With rumors swirling that he’s performing the Super Bowl Halftime Show in February, Jay-Z used SoFi Stadium as a potential test run on Friday night.
Backed by 1500 or Nothin, the Brooklyn rapper turned Roc Nation mogul gave fans plenty of hits and a few surprises, including a performance of “This Can’t Be Life” with Houston rapper Scarface and closed it out with his “God Did” verse flanked by DJ Khaled and John Legend. In between, he continued the momentum that began as a one-off performance at The Roots Picnic earlier this year, turning it into a full-on celebration of his legacy in hip-hop.
With SoFi as the location for the Super Bowl this upcoming February, Jay didn’t fully lean into “Reasonable Doubt” or “The Blueprint” as tried-and-true tributes. Nor were there a massive number of guests as there were in New York, such as Nas, Rihanna, Eminem, Slick Rick, Beyoncé and more. Instead, he gave fans a career-defining medley of hits over the course of two hours, including homages to rapper Nipsey Hussle and a few tweaks of previous setlists he employed at Yankee Stadium and at shows in London and Paris.
One of the more notable changes was Blue Ivy Carter’s performance. Unlike in New York, when she played the keys on “Feelin’ It,” the teen prodigy backed her father for two songs, “The Story of O.J.” and “Dead Presidents II.” Once “Dead Presidents” wrapped, she received a loud ovation from the crowd and met her father for an embrace.
Fans immediately questioned (as has become tradition with the Super Bowl Halftime performer) whether Jay-Z could carry a show of that magnitude, since his shows typically lean on his music and crowd control. Given the energy inside SoFi on Friday, ahead of a second show on Saturday, it’s clear that if he decides to take on the Super Bowl, it will likely feature elements from all of his stadium sets performed over the course of 2026.
Of course, fans began to have high expectations for what might happen on the second night of shows at SoFi, spotting Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams partying to the music in a suite.
