Yankee Stadium double header: Eminem & Jay-Z

Eminem and Jay-Z perform at Comerica Park in Detroit. (Sept.... — Eminem and Jay-Z perform at Comerica Park in Detroit. (Sept. 2, 2010) Credit: WireImage

By GLENN GAMBOAglenn.gamboa@newsday.comSeptember 10, 2010

Welcome to the New Classics Era.

The Beatles ushered in the era of "Stadium Rock" in 1965 with their historic concert at Shea Stadium, the show that proved to naysayers that rock wasn't just a fad and neither were John, Paul, George and Ringo. This week, Jay-Z and Eminem, hip-hop's biggest stars, make a similarly historic statement by christening the new Yankee Stadium for music with concerts Monday and Tuesday.

Stadiums, you see, aren't just for rock anymore.

"These shows are like a dream come true," Jay-Z said when the Yankee Stadium concerts were announced. "I've always hoped that hip-hop could play any stadium like other genres of music. How perfect is it that Eminem and I get to play our hometowns and show how far the live rap experience has come? Fun and historic, a great combination all around the board."

For decades, stadium concerts were reserved for only rockers of a certain stature - Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Billy Joel and Elton John, and relative newcomers U2 and Bon Jovi.

But in recent years, artists from other genres have started crashing the classic rockers club. Many members had wondered if any new acts would ever reach their level. Country star Kenny Chesney began filling stadiums in the South and the Midwest. Punk heroes Green Day, who will be playing the New Meadowlands Stadium Monday, began packing stadiums on both coasts, as well as around the world. And now Jay-Z and Eminem are joining the ranks of stadium headliners - not classic rockers, but classics nonetheless. New Classics.

When Yankee Stadium opened last year, there was a lot of interest in who would headline the inaugural concert. (In a nod to tradition, Paul McCartney christened Citi Field last year.) However, when Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind" - which includes the lyrics "I made the Yankee hat more famous than a Yankee can / You should know I bleed blue, but I ain't a Crip though" - became the team's theme song for its World Series championship last year, even inviting Jay to ride in the victory parade, it became clear he had the inside track.

SEE PHOTOSEminem

"We are thrilled that two of today's most exciting music artists will headline the first-ever concert at Yankee Stadium," Yankees chief operating officer Lonn Trost said in a statement. "Yankee Stadium was built with this kind of mega-event in mind. It will undoubtedly be a memorable occasion for music fans around the world."

The Jay-Z / Eminem shows punctuate a musical shift that has been years in the making. "Hip-hop is in its 'classic rock' phase now," says Jason Hanley, director of education at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland and a Holbrook native. "It's almost the same story as rock. Hip-hop is in its 30s now. When rock and roll started in the '50s, it kind of had its unruly teenage years in the '60s and it was arena shows in the '70s. That's where we're at with hip-hop now. And Jay-Z and Eminem are about as big as you can get."

When Jay-Z's "The Blueprint 3" (Roc Nation) album hit No. 1 last year to become his 11th chart-topper, he moved past Elvis Presley to become the solo artist with the most No. 1 albums to his name in history. Eminem, whose "Recovery" (Shady / Aftermath) album has notched the most No. 1 weeks this year, was named the top-selling artist of the 2000s by Nielsen SoundScan, after the Detroit rapper sold 32.2 million albums in the decade. His single "Love the Way You Lie" with Rihanna has already topped the charts for seven weeks and may challenge Ke$ha's "Tik Tok" as the year's biggest song.

That kind of success is hard to argue with, though some rock purists certainly will. (Remember when Oasis' Noel Gallagher groused about how Jay-Z headlining the Glastonbury Festival was a mistake? Jay-Z coolly put the controversy to rest by opening his 2008 set by walking onstage carrying a guitar and singing Oasis' "Wonderwall.")

"Some people might hold onto that sentiment," Hanley says. "But let's face it, Eminem has his own radio channel on Sirius. Jay-Z's got his clothing line. . . . And I think to music fans, it doesn't matter. They don't say, 'This is rock,' or 'This is hip-hop.' They say, 'This is great current music.' "

That said, both Jay-Z and Eminem, who already played Comerica Park together last week, recognize the importance of the Yankee Stadium shows.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime set of shows, and I know we're both really going to bring it to our hometowns," Eminem said when the shows were announced. "The fans are going to love this - and so am I. It's gonna be historic."

The batting averages of these Yankee music players

Though a lot goes into creating a stadium headliner, chart success is certainly one way of determining whether the fan base can support such a big show. How do this year's stadium players stack up? We created a "slugging percentage" by taking the number of No. 1 albums and dividing by the number of major album releases. Here's how they did: