Jay-Z proved to have many friends on Nov. 13 as both hiphop and R&B artists showed support by performing with Jay- Z after R. Kelly left the “Best of Both Worlds” tour.What was supposed to be the most highly anticipated hiphop/ R&B concert of the year still went on, without one of the main headliners on Nov. 13. After the well publicized falling out between Jay-Z and R. Kelly, concert ticket holders wondered whether the show would still go on. Before the concert began, Jay-Z apologized to the audience for the concert not being what they had expected and stated, “One monkey don’t stop no show.”
Jay-Z performed many tracks like “Bonnie & Clyde,” “I Just Wanna Love You,” and “Big Pimpin,” and ended the show with “Encore.” As the concert continued, special invited guests like Mary J. Blige performed in R. Kelly’s place singing her classic hits “I’m Going Down,” “Sweet Thing,” and “I Can Love You,” as well as accompanying Jay-Z on several of his own tracks. Other performers that helped Jay-Z out were Memphis Bleek, Busta Rhymes, Ja Rule, DMX, Foxy Brown, T.I., P. Diddy and several members of Roc-a-Fella ‘s State Property including the Young Gunz and Freeway, both are from Philadelphia. The concert was a success and went on without any problems throughout the night.
The controversy surrounding the long awaited “Best of Both Worlds” tour featuring Jay- Z and R. Kelly occured because of an incident at Madison Square Garden three weeks ago. The incident took place while Kelly was on stage performing and said to the crowd that he’d seen someone in the audience with a handgun. Kelly left the stage and decided not to perform for the rest of the night.
This wasn’t the first problamatic incident on the tour. There have been numerou