Summer Jam:2010 Recap
by Anita S. Nixon

New Decade. New Stadium. HOT Artists. HOT 97 Summer Jam: 2010 was all about bringing in the future as the first all Hip Hop and R&B concert at the New Meadowlands stadium. 55,000 fans all came out to see the newest artists like Drake and Nicki Minaj as well as Summer Jam veterans, Juelz Santana, Fabolous and Ludacris.

Drake performed at his first solo Summer Jam heavily repping for his incarcerated brother Lil Wayne. He performed “I’m Goin In”, with Cash Money’s Birdman, the crowd filling in for Wayne’s verse. Drake closed the set with his big hit, “Over”. Nicki Minaj was definitely the multi-tasker of the night, first coming out with her Young Money brother Drake, and performing the dancehall summer anthem "Hold Yuh" with Gyptian. Next up was her “My Chick Bad” verse with Ludacris, then the “All I Do is Win” remix with DJ Khaled. For Nicki’s “Lil’ Freak” performance with Usher, the self-proclaimed living Barbie, actually walked out on stage hand in hand with Cassie, for her infamous, “plotting on how I can take Cassie away…” lyric.

Gucci Mane and Waka Flocka Flame represented for Georgia, performing hits, “Wasted",“Lemonade” and “Oh Let’s Do It”. Harlem’s own Juelz Santana performed his hits like the “Dipset Anthem”, “Back to the Crib” and “Pop Champagne”. Lloyd Banks joined him for their smash hit “Beamers Benz, or Bentley” and Maino performed “Get ‘Em Tiger”. Trey Songz enticed the ladies with, “Invented Sex” and “Neighbors Know My Name”. Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek brought newcomer J. Cole known for his verse on Jay-Z’s “A Star is Born”. Songbird Estelle also made a guest appearance for song “Midnight Hour” with Talib Kweli. Fellow Brooklyn MC Fabolous, touched the stage with live band performing mixtape hit "Body Ya".

The DJ Khaled set was nothing short of EPIC. He brought out Rick Ross, T Pain, Ludacris, Busta Rhymes, Fat Joe and reggae icon Barrington Levy. Cam’ron was the biggest surprise performing street banger, “I Really Mean It” and “Speaking Tungs” with Vado. Khaled’s number one hit “All I Do is Win” completely shut down the show. Thousands of fans’ “hands went up” as they jammed to this banger.

Industry veteran Usher touched down on the stage last but definitely not least. Usher flew in directly from London only minutes before hitting the Summer Jam stage, and his performance was stellar. He performed his classics hits from “U Remind Me” to “Yeah” with Ludacris his smash crossover hit, “O-M-G”. Ursh closed out the show like only a true entertainer could.

The future is definitely HERE, at HOT 97 Summer Jam 2010.