Jay-Z Performs New Kanye West-Produced Blueprint 3 Track At Kanye’s New York Show

NEW YORK Kanye West closed his Glow in the Dark show at Madison Square Garden Wednesday night with a major announcement: He’s producing tracks for Jay-Z’s next album, Blueprint 3. And Hova just so happened to be on hand to premiere one of the album’s tracks.

After the last song of his performance, Kanye told the crowd that 20 years from now, they would be recognizing him and some of his peers, such as Glow in the Dark tourmate Pharrell Williams, as some of the all-time greats. Acknowledging his great success and loss in the past year, he told the audience which included Q-Tip and Andre 3000 that he was evolving and not going to be as selfish as he was in the past. (’Ye gave another reflective speech during Tuesday’s MSG show.)

A story followed of how when he’s in the studio producing tracks, he’ll usually snatch the beat for himself, unless his friend and G.O.O.D. Music act Common is there. But on a recent trip to Hawaii, West said he changed his M.O. While in the studio in paradise, he told himself, “Every beat I do is for this person.”

He promised to play a track for the concertgoers, but didn’t tell them he had a bonus. As the bass kicked in for a song that is sure to heat up the clubs and streets before the summer is done, Jay-Z walked out and started to rap.

You would have to have the computer-chip-enhanced hearing of the Bionic Woman to make out everything the Brooklyn native was saying over the roar of the crowd. But he did manage to belt out, “I’m like, ‘Life ain’t fair/ Chill, baby girl, my girl is here.’ ”

Kanye kept yelling a chorus that sounded like “Jockin’ Jay-Z, jockin’ Jay-Z.” And there was no mistaking Jigga’s call of “Blueprint 3,” getting the crowd excited for the second sequel to one of the cornerstones of his lauded catalog of classics. Rumors of the album began this January, when a track called “Ain’t I” leaked, but Jay’s reps denied that the song was new.

Jay and Kanye gave no other details about the project before exiting. The spectators mixed chants of “Kaaan-yaaaay!” and “Hov-vvvvvaaaaah!” well after the house lights came on.

When the first Blueprint came out in 2001, some critics and fans said it was as good or even better than his discography’s crown jewel, Reasonable Doubt. West’s production on Blueprint, for records such as “Never Change,” “The Takeover” and lead cut “Izzo,” was his conduit to eventual superstardom. Oddly enough, Jay premiered the first record from that LP while performing onstage as well, at the 2001 BET Awards.