Patience is a virtue, and we now know it can lead to being rewarded with a decidedly rare Rihanna performance.
At the third and final show of Jay-Z’s Yankee Stadium takeover on Sunday (July 12), the Anti artist was among the special guests who took the stage following an hours-long delay spurred by an apparent security issue. Understandably, RiRi’s appearance, given the fact that she has not been a frequenter of live performances in recent years, was met with stadium-wide stokedness.
“Yo, y’all know I’m rusty, right?” Rihanna, whose most recent studio album turned 10 earlier this year, told the crowd at one point. “It’s been a while. Y’all with me right now?”
They were, in fact, with her right then. Fans ultimately got live performances of “Bitch Better Have My Money,” co-produced by the artist formerly known as Kanye West and originally released in 2015, and 2009’s “Run This Town,” a single off HOV’s The Blueprint 3 album also featuring Ye. As expected, Ye himself was not on hand.
Rihanna’s partner, ASAP Rocky, was in attendance for Sunday’s show, which also featured surprise appearances by Beyoncé and Clipse, just to name a couple.
Next for HOV—who dedicated the first two nights of his Yankee Stadium run to celebrating the anniversaries of Reasonable Doubt and The Blueprint—are shows in London, Paris, and Los Angeles. Later this year, he’ll also be debuting an eight-part HBO docuseries directed by his “99 Problems” collaborator Rick Rubin.
