Jay-Z raps for Seoul with Beyonce in tow
Published: 12 Oct. 2006, 20:50
In September Jay-z started a world tour in Poland and has been to several nations in Europe and Africa since. Later this month the 36-year-old rap mogul is coming to Seoul with Memphis Bleek and Green Latern, for his first ever concert here. According to Private Curve, the concert organizer, Beyonce recently received a visa to enter Korea for the event, but the company said it’s still unknown if she’s going to be on the stage with Jay-Z.
Jay-Z debuted in 1996 with “Reasonable Doubt” selling a million copies. On “In My Lifetime,” his next CD, he displayed a shift from gangster rap to pop rap in a couple of tracks such as “Sunshine” and “The City Is Mine.” Pop rap is a well constructed mix of hip-hop beats and raps with strong melodic hooks of the sort found in commercial pop music of all kinds; before his death Tupac Shakur disparaged the genre, saying it was “like a gangster dressed in a pink dress.” Not that Jay-Z could care about that; he furthered his creative shift in “Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life,” his third album, released in 1998. It won him his first Grammy Award, for Best Rap Album. He then won three more Grammys, two in 2003 for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration and Best R&B Song.
by Park Sung-ha
The concert starts at 8 p.m. on Oct. 20 at the Olympic Gymnastic Stadium. The nearest subway station is Olympic Park, line No. 5, exit 3. Ticket prices range from 55,000 won ($57) to 111,000 won. For more information, call (02) 563-0595, or visit http://ticket.interpark.com.
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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