Jay-Z Rocks Carnegie Hall on 2.7.12

“Hey, Kareem. This is Uncle Warbucks. I got a Super Bowl surprise for you. Call me back ASAP.”

Dad’s brother is a CEO, and gets all kinds of invites to crazy events that we mortals only dream of. I could only image what he had up his sleeve the day after the big game.

Uncle Warbucks: “So, [your aunt, my sons and I] are on our way back from the Super Bowl now. But I wanted to see if you wanted to take my tickets to this Jay-Z concert tonight at Carnegie Hall.”

"Thank you! You're far too kind!"

Um, HELL YES!

Jay-Z was doing a concert as a benefit for the United Way, and it was the first hip-hop concert by a solo artist at Carnegie Hall. Ever. Our invites included an open-bar reception beforehand and access to Jay-Z’s 40 40 club after.

Keep in mind that this is a major charity event (the reception was for tickets priced $1500 and up) and a rap concert, so you can understand MicHELLe's and my confusion over what the hell to wear to such an event. But as soon as we walked into the reception around 7, we saw that we weren’t the only ones facing this conundrum.

After some amazing hors d'oeuvres, fruity drinks and even better people watching, we took the woman walking through the room with a mini-xylophone playing an arpeggiated major chord as a sign that the concert was about to start.

"If I ruled the world..."

Me: “Um, that’s a full symphony orchestral set-up…”

The orchestra (conducted by a slim, glamourous looking black woman) walked out to applause that wasn’t nearly long enough for them to take their positions.

When Jay came out in his tux with white jacket, it was absolute magic. The man loves performing.

The crowd went crazy when he brought out surprise guests Alicia Keys and Naz. ?uestlove held down the percussion in the band. 

We went to check out the 40 40 after party, but even with the invite, we had to stand in the back of a LOOONG line. So we went to Barracuda instead.

Did I mention that I shook hands with LIZA FUCKING MINNELLI at the pre-reception (who knew she was a Jay fan)?! YEEEEEEEEEEEES!

Click here to check out that one time I went to a Beyoncé concert.