Jay-Z brought his 25th anniversary celebration of The Blueprint to Yankee Stadium on Saturday night, delivering a set stacked with guest appearances and deep cuts from one of the most influential rap albums ever made.
A tribute built song by song
The second night of Jay-Z’s three night residency was dedicated entirely to The Blueprint, the 2001 album widely credited with cementing his status as one of rap’s defining voices. He opened with “The Ruler’s Back” before moving through the record’s mix of triumphant anthems and street focused cuts, including “Hola Hovito,” “All I Need,” “U Don’t Know” and “Never Change.” The crowd stayed locked in throughout, singing along to nearly every one of the roughly 30 songs performed across the night.
Slick Rick kicks off the guest run
Slick Rick was the first surprise guest, joining Jay-Z early in the set to perform his own classics “La Di Da Di” and “Children’s Story” before the show shifted back into Blueprint territory. His appearance set the tone for a night built around collaboration, honoring not just Jay-Z’s catalog but the wider hip hop lineage that shaped it.
Eminem returns for Blueprint’s only feature
The night’s biggest moment came when Eminem joined Jay-Z for “Renegade,” the sole guest verse on the original Blueprint album. Eminem produced the track and wrote two of its verses, a song originally intended for his own The Marshall Mathers LP before it found its home on Jay-Z’s record instead. The collaboration carries extra weight given its contested place in rap history, since Nas referenced the song in his 2001 diss track “Ether,” suggesting Eminem had outshined Jay-Z on his own song, a claim that has fueled debate for more than two decades. Saturday marked the first time the two performed the song together at Yankee Stadium since their joint Home and Home Tour in 2010. Eminem stayed onstage afterward to perform his own hit “Lose Yourself” before exiting to a raucous response.
Eminem performs “Renegade” with Jay-Z at Yankee Stadium pic.twitter.com/wwKa1R5imd
— Variety (@Variety) July 12, 2026
Pharrell closes out the collaborations
Later in the set, Pharrell Williams joined for a run of the pair’s shared hits, including “Frontin,” “Excuse Me Miss,” “I Just Wanna Love U” and “Allure.” The stretch of songs sent the stadium into a frenzy, reflecting how deeply the audience connected with the early 2000s run of hits Jay-Z and Pharrell built together.
A show shaped by history and what comes next
Night two carried extra significance beyond the music itself. It was reportedly the most in demand of the three scheduled shows, with all three dates selling out shortly after a March presale drew more than 1.6 million fans into the queue. The reunion with Eminem also lands alongside news of an upcoming Rakim album due out in late August, which is expected to feature both Jay-Z and Eminem together, marking their first studio collaboration in 25 years.
One more night to go
With two shows down, Jay-Z has one final date left in his Yankee Stadium run, a closing performance billed as “Extra Innings” and expected to pull from across his full catalog. Between the callbacks to his earliest influences, the historic Eminem reunion and the sheer scale of the production, night two set a high bar for how the residency will close.
