I have been hitting up all the major concerts in the New York area but never took a trip to see Hot 97’s Summer Jam. Every year Hot 97 puts on a major show with Hip Hop’s most popular artist. When Hot 97 decided to hook up RealTalkNY.net with tickets I had to come and see what it was like live(Shout out to Miss Info). The roster for this year’s concert was major, with acts like Caira, Jeezy, Ne-Yo, Lil Wayne and Diddy scheduled to perform, I knew I was in for a good show.

Traffic wasn’t nearly as bad as I expected it to be. Got there around six and never made it to my real seats. Stadium wasn’t full yet but it was getting there. The first artist to perform was Mims. He came out performing, “Like This,” and wasted no time and followed with, “This Is Why I’m Hot.” The crowd was in for a treat when Mims performed the Reggae remix with Junior Reid & Baby Cham. Mims performance was brief, but was a good intro to the concert. It was raining on and off but didn’t get bad yet.

Next up were two of the hottest R&B artist out right now, T-Pain & Ciara.
T-Pain came out doing hits like, “I’m Sprung,” and his verse on, “I’m A Flirt.” He then did the song everyone was waiting for, “Buy You A Drank.” The Whole audience was singing, “We In The Bed Like ooh oooh oooh.” Young Joc came out to do his verse on the track rocking his new chain that looks like a brick around his neck. T-Pain had the crowd rocking, especially the ladies. Ciara then came out in a tight white outfit. She was shaking it like a salt shaker to her various hits. It was one of the few moments I wish I was front row, just to get a better look at Ciara, ya dig. She was cool did the usual routine and dance moves,  her performance was alight.

It was now time for the, “One Man Band Man.” Swizz Beatz came out in a hospital gown and a wheel chair. He quickly hopped out the chair and went into some of his hits. He then stopped the music to boldly proclaim he is the best producer in the game. He reiterated his feelings adamantly again. Then competition arrived on the stage in the form of Kanye West. The two super producers then had a battle of the beats, going beat for beat. Kanye West played, “Takeover,” “Stand up,” “Encore,” and “Gold Digger.” Swizz responded with a Ruff Ryder track(can’t remember which one, I was distracted by this girl getting stomped out), “Ruff Ryder’s Anthem,” “Jigga My Nigga,” and “Money In The Bank.” Swizz then had everyone going crazy while performing, “Money In The Bank and Kanye West was done for the night(what a shame). Swizz brought out Drag-on & Cassidy to do a verse, he then did, “It’s Me Bitches.” Swizz then told the crowd it is time to speak another language. Lil Wayne came out screaming, “Voulez-vous coucher avec moi bitches!!!” This was the climax of the night thus far and everyone went crazy.

Things calmed down when Ne-Yo came out for his set. At this point it was pouring rain, but the ladies were still happy to be seeing Ne-Yo come out.
Ne-Yo did some of the usual songs in the catalogue and then got the crowd hype again by bring out Fabolous for, “Make Me Better.” Fab coming out definitely woke the crowd back up, Fab went on to perform, “Breathe,” and, “Diamonds.” Fabolous passed the torch to Young Jeezy during “Diamonds.” Jeezy always gives a energetic performance while going through his Dope Boy hits. He brought out Jadakiss to perform the, “Go Getta Remix.” Jeezy then passed the mic to Ludacris during, “Grew Up A Screw Up.” Luda had everyone dropping bones, with his hits like, “Southern Hospitality,” “Stand Up,” and “You’s A Ho.” Bobby Valentino then made an appearance to perform, “Pimpin All Over the World.” Bobby Valentino then had the females screaming while performing, “Anonymous.” Luda closed off with a few more hits and then the concert was in for a long break. Jabba of Hot 97 came out and they played a long list of Reggae hits that had people in the crowd acting like they were at a bashment(party).

The Ladies started hollering when the next performer, Chris Brown, made his way to stage clown dancing with two little kids. He then broke into, “Gimmie Dat.” Chris Brown then broke away from his hits and put on a thriller jacket and a glove. The young man then put on a great MJ impression performing, “Rock With You” & “Billie Jean.” The moon walk was on point and got cheers from the crowd. Chris Brown then did, “Wall to Wall,” but you could tell the audience wasn’t too familiar with his new song yet. Things picked back up when Juelz Santana came out to do his verse on the, “Poppin Remix.” Things got even more loud when Lil Wayne came out to deliver his verse from the remix.

It was now Lil Wayne’s turn to rock the mic. He got things poppin with, “Make It Rain,” with a guest cameo by Fat Joe. Lil Wayne then did his verse from, “Suck It Or Not,” and spit a freestyle. He then brought out Baby to perform, “Stuntin Like My Daddy.” Surprisingly this was the end of Lil Wayne’s set. I was shocked he didn’t even do, “Hustler Musik.” With how the crowd was hype to see him, he should of got more time to perform. Lil Wayne made his exit by playing a clip of Whitney Houston’s, “Will Always Love You,” popping up his collar and walking off in a diva like manner lol.

The rain was now pouring and people were soaking wet, wearing a poncho, or lucky like me and under the upper levels. But no one was ready to go home yet, not with out seeing the main event. It was no time for Diddy to hit the stage. His intro was a long dramatic video with a desert, horses running and various clips of him and Biggie. In the video Diddy screams, “King Kong Ain’t Got Shit On Me.” Video was too long if you asked me, but it had everyone out their seats and full of anticipation.

Diddy came out performing Victory, everyone was singing his verse word for word. For the first time fireworks were going off in the arena, you know Diddy got to go all out. Diddy then did some tracks from the album, “I Am,”  and “Come To Me.”  Then Diddy’s sidekick Young Joc came out doing, “It’s Going Down.” The pair did the motorcycle dance to the chorus along wither everyone in the audience. Diddy played, “More Money, More Problems,” which everyone was very familiar with. It was time to switch up things, Diddy brought out the energy god, Elephant Man. Elephant Man is a true performer and he had the arena going wild, Reggae fan or not. Elephant Man did some hits and then brought 2 women on stage for him and Diddy to dance with. Diddy had problems keeping up with Elephant and fell, but continued to dry hump the lady on the floor. The whole time I was thinking of the Akon incident, maybe they should of checked for  id first. Unfortunately Elephant Man’s time on stage was brief, he could of easily done a set by himself.

Diddy was then ready to drop the biggest surprise of the night. In one of the most climatic moments of the night, T.I. came out performing, “What You Know.” The crowd lost it, the pouring rain couldn’t calm the audience down. Young Dro came out doing, “Shoulder Lean,” and T.I. finished his time with, “Big Things Poppin.” At that moment I thought that was going to be the biggest moment of the night. Diddy then brought out Keyshia Cole to perform, “Last Night.” The scene was orchestrated perfectly, dim lights with the rain pouring. Keyshia Cole killed it, a great performance. I thought that would be the end of Diddy but I was wrong. He then put on, “It’s All About The Benjamins,” a song just about everyone in attendance knew word for word. Shockingly Jadakiss and Sheek Louch came out doing there verse on the classic track. Diddy then said something is missing, then the Queen Bee arrived to a standing ovation. Lil Kim came out doing her verse, having the whole crowd singing along word for word. Diddy then played some Biggie tracks and made his exit.

At that point it was raining ridiculously and the delay was too long, so me and most of the crowd headed on out. I heard Akon while I was leaving. I heard they brought everyone out to do, “We Takin Over,” but I was already in the whip on the way home at that point. I would of loved to see it but it was getting too crazy. Also heard Jim Jones, Rich Boy, & Bone Thugs N Harmony hit the stage. They should of had them perform earlier before Diddy.

Hot 97’s Summer Jam was a unique experience, not like any other concert I have been too. The atmosphere is really popping, full of real Hip Hop fans that know the lyrics and classic tracks. Summer Jam is good opportunity to see Hip Hop’s top artist all in one night, trust me it is cheaper then seeing them individually.

Hot 97 has pictures for Diddy, Chris Brown, Ludacris, Akon, Ne-Yo, Ciara, Young Jeezy, MIMS, Swizz Beatz, Rich Boy & T-Pain.