Jay-Z kicked off his Reasonable Doubt 30th anniversary concert at New York City’s Yankee Stadium with an army of surprise guests — including wife Beyoncé and their 14-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy.
Beyoncé, 44, joined Jay-Z, 56, for the very first song of the night on Friday, July 10, where they duetted “Can’t Knock the Hustle,” per social media footage. Later during the show, Jay-Z enlisted Blue Ivy to play piano during a rendition of “Feelin’ It.” (Beyoncé and Jay-Z also share twins Sir and Rumi, both 9.)
“Make some noise for the legendary Blue Ivy Carter,” Jay-Z gushed at the end of the song, per social media, before the father-daughter duo punctuated the moment with a sweet hug.
The concert, celebrating 30 years of Jay-Z’s album Reasonable Doubt, also featured surprise cameos from Alicia Keys and Nas.
“I think the statement piece in a Jay-Z show is Jay-Z,” Willo Perron told Wired in a Saturday, July 11, profile about planning the epic feat and pulling off its multiple surprises. “This is more about storytelling than it is about stage design.”
According to Perron, Jay-Z didn’t want an “ostentatious” setup and instead wanted to recreate the stages he performed on early in his career.
“Jay-Z sent me a video of an older concert, and I think the way that the stage was located, he was like, ‘Oh, it’s cool. People look like they’re onstage,’” Perron recalled. “And I was like, ‘We should maybe just put people on stage.’”
The show, per social clips, also included prerecorded footage of Blue cutting her famous dad’s locs. The rapper initially grew out his curls to help teach Blue about embracing her natural hair.
“Everyone wants to know the details of Jay’s hair transformation,” Beyoncé narrated a YouTube video for her Cécred brand last month. “Now, I wasn’t all the way convinced that he would be able to comb out his locs, considering he had such thick, long wicks. I thought it was always beautiful that the real reason Jay grew out his hair was to show Blue that her hair was like his hair.”
The former Destiny’s Child singer further noted that Blue lacked confidence about her own mane when she was 5 years old.
“She wasn’t feeling very confident about her hair at that time. When she told her father that, it inspired Jay to grow out his hair,” Beyoncé explained at the time. “We really wanted her to love and embrace every inch of her gorgeous curls. It also inspired Blue to be the voice of the award-winning book, Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry.”
