Jay-Z to Hold Benefit Concerts at Carnegie Hall

Jay-Z announced on Thursday that he would give two benefit concerts at Carnegie Hall in February to raise money for college scholarships and for a United Way program aimed at reducing the dropout rate among New York City teenagers.

The concerts will be on Feb. 6 and 7 and will be the first time Jay-Z, perhaps the most successful rapper of the last 15 years, has played the hall. Most tickets will be offered privately to philanthropists and wealthy fans, and will range in price between $500 and $2,500. A few will be offered for sale to the general public on Jan. 30.

For nine years Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, has operated a foundation with his mother, Gloria Carter, that each year provides college scholarships to more than a 120 students from poor backgrounds. The foundation has distributed about $1.4 million to 750 students since 2002.

Jay-Z said he hoped the benefit concerts would raise millions of dollars for both his foundation and the United Way, which has a program working to improve graduation rates in many of the city’s most troubled public high schools.

“There was a ton of blue-collar jobs that no longer exist, and the gap is wider than ever, and the kids need to really know that and be prepared,” he said in an interview at Carnegie Hall. “To really succeed in this new America they are going to need an education. Not everyone can be entertainers and hit the lottery — that’s what I call it.”

Jay-Z rose from poverty to become a multi-billionaire who made his fortune both as a recording artist and producer, then expanded into cosmetics, clothing and sports. He also grew up in Bedford Stuyvesant when it was burdened with high crime, attended public schools of dubious quality and never graduated from high school. “My story is pretty much an anomoly,” he said

Until this year, Jay-Z has financed the foundation out of his own pocket, providing yearly scholarships of between $1,500 and $2,500 to dozens of students who have gotten into college. The foundation also pays for high school students from poor areas to visit college campuses. “All that time we were doing this pretty much on our own,” he said. “There was no fund-raising. It was all me.”

But in September, the foundation held its first fund-raiser, collecting over $1 million at a charity carnival on Pier 54. The concerts in February are intended to add more to the foundation’s budget, he said.

The rapper said he had yet to decide if there will be guest artists. But as the producer who has discovered and mentored such singers as Rihanna, Kanye West and Ne-Yo, he has a deep bench of talent to draw from if he chooses to widen the circle. He also said he will probably perform hits from past albums rather than showcase new material.

Asked about the importance of doing such a concert at Carnegie Hall, Jay-Z said concerts will mark a high point in his career. “Music is music,” he said. “If music is great it works in great venues” He laughed. “And I have great music.”

Source: http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/08/jay-z-to-hold-benefit-concerts-at-carnegie-hall/