This year, I attended my first ever Summer Jam hosted by NYC’s legendary Hot 97 radio station. Summer Jam is historically known for boasting a line-up of megastars and hails as the premier hip-hop festival event of the summer season. But what’s more notable than it’s announced lineup is usually the unannounced special guest performers who just happen to show up on the infamous Summer Jam stage. Past special guests have included Jay-Z, Michael Jackson, Kanye West and Drake. The 2010 Edition offered more by way of current, less by way of legendary. Though it showed love to the popular, the show fizzled and fuzzed, with no surprises of notable caliber anywhere in sight. The guests were predictable and the show was more drawn out than necessary and actually got better towards the end. After the jump, get the full re-cap and check out EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS courtesy of DJ Lil Tone. I also addressed my concerns with Hot 97′s treatment in Part 2, click here to read.
Opening the show was recently liberated Gucci Mane, who substituted lyrical adeptness with an energetic performance of his catchy hits from the past two years including Lemonade and Wasted to name a few. For more appeal, he was joined onstage by Waka Flocka – that was like double the punishment. Popular, yes they are. But isn’t this the premiere rap concert in the home of hip-hop? Biggie turns in his grave.
Moving on… Juelz Santana filled his set with renditions of his verses on other people’s records – big surprise there, right? Then he brings Maino onstage – big surprise #2, right? WRONG. Maino’s been a ‘surprise’ performer at Summer Jam the past 2 years. Will he ever be big enough for his OWN SLOT? Lloyd Banks saved me from total boredom with his performance of Beamer Benz or Bentley. *yawn*
I can’t say too many bad things about Kweli and Hi-Tek. Their set was actually pretty solid. I thought it was particularly big of them to include newcomer J. Cole in their set and he performed his verses from Just Begun and A Star Is Born. Then came Estelle – no one saw that coming *sarcasm* – to perform the duo’s new single Midnight Hour. Then, for some reason beyond my comprehension, she performed American Boy. Why, Estelle, when you have TWO singles currently in rotation AND a new album on the way would you perform a hit from TWO SUMMERS AGO?? Let’s face it, neither of her new singles are a hit so she’s still riding the West wave. Kanye West, that is…
By far one of the most enjoyable performances of the night came from Fabolous (yeah that sounded funny typing it too). Fab surprised me with a full band and some wild energy onstage. But a note to Fab… next time you plan to bring a guest onstage, make sure he SHOWS UP. But then again, it’s Red Café… he’s signed to Bad Boy, which means it could be another 5 years before he’s relevant to enough hip-hop fans to even matter. Still, major #FAIL on Fab’s part. But I’d still pay money to see a full show by Fabolous. Real talk, his band sold me.
Then came the Great Bright Hype, more commonly known as Drake. His first surprise guest was his signature Mariah hands. They rocked the entire set. Birdman was a nice addition, but he was only there because Wayne’s at Rikers. Yes, you’re 2nd best now Birdman. Or maybe 5th, but who’s keeping score in your camp? I betcha no one would’ve ever guessed Drake would bring out Nicki Minaj, nor that they would perform Bedrock. In fact, Nicki was a guest on a few sets. She could’ve just surprised us instead of being billed as a performer, especially since she didn’t have her own set.
Just when you thought it couldn’t get more predictable Trey Songz shows up. Didn’t take him long to get shirtless and start screaming about the neighbors knowing a variety of his names including Trey, Tremaine, Trigger and Oh Shit. No, really I think ‘Oh Shit’ is one of his bedroom monikers. Hey Trey, here’s a lesson in Summer Jam – EVERYBODY brings out a special guest, so the fact that you brought out NO ONE kinda makes you look like a loser. Fab doesn’t count due to his previous appearance onstage, why didn’t you bring Keri? Ohhhh that’s right, you thought you’d make up for it by tonguing down old girl onstage? Nah buddy, we don’t know her. You #FAIL. P.S. A lot of your female fans saw you on tour recently so it’s not so wise to do an EXACT COPY of your tour performance at Summer Jam. OK.Thx.Bye.
By this time, I needed a hero, someone to save me in my dark corner in the back of the arena (thanks Hot 97 for treating your media people with such a total disregard). Chris Bridges, thank you. Next time I’m in ATL I’m buying a bottle of Conjure and we’ll drink. Ludacris brought the crowd back to life after Trey had nearly everyone asleep with his slow performance (got love for ya, but Summer Jam ain’t your element Songz). Luda did a reflective mix of his decade of hits including What’s Your Fantasy, Move Bitch, Stand Up, and his current smashes How Low and My Chick Bad, complete with a Nicki Minaj appearance. And that’s all she did was appear. Due to technical difficulties, the track was louder than Nicki so we couldn’t even hear her, only the vocal track. Somehow I’m okay with that.
Luda closed his set by introducing the man that stole the show – DJ Khaled and his set kicked off with his latest smash All I Do Is Win – and yes T-Pain’s awkwardly dancing ass was there – dancing awkwardly. Seriously, the camera cut to him dancing and all at once, every person in the arena cocked their heads at a 45-degree angle and muttered “WHAT. THE. FUCK?” But Khaled brought a tribe onstage with him (next year I need THEIR wristbands!) and immediately following T-Pain’s appearance was the Teflon Don – Rick Ross – who basically co-headlined Khaled’s set. But it didn’t stop there, I blinked once and when I opened my eyes Busta Rhymes was onstage slaughtering a verse! And then *poof* Fat Joe. Hell, even corny ass Terrence J from 106th and Park got onstage (HOW HE GET A WRISTBAND??). Then there was another microphone-muted Nicki Minaj appearance (someone at Hot 97 is #TeamKim). Then, almost out of nowhere, a totally smoked out Cam’ron appeared. ALL. THE WAY. SMOKED OUT. He actually looked a bit shook… but I think Dipset had left the building at this point.
Khaled’s set rocked SO DAMN HARD that I actually felt bad for Usher for half a second. Then I realized he could buy the Meadowlands arena a few times over. But seriously, given his string of horrendous performances on TV, I hated for him to have to follow such an awesome set, but he actually held his own. I guess it’s easier to perform tour routines since you do them over and over each night. He took us through a series of his hits, mostly old stuff from My Way, 8701, and Confessions. I caught him lip syncing There Goes My Baby, but I won’t hold it against him, he showed Trey how an R&B artist rocks a crowd like Summer Jam, even when they’re preoccupied with leaving the arena. This time Nicki found the ‘ON’ button for her mic and even brought out a lil treat – Cassie, during her verse on Lil Freak. And they held hands. Like in kindergarten when you’re on a field trip – that type of hand holding. Oh, and Luda brought everything home onstage with Usher. Decent set altogether.
The problem with Summer Jam this year is that – save for Khaled’s set – all the “surprises” were irritatingly predictable. And what’s Summer Jam without notable guests? A new arena with newer artists was a good look, but it’s not enough to make me overlook some of the downfalls of what’s usually one of the biggest and best hip-hop shows every year. Did Jay not have hope for Summer Jam this year? Where was Kanye? Ah well… maybe next year…
Pre-Show Performance by Diggy Simmons
Pre-Show Performance by J. Cole
Photos by DJ Lil Tone
By now, most of you have read my concerns on Twitter about the way I was treated at Hot 97’s Summer Jam. Let me give you some background: A few months back I was contacted by a member of Hot 97’s marketing team to come and provide coverage for Summer Jam 2010 on Sound-Savvy. Of course me, the avid music blogger jumped at the chance for such a historic event. It’s something that my readers and I hear about every year after-the-fact and not many of us are able to attend so this was an opportunity for me to share something with you all. And the only reason I STAYED at the show and didn’t leave like my instincts told me halfway thru the show is because I felt obligated to my readers, who looked forward to this opportunity just as much as I did.
Being a blogger is not as glamorous as it seems. I’ve had friends that see me backstage at an event or interviewing an artist and they think I’ve “got it made”. Very few people outside the world of blogging know what it’s REALLY like to do what we do. To many major companies, organizations and labels, bloggers are still not recognized as authentic media outlets and therefore we get slighted, overlooked and downplayed. It doesn’t matter that we reach thousands of people daily or that we’ve become just as (if not more) popular than print media was just 5 years ago. Right now, we’re still fighting for the right to be viewed as members of the media.
So here’s my beef with Hot 97. I was invited by THEIR organization to cover Summer Jam. I made travel arrangements (flight, hotel, car) to travel from Charlotte, NC to New Jersey for the show only to get shortchanged on the media access and only given a ticket to a seat at the very back of the stadium. Now, my coverage was to include a fully detailed re-cap and review of the events of this epic concert but from my vantage point, I could not see the stage and the sound was horrible.
What these organizations/companies need to learn is that it’s not enough for bloggers to be “in the building” anymore. Some of us take this very seriously, updating our sites multiple times DAILY to ensure that our readers have the latest information and new content. So for a major media giant like HOT97 to downplay me, but then you expect this blogger to write about your event and give glowing reviews. It doesn’t work that way. If you’re going to invite bloggers to cover your event with media access, then give us the same respect you would give any other media outlet. We’re doing a service FOR YOU and unlike some of these major organizations, we’re financing ourselves. In a few more years, companies like Hot 97 and Emmis PR will become more reliant on Bloggers because the print media industry will continue to decline. Not because the quality of their work isn’t as good – we’re just faster.
No comments
Trackbacks/Pingbacks