Watch JAY-Z’s Iconic Summer Jam 2001 Set in Full
During the 2001 Summer Jam JAY-Z set, the rapper surprised fans with a guest appearance from Michael Jackson and premiered his Nas and Mobb Deep diss “Takeover.”
Wow this is cool. A Social Media archivist named Yepac revealed JAY-Z’s full Summer Jam 2001 set via his YouTube channel Hip Hop VCR. That was the performance where the rapper premiered his Mobb Deep and Nas diss “Takeover.” He also brought out Michael Jackson. The set has been the subject of various stories and is considered the holy grail in hip-hop archives.
As he rapped the first verse to the iconic diss ‘Takeover,” the audience gasped audibly at Hov’s direct attack on Nas and Mobb Deep. He then turned and pointed to the Summer Jam screen and showcased a childhood photo of Prodigy as a child dancer, the crowd erupted with amusement, sending the whole Roc-A-Fella crew on stage. Aside from this now legendary moment, much of what made the set exciting were the guests he included, from label mates Beanie Sigel and Memphis Bleak to Missy Elliott.
Jay topped off the night with a surprise appearance from the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. Briefly coming on stage to take pictures with Jay, Dame Dash, and other members of the Roc-A-Fella team, he blew kisses to the crowd and thanked them before departing.
In the years since this iconic performance, many apart of the hip-hop archival and media community have tried to find footage related to this now legendary night. Though no one is quite sure yet about where the footage has been, who had it, and how it was retrieved, what is important is that now we have documented live clips of a night that changed rap forever.
Watch it below.