Wow! So as at least one of our commenters and a popular hip-hop blog predicted, Lil Wayne did come out at Jay-Z’s MSG show last night, just hours after his appointment with Rikers was postponed owing to a random courthouse fire. It was supporting act Young Jeezy, though, who actually brought him out, during an otherwise slog of a set that weirdly took place in the middle of Jay’s performance. Jeezy first shouted out “the homey Lil Wayne … he went in today. Keep your head up,†before cuing up Young Money’s “Bedrock†and bringing out Nicki Minaj. Classic misdirection! Wayne sprung up next, followed by Drake (decked out in what looked like the clothes our Grandma Ethel wears when she goes walking in the mall for exercise in the mornings), and the three of them did their mixtape track “I’m Going In.†It was nuts!
Unfortunately, that’s all the Weezy we would get: Yeah, it would have been something else to see the two biggest rappers alive sharing the MSG stage days before one of them was scheduled to start a jail sentence — but it was not to be. We understand that maybe the band didn’t have proper rehearsal to do any Wayne songs, but did Jay-Z have to do his “Swagga Like Us†verse all by himself? Was there any subtext to them not doing a song together, or are we reading too much into it? Otherwise, it was another impeccable set by one of the best live acts we’ve ever seen; “PSA,†“Encore,†and “Hard Knock Life†sounded just massive, and Jay even had enough juice with the crowd to gamely get through all the Blueprint 3 clunkers he felt obligated to play. We’re pretty confident that the Spotted Pig’s Ken Friedman and beloved mixtape rapper Jay Electronica, both of whom we spotted in the hallways, enjoyed it as well.