Ya Heard: 'Heart of the City' tour not worth $170

"Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents, which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant." -- Horace

HEART OF THE SUBURBS, MAYBE?

The "Heart of the City" tour featuring Jay-Z and Mary J. Blige came into town this past weekend and on a scale of one to 10, I'd give it a seven. It wasn't a disappointing show; it just didn't live up to the hype. Instead of serving a full course meal from both of the celebrated artists, the audience was given a microwavable TV dinner version of each artist's extensive hitlist.

Normally when you go to a show that is headlined by Jay-Z, you get treated to all of the classics throughout his career, and likewise with Mary. Yet, there really wasn't enough time for them to really get into all of the fan favorites. Or better yet, the two of them are too successful to be on the same bill; you'd rather truly enjoy one great performance by one of them than to get a condensed performance from the both of them.

This notion especially rang true for Jay-Z's set. He attempted to make up for his severely shortened playlist by teasingly giving the audience small snippets of the music he was not performing in the way of playing the first few seconds of the beat. It was obvious that he wasn't taking cues from the audience when he skipped through tracks that the crowd initially went crazy for. It was the ultimate case of your friend skipping past your favorite song while riding in the car.

Instead of watching Jay perform classics such as "A Million and One," "Lucifer" or even "Where I'm from," fans were forced to watch Jay perform a number of commercially successful hits. If you are someone who has followed Jay his entire career, then I know you left the Verizon Center feeling slightly less than satisfied.

Nevertheless, it was still an honor to see the King of Hip Hop and the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul on the same stage together … Just not $170 worth.

MO' MONEY, MO' MONEY

Let's set aside the ongoing tour for a moment and talk about the fact that Jay-Z has a 10-year $150 million 360 deal on the table with the concert promoting Live Nation Company.

A 360 deal is like a traditional record deal, but on steroids. Within the reported deal, Live Nation would control all of Jay's entertainment, recordings, tours, and endorsements. Live Nation currently has similar deals in place with Madonna and U2, but not quite as lucrative as the Jigga-man's.

According to the New York Times, Jay would receive $25 million for signing the contract, another $25 million advance, as well as an advance of $30 million for a minimum of three albums that Jay records while signed to Live Nation.

As a bonus Jay will also be heading a new label called Roc Nation of which Live Nation will pay $5 million a year to for the first five years in order to cover overhead fees. As for his current label, Jay only owes Def Jam Records one more album.

In one word … wow! Who would've known that the skinny kid in the "Hawaiian Sophie" video would take his game to a level unseen in hip hop history?

On the personal side of things, neither Jay-Z nor Beyonce' have confirmed or denied that the couple is now officially married. It has been reported that the couple jumped the broom at Jay's New York apartment last Friday. However, Mary J. Blige did offer some insight into what's what during a "Heart of the City" tour performance in North Carolina on Saturday when she said, "Congratulations to my man, Jay-Z, and my girl B."

For the time being, Mary's congratulations are a pretty good indication that the couple has indeed tied the knot. Let's just hope this hip hop couple does better than Treach and Pepa or T-Boz and Mack 10 … I believe they will.

RUSSELL IS STILL GIVING BACK

Over the weekend, Russell Simmons and his Rush Philanthropic Arts helped to raise more than $575,000 at an Arts for Life fundraiser in Miami. A number of celebrities attended the event including, the Miami Heat's Dwayne Wade and Alonzo Mourning, the Kansas City Chief's Larry Johnson, Sean "Diddy" Combs, and director Brett Ratner among others.

At the fundraiser, a number of guests in attendance pledged $1,000 per child to sponsor children's enrollment into the Arts for Life program for one year. Allhiphop.com reported that a few celebrities pledged in excess of $5,000 and $10,000.

Allison Weiss Brady of the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation stated, "With the recent government cuts in the arts education programs, this event was wonderful and very necessary to raise funds to support arts education projects in the Miami-Dade community."

HIP-HOP TRIVIA

How many solo albums has Nas released in his career?

Be the eighth person to send me an e-mail with the correct answer and receive two free AMC movie tickets courtesy of the Potomac News and Manassas Journal Messenger … until next week, peace!

Dennis Winn can be reached at 703-400-8301 or DWinn40@aol.com.