A scuffle broke out among the hangers-on onstage during rap superstar Jay-Z's abbreviated record-release party at the Maritime Hall on Wednesday. As red-shirted security guards struggled to clear the disturbance, the MC paced the lip of the stage, his back to the audience.
``Homey, please cut that s-- out. You're scarin' me,'' he joked. The confusion dragged on for 10 minutes. At one point the rapper, usually bent on proving his hardness, turned to the crowd and rolled his eyes.
It was a bit of role reversal for Jay-Z, who recently made the news in early December after record executive Lance ``Un'' Rivera was stabbed at a New York nightclub. Jay-Z was charged with assault and faces a January 31 court date.
It's been an eventful few weeks for the Brooklyn-born Jay-Z. On Wednesday, he learned that his third major-label album, ``Vol. 3 ... Life and Times of S. Carter,'' will premiere at the top of the next Billboard album chart with almost 500,000 copies sold. No surprise there: Jay-Z is one of hip-hop's reigning commercial champs. His 1998 album ``Vol. 2 ... Hard Knock Life'' has been a consistent seller, buoyed by the title track (featuring a chorus from ``Annie'') and other radio staples such as ``Can I Get A . . .''
On Wednesday he and his posse, including sidekick Beanie Siegel and female backup singer Amil, reclaimed the stage from the agitators with the latter song, a bouncy party tune that's as spare instrumentally as most of Jay-Z's material.
Before the skirmish, they offered a taste of the new album, opening with the calculated menace of ``So Ghetto.'' ``You can love me or hate me,'' Jay-Z challenged. The audience, many of whom rapped along with every word, chose the former.
``It's Hot (Some Like It Hot)'' began with ominous recorded strings, then segued into DJ Clue's minimalist foundation -- hand claps, snare thwacks, bass-note clusters like popping bubbles. ``You can't stop it when it's hot, it's hot,'' the MC crew rapped.
Jay-Z, having dropped some freestyle rhymes on an adoring front-row fan who asked him to marry her, was just hitting his stride when the fight broke out.
Afterward he brought the 40-minute set to an abrupt finish with a crowd-pleasing trio of songs, ``Can I Get A . . .,'' the self-explanatory ``Money, Cash, Hoes'' and the new track ``Do It Again (Put Ya Hands Up).''
Though the latter featured a Black Sabbath- style death knell, Jay-Z knows he has plenty of commercial success left to live for. ``Peace out!'' he hollered, and the house lights came up.
by james sullivan sfgate.com
