“I gotta keep it real, it’s gon take seven movie’s by Will, seven movie’s at 20 mil and we still take short for what I did with one deal” -Jay-Z

In the remaining half hour of his show at the United Center on Thursday, Jay-Z thanked and excused everyone in the audience who came to hear his most recent hits and then announced it was “overtime” — a chance for him to return to songs from “Reasonable Doubt,” his debut album circa 1996.

Fourteen years is a generous sprint for a rock band, but for a hip-hop artist, it’s an eternity. Shawn Carter, a 40-year-old rapper also known as a record executive, entrepreneur and Beyonce’s husband, represents his own category — a hip-hop artist who not only is enjoying hit songs in his middle years, but who can still fill basketball stadiums when he wants to hit the road.

Jay-Z appeared completely at home performing beneath the championship banners lining the rafters of a crowded United Center. Boasting he was “the Mike Jordan of recording,” the über-confident rapper held court for nearly two-hours during Thursday’s celebratory, career-spanning set.

Dressed head-to-toe in black, the Brooklyn-born MC eschewed flash in both his appearance (the lone exception being the yo-yo-shaped, diamond-encrusted medallion dangling from his neck) and the spartan-by-stadium-standards set design. There were no smoke machines. No dancers. No columns of fire. Indeed, the only high-tech component incorporated into the stage was a giant video monitor shaped like the New York City skyline—a visual element that was used to stunning effect on both “99 Problems” (when it transformed into a cartoonish stack of Marshall amplifiers) and “Empire State of Mind” (when it momentarily transported the audience to Jay’s hometown).

Jay-Z backed by a 10-piece band, flashed a range of lyrical styles throughout, rhyming in forceful, measured tones on a hard-hitting “D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune),” and slipping through the beat as gracefully as the sleek sports cars that flashed onscreen behind him on “Show Me What You Got.” During “Jigga What, Jigga Who,” the words tumbled from his mouth so quickly that it had the dizzying effect of playing the multi-ball on a classic pinball machine.

While the rapper’s marriage of power and skill hinted at boxer Roy Jones Jr., opener Jeezy ripped through his 20-minute set, which was sandwiched intermission-like into the headliner’s, with the brute force of hulking street brawler Kimbo Slice. Sporting nearly a dozen medallions and chains, Jeezy appeared perilously close to an “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka”-style death by OG (“Over Gold”)—a garish look unmatched by the rapper’s minimalist beats (as hard and heavy as falling concrete) and workmanlike voice (a rasp that hit like a blunt object).

Impressive as it was, this Jeezy-led detour down darkened back alleys would have been better suited to a more traditional opening slot. As presented, it caused a slight hiccup in Jay-Z’s momentum, which the rapper struggled to regain before finally rediscovering his footing on a soulful, horn-flecked “Can I Live.” -Sun Times