Jay-Z to play 2 Yankee Stadium shows this summer

JAŸ-Z will play back-to-back concerts at Yankee Stadium this summer to celebrate the anniversaries of two landmark albums.

On July 10, “JAŸ-Z 30” will mark the 30th anniversary of the rapper’s 1996 debut, “Reasonable Doubt.” On  July 11, “JAŸ-Z 25” will mark the 25th anniversary of “The Blueprint,” the 2001 album often cited as a high point of hip-hop. In an Instagram post announcing the shows, ticket seller Live Nation advised: “Stay Tuned.”

The rapper formerly known as Jay-Z,  JAY-Z and sometimes even Jay:Z appears to have changed his name again. The hyphenated-caps-with-umlauts variant, which harks back to his debut album, now appears on streaming platforms and promotional material. It recently appeared in advertisements for his much-anticipated show with The Roots at Philadelphia’s Belmont Plateau on May 30.

A Brooklyn native, JAŸ-Z opened the borough’s Barclays Center with an eight-night sold-out run in 2012, but his last proper solo tour was in 2017, supporting his album “4:44." (It included stops at both Barclays and the Nassau Coliseum.) With his wife, Beyoncé, he co-headlined 2018’s “On The Run II” tour, a sequel to their 2014 trek. He has performed sporadically since, appearing at the Manhattan nightclub Webster Hall in 2019, a Louis Vuitton runway show in Paris in 2023 and Tom Brady’s induction into the New England Patriots Hall of Fame in 2024.

Yankee Stadium holds a special significance for JAŸ-Z, a longtime fan of the team. His 2009 anthem “Empire State of Mind” contains the line, “I made the Yankee hat more famous than a Yankee can.” Derek Jeter used the song as his at-bat theme for a time. And JAŸ-Z performed it at the venue with Alicia Keys before Game 2 of the World Series in 2009. He also was the first artist to play the new Yankee Stadium in 2010, sharing the bill with Eminem.

By Rafer Guzmán

rafer.guzman@newsday.com