Eminem and Jay-Z make history in Detroit; Appearances by Dr. Dre, Drake, 50 Cent

Eminem rightly declared without exaggeration that “tonight is going down in rap history,” on Thursday, September 2 at Comerica Park in Detroit.

Rap pundits and hip hop moguls Eminem and Jay-Z joined forces for a “Home And Home” tour, comprised of two shows in Eminem’s homeland, Detroit, which took place Thursday and Friday night, and two shows in Yankee Stadium in New York City, Jay-Z’s homeland, on September 13 and 14.

The two rap legends announced their monumental tour fittingly at a Detroit Tigers vs. New York Yankees game in May and there was an uproarious response from fans, leading the duo to increase the number of shows from two to four.

The brainchild was brilliant, as over 42,000 fans filled up Comerica Park Thursday to witness the opening night of history made. Rumors had been stirring in Detroit about special appearances by artists in addition to Eminem and Jay-Z, many of which turned out to be true.

Although most people were still shuffling in as opener B.o.B. performed, the stadium was packed by the time Jay-Z took the floor. The crowd was roaring as he rose up from beneath the stage with his “Dynasty” intro. Madness ensued as he continued with "Run This Town."

As the opener for Eminem, a role that will be reversed when the duo head to New York, Jay-Z performed hits for over an hour and a half. He played crowd favorites including "99 Problems," "Big Pimpin'," "Forever Young," "Money Ain't a Thang," "Hard Knock Life," "Empire State of Mind," and many others. Detroit welcomed the New York tribute as Jay-Z assured the crowd "I know where I am."

A few of the surprise cameos emerged during his set: Young Jeezy and Memphis Bleek. The real surprises were to come during Eminem’s show, though.

Post intermission, a video outlining Eminem’s road to “Recovery” was rolled. The Detroit native soon emerged to thunderous ovation, rocking his usual plain T-shirt and hooded Detroit sweatshirt. "Damn, it's been a long time! Did you miss me, Detroit?" And the crowd goes wild.

Eminem kicked things off with "Won’t Back Down" from his most recent album, "Recovery," pumping him and the crowd up even more for his nearly 2-hour set. He proceeded with "3 A.M.," an unreleased but lyrically loaded single from "Relapse," unexpected to the audience due to his blatant criticism of the album released as an antecedent to "Recovery."

B.o.B. returned to sing "Airplanes Pt. II" with Eminem, while Trick Trick came out to help Eminem rap "Welcome 2 Detroit." The audience lost it when Jay-Z came back out to perform "Renegade" with Eminem.

But there were also several surprise appearances. Drake made an appearance to perform "Forever" with Eminem, and 50 Cent came out with Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo for his own concert medley. Eminem even left the stage as 50 rapped his own hits “In Da Club” and “Patiently Waiting.”

The entire D12 crew showed up to play "Purple Pills" and "My Band," during which Eminem had the crowd rap the verse that originally belonged to his best friend, Proof, who was killed in Detroit in 2006.

One of the most exciting cameos occurred as Eminem rapped "Forget About Dre" and the hip hop pioneer himself walked out to join him. The crowd went wild in amazement. Detroit - along with thousands that traveled from across the nation - was graced with performances by about ten huge superstars, when they would have been ecstatic seeing only the two they paid for. The concert was too good to be true, and one of the best in history.

Eminem's solo stage time should in no way be undervalued, though. Every audience member screamed along and banged their heads to cult hits like "Cleanin’ Out My Closet," "The Real Slim Shady," "Like Toy Soldiers," and "The Way I Am." He took the stadium back as he rapped his breakthrough single "My Name Is" with the infamous music video playing on the screens in the background. He kept it fresh, though, with his latest hit, "Love the Way You Lie."

He wrapped up the show with his new emotional single "Not Afraid," but gratified the audience with an appropriate encore of "Lose Yourself" as they cried for more in elation.

As everyone who took part in the show came back on stage to say farewell to the first crowd in Detroit, every soul in the building agreed that it was an epic night going down in the hip-hop books. It is unimaginable that a single person was not touched by the intimate and candid performance given by the artists combined with the energy of the grateful crowd - this includes both the audience members as well as the artists. All that witnessed the evening shared a magical experience that could not be recreated if tried. The two artists head to New York next week to unleash, certainly, great things in store and a different shared experience for the Big Apple.