shows the legendary rapper would be staging throughout the year, starting with a grand return to the stage at Philadelphia’s Roots Picnic in late May followed by a trio of nights at Yankee Stadium where, last weekend, they celebrated the 25th and 30th anniversaries of “The Blueprint” and “Reasonable Doubt,” plus a bonus night dubbed “Extra Innings” honoring the breadth of his catalog.
For Blackstone, who first worked with Jay-Z for his then-farewell 2003 concert “Fade to Black” at Madison Square Garden, it brought him into the creative fold with Young Guru, Jay’s engineer and DJ, and Omar Edwards, musical director, to assemble bespoke performances that came together right up until show time. The philosophy, Blackstone tells Variety, was to “execute Jay’s vision. This is the set list that he wants. He’s approved. Now let’s put it in playlist form, add our live spice on top of it and give it that stadium flair. And so it’s a process, but it’s a wonderful process, especially when we see how the outcome.”
At the Yankee Stadium shows, the band was right in the pocket for all three nights, including the concluding concert that started past midnight and stretched until almost three in the morning. The performances were crisp and measured yet relaxed, making for standout moments spanning a musical mashup of Jay’s “Dead Presidents II” and “Where I’m From” with Nas’ “The World Is Yours” and “NY State of Mind,” to a subtle beat switch during “Girls, Girls, Girls” that folded in Destiny’s Child’s “Girl” and a verse from “03′ Bonnie & Clyde.”
All of this, the trio says, was a combination of diligent preparation on Jay’s orders and the spontaneity of bringing in guests across the evenings, including Eminem, Rihanna, Beyoncé and Blue Ivy Carter. Together, they created a moment that, on the heels of a Knicks championship, set the table for what’s promising to be a historic New York City summer. Following the Yankee gigs, Blackstone, Guru and Edwards joined together to discuss how they helped shape the shows before regrouping for performances in London, Paris and Los Angeles later this year.
Guru: Still trying to take everything in. It was a lot to do, so I’m just looking at what the effect was on culture and what this meant. There’s these things when you look back as students of the game and history. Does somebody realize what Woodstock was going to be when they went to Woodstock? They just decided to go to a show. And we’ve had so many incredible moments with Jay that our focus is on preparation and being that backbone for him and you don’t get to take it in. So these past couple of days for me at least, it’s just been seeing how much it’s affected people, hearing everyone’s story of how they saw the show, from industry people to just normal people to what the Bronx felt like outside.
Edwards: I’m still somewhat processing. It’s such a monumental, heavy load that we carried, a heavy lift. It was really up until doors on the last night, we were still cooking, right? So it was an experience. And actually I moved right on to another job. So I kind of had to switch gears really quickly. I got to circle back on how I really feel about it. I need some time to download it. That was a special, special weekend, bro.
Blackstone: We were preparing for Roots, that was a Saturday Jay-Z show. We did a private show Friday night, a random Jay-Z joint. And then Sunday, was my personal set from my own artistry. And so I was in just a music whirlwind. One of the things that allows me to focus is that I’m a fan of Jay. This is some music that I can put in my car and ride out to, that me and my friends listen to. And so I’m familiar with the music. The songs that I’m not that familiar with, I dive into like I do with anything that I’m doing. But because I’m familiar with it, it’s almost second nature to at least know what key and the tempos and stuff like that.
The formats changed because we do our live thing, and Omar programs and matches it up and Young Guru puts a different verse over top of a different beat. And I’m in here scoring for the strings to make sure that we got the transitions right and all that kind of stuff. But as far as knowing what the song is, man, it really feels good to play and work for somebody that you are a fan of their craft. So those rehearsals would become intense, but they could become intentional. Here’s what we’re going to finish for this day, for this week, for whatever. And we start just running it after that. So I think the biggest task was knowing after Roots, there were three different shows to prepare for. And I haven’t done anything that ambitious probably since the 777 tour with Rihanna. Jay has become very ambitious for doing those types of things that have gotten him his success in every area of his life. So we never get content with how we tried to execute his greatness because there’s always another level to go.
Blackstone: The answer is both. What live music can do is go off of emotion. So the rehearsal process was us getting the formats, the keys, the transitions, the beats right, the patterns. But also when you’re in the moment, man, I’m playing the bass and I’m hearing “Song Cry” and I’m feeling it. So I might do an extra slide or a little gliss. The guitar player on his solo for “U Don’t Know” is [basing it on how] the crowd is reacting to him, that’s an unprogrammed thing. The drummer doing a certain cymbal hit and accenting some of the dance moves and stuff like that is not planned. So the live human element will never be replaced. There’s always room for improvisation.
Guru: It just becomes that spontaneity of, I want to have a good time. You know, that section of it is spontaneous. But then also, up until almost doors on the last day, we’re still adding on things. Pharrell said, “Hey, Pusha T’s coming.” And I’m doing an edit where I think it’s just Pusha T. And they’re like, “No, both the Clipse are coming.” So then we have to undo that edit. And then, “Hey, Gu, you play ‘Grindin’.” You know what I’m saying? It’s all of those things combined.
Edwards: And even though it’s the framework that’s established, it’s still kind of spontaneous because we’re still learning three different shows. So now we’re on stage trying to recall which edit is this, which edit of “Empire” is tonight.
Blackstone: The 20 years of preparation and rehearsals and all of that help you prepare for the last-minute chaos. I trust myself. The team trusts each other. Jay says, “I’m gonna bring Fat Joe and Jadakiss out at the end of ‘Empire,’ make it make sense.” And so we make it make sense. Rihanna says, “I just want to do one verse tonight of ‘Bitch Better Have My Money,’ not the full song.” We got to go do that edit and make it make sense. Or with [Eminem], I had this idea to play “Takeover.” So it’s the work, it’s the preparation and it meets the opportunity for us to execute this vision.
Guru: The “Takeover” idea is one that Jay shows a lot of maturity. Of course, “Takeover” is on [“The Blueprint”], but everyone knows the content of “Takeover.” People will focus on the Nas part, but it’s really about Prodigy. It’s showing that respect; I’m not going to perform “Takeover.” This man has passed away. We at least got to show that Jay and Nas have pieced it up, which I think was an incredible mashup of ideas in the show. But to not perform “Takeover” is a very conscious thing because Prodigy’s not here. So if Prodigy was here, it would be some way of figuring out, how do we get Mobb Deep on stage to show that they’ve pieced it up over the years. So if you don’t have that “Takeover” beat in the show and people come to see that, then it can go in another flip for another record.
Edwards: And we actually nodded to it twice. We put it in the intro of “The Ruler’s Back,” like a little nod to it, and then we use it on the “Renegade” flip. And shout out to Adam, I think Adam and Questlove got that little nugget in there.
Guru: I’m going to just say shout out to Shawn Carter, the master curator, because that’s his brainchild. And he knows where they need to flip, where they need to change. And so once he gives that framework, I’ll just execute the sketch and send it back to him. And then we start ideating. And I think some of this is remote, we do it via text. But then once we get in the room, it also reveals a different way to do things and say, oh, let’s change this here. Let’s go back to “NY State of Mind” here.
Blackstone: What we tried to do was make it feel like you were going back and forth like with a DJ. And then it also had big New York vibes. So between Omar and Young Guru and Hov, it was like, let’s go back and forth and do this, let’s do that. But when it happened, everybody’s cadence had to change as well. It almost felt like you were on a live Serato or something like that.
Guru: I’ve been with Jay a very long time, super intelligent human being. He makes great decisions under pressure. This might be the greatest decision that I have ever seen him do in a practice of patience. Because I’m old enough to remember things like City College. And that would have been City College times 1,000. So to sit there and go, these many people paid for tickets, bought an outfit, did all of this stuff, came, and can’t get in… If they were to hear music start, there could have been a serious riot outside and someone could have lost their life. So at that moment, you’re thinking safety. But I’m also hoping and praying at the time that we still can perform the show.
I just think it’s the smartest thing I’ve ever seen [Jay] do, and it’s also a representation of a thing that I tell Omar all the time, and I’m very proud to say it here, is his zen is something that I admire and I study of being able to be calm in any situation. It’s something that I aspire to. Let’s control the things that we can control and let’s go out here and just have a great show. But that’s what’s going through your mind, is to make sure that we at least still deliver on our end so that people aren’t waiting that whole time. And I think once people got in and the show got started and the whole thing got explained by Jay, then people almost forgot about that and they had a great time at the show.
Blackstone: I commend everybody for keeping their composure. The majority out there who bought tickets just to be entertained, we wanted to do that. I personally feel like Jay was in a lose-lose situation. So I think he did the right thing for everybody’s safety, but also to give a great show and knowing that, we had a one-of-one show planned from all of the guests to the music to all of the things. I remember him showing me the tracker of the percentages of people that had made it past the barricade, past the time when they had shut the doors down. And we were just monitoring the situations, man. His team was very tactful and my musician team was very patient. It can become draining when you’re waiting around like that, especially to go to work.
Edwards: I think for me, because you’re in it, you’re not thinking past it. You got to be in it to actually execute. So I haven’t even thought about the legacy part of it. And I think that’ll come later. And I think time determines legacy. But it’s like we were at war and we just had to be hyper-focused on the mission at hand. The one thing I hope people do take away is who he is as an artist, man. Like the level of excellence, the curation, the breath… You can’t do that without doing the real work. Those real spaces require real work. The Internet does not. So a lot of people are looking at the Internet thinking they can like do that shit… That’s 30-plus years of work. And he makes it look super effortless.
Guru: I think about legacy all the time. There’s a switch for me that goes off when we’re in rehearsal and show mode. I’m laser focused on what my responsibility is at the time. How are we putting this together? What is the show? But before the shows and in between, I’m always thinking about legacy. Whenever we’re making an album, I’m thinking about legacy because we’ve gotten to that point where just obtaining things doesn’t matter anymore. It’s now about achievement and thinking about what is going to be the story of our lives when we’re not here anymore, passing down information and doing that the culture can see.
Blackstone: It was about being intentional and being in the moment. And it was great to see Jay evolve as a man, as a father, as a businessman, as a husband, to know that his kids are involved. That’s why I love that from my children as well, for them to see that. Because we want to be the cool dads, but we’re in a different time. So to bring the kids out on stage, which I do all the time, for Jay to do the same thing, it really feels like there’s a bigger calling in our lives than just rapping older songs. We want to know that we have inspired people with music that can heal and has the power to bring joy. And what better way to do that than Yankee Stadium in front of our family and our legacy?