A few Jay-Z songs that weren’t among his best work are completely invigorated by this live set, including “Can I Get A.” and the formerly insipid “Jigga That Nigga” track. Combining the two together leads to some really spectacular show-stopping performances, such as Roots posse member Jaguar BELTING out the heartfelt chorus of “Heart of the City (Ain’t No Love).” When she extends it into a freestyle of her own Jigga likes it so much he declares, “I like that, let’s do it again!” and she keeps RIGHT on singing. Anybody who has seen or heard one of their shows knows that they reinterpolate the music from legendary hip-hop tracks in their performance. Hip-Hop’s finest musicians have already been doing this for a while now. The fact that Jay-Z has always relied on beats that have some jazzy swing to them lends itself to the ability of The Roots to recreate the tracks live. The only song included from “Dynasty” is the hit single “I Just Wanna Love U” with Pharell from The Neptunes showing up to provide his Mayfield-esque vocals and hook. The three singles from “Volume 2” are also included, and from “Volume 3” a new interpretation of “Big Pimpin'” is offered with the melody provided by keyboards instead of winds. Blige showing up to reprise her original vocals. To his credit though, two songs from his debut album “Reasonable Doubt” are included: a short performance of the song “Ain’t No (Nigga)” sans Foxy Brown, and “Can’t Knock the Hustle” WITH Mary J. Throughout his engaging performance, Jay-Z relies heavily on songs from his recently released “Blueprint” album – six to be exact. By combining the alreadyunplugged live sound of hip-hop band The Roots with the vocals of Jay-Z, MTV gives the whole series a breath of fresh air and showcases a group of rap’s finest on one stage. Since it’s inception, MTV’s Unplugged has included hip-hop artists from A Tribe Called Quest to LL Cool J. If you thought only Nirvana and Pearl Jam ‘unplugged’ their instruments for MTV, here’s a wake-up call.
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