Photos & Recap….Hot 97’s Summer Jam Coverage ::: Lil Wayne, Chris Brown, Wiz & More
Sunday, Hot 97’s Summer Jam took place at The New Meadowlands Stadium. Performances included Lil Wayne, Birdman, YMCMB, Chris Brown, Wiz Khalifa, Dipset, Fabolous, Rick Ross, Waka Flocka, Lloyd Banks and a ton of surprised artists like Swizz Beatz, Travis Porter, Mobb Deep, Lloyd and some other folk. The Jasmine Brand attended and covered for the first time. The main concert started at 6:30. During the concert, in between tweeting, I took a few notes/observations. At this point, the kid is running on an energy drink and no sleep, soooooo here’s the short and dirty.
6:30p-6:45p Wiz Khalifa came on rocking a denim button-up shirt, Raiders hat and some shades. He did his classics–, “I Roll Up”, “Black & Yellow,” etc.
6:52 p-7:06p Waka Flocka performed. He starts off w/ a sleeveless hoodie with a white t-shirt w/ his typical big-ass chain. He later gets chest naked during his performance. He brought out Wale for “No Hands.”
7:10p-7:29p Fabolous performed…mainly hits from SOUL Tape. He had a full band, rocked black shades, a white t-shirt, chain and polka-dot bow-tie (sounds worse than it looked). During his performance, he brought out Ryan Leslie. Up this point, the crowd gets the most hype when Loso performs. Summer Jam LOVES Fab…not that I was surprised.
7:34p-8p Lloyd Banks performed, rocking a Gucci jacket and a NY fitted. During his performance, he brought out Mobb Deep, Lloyd, Juelz Santana and Swizz Beatz. IMO, the energy didn’t turn all the way up (during Banks’ performance) until he brought out folks like Lloyd and especially Juelz and Swizz for “Start It Up.”
8:07p-8:40p Chris Brown performed..”Transform Ya”, “Teach Me How to Dougie” etc. He also brought out Big Sean and did a fancy lap-dance (some hip-thrusts, included) for a lucky fan. The crowd went bananas when he performed, “Look at Me Now,” ESPECIALLY when he brought out Busta Rhmyes. (S/O to my intern who forgot that she was working when Breezy hit the stage :)
8:48 p-9:18p, Dipset performed. No exaggeration–there were 865 dudes on stage and 14.3 hype men. It was just silly. They had a few kinks in their routine and had some communication issues with their DJ. Anywho, Summer Jam LOVES them some Dipset. During their set, they brought out Olivia (of Love & Hip-Hop), who sang the hook (briefly) for her song, “December.” They also brought out Travis Porter for a quick version of “Make It Rain.”
9:35p Lil Wayne took the stage, rockin an interesting outfit. At this point, I had checked out mentally, but I do have footage.
Overall, I’ve never seen over 60,000 + people with that level of energy for that length of time. In the midst of weed smoke, liquor, a fight or two, and some colorful folk (from all walks of life), everyone enjoyed themselves and genuinely partied. Even up in the nose-bleeds…people were groovin, y’all. No one was too cute to enjoy themselves. I even had some chick pitch her music to me before the show started. She made me listen to her single, like literally. Also, I bumped into Mr. Cee during media check-in, along with Miss Info. Cee had a great set, but Flex seemed to be the crowd favorite. It’s clear that he knows the pulse of the crowd, but I’m no New Yorker, so I really wanted him to just STFU, sometimes. Shat. Peep the footage and photos from other posts. I’m going to sleep (in my mind)!