Here’s What Went Down at Jay-Z’s Headlining Roots Picnic Show - Pitchfork

Jay-Z headlined Philadelphia’s annual Roots Picnic on Saturday (March 30), marking his first solo headlining show in over five years. The highly anticipated set served as a prelude to a series of forthcoming New York performances celebrating the 30th anniversary of his debut album Reasonable Doubt, along with 2001’s The Blueprint. Over the course of the 90-minute slot, Jay played songs from across his catalog, showing love to big hits (“Dirt Off Your Shoulders,” “Empire State of Mind,” “Run This Town,” “N*gga’s In Paris”) and deeper cuts (“Can I Live,” “Marcy Me”) alike. He was backed by the Roots—who he collaborated with on his 2001 MTV Unplugged album—and supported by a roster of guests including Jazmine Sullivan, Meek Mill (who performed his beloved Philly anthem “Dreams & Nightmares”), and Bilal. The show also featured an unofficial State Property reunion, with Beanie Sigel, Freeway, Peedi Crakk, and Young Gunz all hopping on the mic. One of the night’s biggest surprises came just minutes into the set. After opening with 2002’s “Hovi Baby,” Jay began a four-minute freestyle, where he appeared to take shots at Drake: “Them crackers got your publishing checks, go talk tough to them, don’t talk success to me”—a likely response to the Iceman line referencing the dinner with Jay-Z or $500,000 meme (“I take 500K down to dinner, I never could learn shit from none of y'all”). Jay also appeared to respond to Nicki Minaj’s repeated attacks—“That lady back on that stuff/She sounds like she’s in love with ’em/Her Ken can’t even pick they kid, enough of them”—and criticized longtime collaborator Kanye West over disparaging comments the Bully star made last year about Jay and Beyoncé’s children. “You ever heard of wonder-kin? My children are some of them,” he rapped. “Have you n*ggas no shame? You really wanna get under my skin? I’ll really get under ya skin (stab).” The freestyle arrived on the heels of a recent interview with GQ, where Jay-Z shared thoughts on rap beef at large, positioning it within “the four pillars of hip-hop”—breakdancing, graffiti, DJing, and battling—while expressing concern over the way the modern diss track goes beyond the excitement of “sparring” into character assassination. “It’s too far. It’s bringing people’s kids into it. I don’t like that,” he said. “Back then, you had the battle, it was fun, and you moved on. Now, I don’t know if it can hold up with the technology we have.” Jay-Z dropped his most recent solo album, 4:44, in 2017. In 2018, he released an album with Beyoncé, Everything Is Love, under the moniker the Carters. Jay-Z Roots Picnic 2026 Set List: Hovi Baby Freestyle U Don’t Know FucskWithMeYouKnowIGotIt N*gga What, N*gga Who (Originator 99) Run This Town Jigga My N*gga No Church in the Wild (with Bilal) Where I’m From/Marcy Me Empire State of Mind Dirt Off My Shoulders I Know Never Change Feelin’ It (with Jazmine Sullivan) Need U Bad (Jazmine Sullivan solo) Can I Live The Story of OJ Dead Presidents I & II Excuse Me Miss/La La La You, Me, Him and Her (with Memphis Bleek and Beanie Sigel) Gotta Have It (Beanie Sigel and Peedi Crakk) Roc the Mic (Freeway and Beanie Sigel) Flipside (Freeway and Peedi Crakk) Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop (Young Gunz) What We Do (with Freeway and Beanie Sigel) N*ggas in Paris Dreams and Nightmares (with Meek Mill) (Meek Mill solo) Roc Boys (And the Winner Is)… I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)/Big Pimpin’ Public Service Announcement