JAŸ-Z chose himself for the Super Bowl. His summer shows explained why.

On “Off That,” an otherwise throwaway cut from his 2009 album The Blueprint 3, JAŸ-Z laid out a symbolic maintenance program for sustained greatness: “I’m on a practice field runnin’ two-a-days / So I don’t drop the ball when it’s threw my way.”

At the time, it was just one of his many metaphors for rap dominance. In about four months, he’ll literally hit the gridiron when he takes the stage at SoFi Stadium for the Super Bowl LXI Halftime Show.

And like so many other touchdown passes throughout his career, this is one he threw himself. That’s why some people are calling for a penalty flag. Moments after Apple Music announced him as the Super Bowl halftime performer, people across the web called out the conflict of interest.

For more than seven years, the NFL has called on JAŸ-Z and his company, Roc Nation, to help curate musical programming for the league. Now, rather than choose another act for the sport’s biggest stage, he’ll headline it himself.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell revealed after the announcement that the league had asked JAŸ-Z to perform at the Super Bowl years ago. But that still wasn’t enough for many critics; some argued the decision showed obvious bias.

Others ignored the selection logistics altogether and pointed to a perceived lack of nationally recognizable hits as a reason JAŸ-Z shouldn’t perform, never mind that by some measures, Jigga earned this honor 20 years ago, when he already had five Grammys.

But even for those unimpressed by JAŸ-Z’s bona fides — 14 No. 1 albums, 13 platinum-certified solo studio LPs, 25 Grammy Awards, the first rapper to headline Glastonbury Festival — Hov further proved his worthiness with this past summer’s Reasonable Doubt and Blueprint anniversary concerts.

More precisely, JAŸ-Z didn’t prove he only just became deserving of the Super Bowl halftime show. The performances, with their mix of catalog curation, spectacle and crowd command, showed he was always a natural fit.

At Yankee Stadium, the Roc Nation founder’s elder self was as formidable as the one who bowed out of hip-hop when George W. Bush was still president.

Adorned in a white T-shirt and the same Rolex and bulletproof vest Nipsey Hussle rapped about, JAŸ-Z performed in the portal between his past and present. His control and dexterity made his decades-old verses feel as sharp as ever. Maybe sharper.

Paired with a 10-member band and an 18-member string section, “Dead Presidents” sounded like a jam session at the Blue Note. The rap icon’s encore performance of “Public Service Announcement” turned the stadium’s pyrotechnics into part of the song’s energy, foregrounded by bursts of fire that synchronized perfectly with the song’s beginning; the crowd went up with the flames.

The nuanced curation blended utility and imagination; “Where I’m From” became Nas’ “N.Y. State of Mind.” “No Church in the Wild” became “Most Kingz.” For “Can’t Knock the Hustle,” Beyoncé stepped in for Mary J. Blige, and for “Big Pimpin’,” Jay stood in for Pimp C.

If you wanted deep cuts, he had “Bring It On.” But if you wanted stadium-status classics fit for the Super Bowl, he had “Ni**as in Paris” and “Empire State of Mind” — complete with Alicia Keys. More than 44,000 people were seated in the stadium, but the clarity of his vocals — his pristine diction — made it feel like Hov could give you dap before hitting you with, “Aight, what’s next?”

The answer would’ve been the anniversary show for The Blueprint, which unfolded the following night.

As on the night before, Jay proved he could not only deliver a sturdy show, but also curate one—guests and all.

At the beginning, he once again summoned the past to the present, calling Slick Rick to the stage to perform “The Ruler’s Back.” After Jay breathlessly sprinted through the first verse of “Renegade,” the veteran MC invited the only person who might be even faster, with Eminem surfacing like a ghost from MTV VMAs’ past to remind you he conquered the world twice over.

Of course, he couldn’t let Em leave without playing “Lose Yourself,” which sounded even more transcendent with live electric guitar. When Jay performed “Song Cry,” the people next to me rapped it as if it had been out for two weeks instead of 25 years.

In front of the Big Apple, Jay exhibited wholesome excess. Ahead of a Super Bowl performance that demands pulsing energy, he also showed an understanding of momentum. He didn’t build up to climaxes as much as he stacked them atop one another.

He also sold a lot of tickets; according to box-office figures from Touring Data, 136,934 of them. Over three nights, JAŸ-Z broke Yankee Stadium’s concert attendance record three times in a row.

Numbers don’t tell the whole story, but they can tell a lot of it. For people who use current audience demand and cultural relevance as bullet points on their rubric for Super Bowl worthiness, these numbers point to JAŸ-Z as an active force rather than a dormant one. They also compare more than reasonably to recent Super Bowl performers.

JAŸ-Z’s summer shows didn’t prove he only now deserves the Super Bowl halftime show — the performances, with their mix of catalog curation, spectacle and crowd command, showed he was always a natural fit.

The three Yankee Stadium performances averaged $14.1 million per night in revenue. Bad Bunny, who headlined the Super Bowl halftime show earlier this year, performed at Yankee Stadium for two nights in a row in 2022, grossing $11.38 million per concert. His highest-grossing stadium concert pulled in $15.75 million at SoFi Stadium that same year.

Lady Gaga, who performed at Super Bowl LI in 2017, generated $13.7 million from two performances in Sydney last year. Kendrick Lamar, who headlined the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show, averaged $12.38 million per night alongside SZA during their two MetLife Stadium concerts in December.

Guest appearances aside, JAŸ-Z headlined Yankee Stadium alone. The Blueprint turned 25 last month. Reasonable Doubt turned 30. This December, Shawn Carter turns 57.

After three decades of building one of hip-hop’s most durable careers, JAŸ-Z spent the summer adding another chapter. First in New York, then London, then Paris. And, earlier this month, Los Angeles. In a few months, he’ll add another one at the Super Bowl.

Yes, when the time came, JAŸ-Z called his own number.

It just so happens he was the right person to answer.