All the Guests Jay-Z Brought Out at Yankee Stadium

If Jay-Z is performing at a major event, it’s a safe bet that Beyoncé will be there too. Sure enough, she was there for the very first song on night one, singing the chorus of “Can’t Knock the Hustle.” She came back on night three to do her own “Drunk in Love.” Both moments had the whole stadium cheering for music’s top power couple.

Family ties continued on night one when Blue Ivy Carter (who’s a decade and a half younger than Reasonable Doubt) joined her dad to play piano on “Feelin’ It.” At 14, she’s already clearly following in her parents’ talented footsteps.

If you could take a time machine back to the summer of 2001 and tell a rap fan that Jay-Z and Nas would perform together onstage at Yankee Stadium in 25 years, you’d get laughed at. That was the season when the two New York rap legends’ long-simmering feud burst into public view when Jay infamously debuted “Takeover,” a vicious takedown of his rivals, at Hot 97’s Summer Jam. But that’s ancient history now, and the two stars, who patched up their beef long ago, stood together on night one to do both versions of Jay’s “Dead Presidents” — a song whose sample of Nas’ voice was much debated during their falling-out back in ’01 — and a couple of Nas classics (“The World Is Yours,” “N.Y. State of Mind”).

Memphis Bleek is one of Jay-Z’s most loyal protégés, someone who’s been there since the Marcy Projects days. (As Jay memorably rapped in 2005 on the “Diamonds from Sierra Leone” remix, “Bleek could be one hit away his entire career/As long as I’m alive, he’s a millionaire/And even if I die, he’s in my will somewhere.”) So of course he was there on night one to join Jay on their collab “Coming of Age.”

Bed-Stuy veteran Jaz-O is another key figure from Jay-Z’s early career, one he’s had a more complicated relationship with over the years. He was the mentor who first introduced Jay to the music business in the late Eighties, featuring him on 1989’s “Hawaiian Sophie” long before the world knew his name. They remained close as Jay-Z became a superstar in the second half of the Nineties, but fell out after that. They’ve since patched things up, and it was a full-circle moment when Jaz appeared to do their 1996 song “Bring It On” together.

The encore on night one began with a special appearance from Alicia Keys, who covered Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind” before performing their 2009 hit “Empire State of Mind” together with Jay-Z. As she belted out that chorus — “Let’s hear it for New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of…” — the city spirit was strong.

Jay-Z kicked off night two with a rare performance of “The Ruler’s Back,” the first song on The Blueprint. Since that song was a tribute to Slick Rick’s 1991 song of the same name (something that went over some fans’ heads at the time), he brought out the eyepatch-rocking, British-accented rap icon to perform with him, and gave Rick an extra spotlight moment with “La Di Da Di.” Cheers to that!

The Blueprint famously contains only one credited vocal feature: Eminem, who was at the peak of his stratospheric success in 2001, appeared on “Renegade,” leading to many years of debate over who washed whom on the song. (The answer has always been that both Jay and Eminem gave incredible performances on “Renegade,” and the song wouldn’t be as good without both of their verses complementing each other.) Em very rarely performs in public, but he came out to support Jay on that song on night two, and followed it up with his own megahit “Lose Yourself.”

Pharrell Williams and Jay-Z forged a close partnership in the late Nineties, when the Neptunes produced many of Jay’s biggest and best hits. Though that production duo have since gone their separate ways, Pharrell remains close with Jay, and they performed together for the majority of the night two encore: “Excuse Me Miss,” “La La La,” “I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me),” “Frontin’,” “Allure.” This was a mini-set that could have been the main set at another show, and they did it again on night three.

The “Extra Innings” show on night three featured the most guests of the entire weekend, beginning with Harlem’s own Teyana Taylor coming out to do the Mary J. Blige part on “Can’t Knock the Hustle.” For those keeping score at home, she starred in last year’s best movie and got prime placement at a hometown hero’s stadium show this year. Who could knock that hustle?

1998’s “Money Ain’t a Thang” was a big moment in Jay’s rise to commercial superstardom, and it was only right that Jermaine Dupri came out to perform it with him on night three. The two rap moguls of a certain age looked like they were having a blast catching up together.

The Atlanta energy continued on night three when Jeezy, who collaborated with Jay several times in the 2000s and 2010s, came out to perform “Seen It All” and “Go Crazy” in a sharp snowman-logo outfit.

Usher had the crowd screaming from the moment he showed up on night three to do the Al Green sample on “Heart of the City.” He arrived in a black leather outfit and his signature U chain, and the screams got even louder when he whipped off his jacket to reveal his bare chest. And in case that sounds superficial, we’ll add that his butter-smooth vocals sounded amazing, too.

Speculation swirled all weekend about whether Jay-Z would bring out Rihanna, whom he famously signed to Def Jam during his mid-2000s stint as the label’s president and CEO. She finally made it on night three, arriving in an impeccably stylish look to perform their 2009 hit “Run This Town,” followed by her own “Bitch Better Have My Money.” It’s been a few years since she’s done a public performance in the U.S., and she seemed very happy to be back: “Oh, my God. I missed this shit, y’all!”

When Jay-Z did 2011’s “No Church in the Wild,” he had to do it without two of the people who made the song with him: Kanye West, whose downward spiral since then is tragic, and Frank Ocean, who just doesn’t seem to like performing all that much. On night three, at least he had The-Dream, who came out to sing the song’s hook.

Swizz Beatz has had a hand in some excellent Jay-Z songs over the years, and it was a delight to see him come out on night three to assist Jay on “Jigga My N—-,” “On to the Next One,” and a medley that included bits of “Money, Cash, Hoes,” “Ruff Ryder’s Anthem,” and more, complete with all his signature ad-libs and keyboard-smashing beats.

Pusha T has spoken many times about his respect and admiration for Jay-Z’s music, and when Pharrell came out on night three, it was only a matter of time before he brought out Virginia’s finest. Pusha and Malice performed their beloved 2002 hit “Grindin’” with Jay-Z onstage, and it was a moment to remember for everyone involved.

These shows featured a lot of New York pride, and it all came together close to 3 a.m. on night three, when Fat Joe and Jadakiss came out to do their 2004 song “New York” (sadly, without Ja Rule). As fans who had been there for hours sang along to the hook, it sure felt like the greatest city in the world.