Last night I had the pleasure of attending the re-opening of the Hollywood Palladium. Who was headlining? Mr. R-O-C himself, Jay-Z.  Here are 10 reasons why Jay-Z ROC-ed the Palladium.

#10 Fan-boys throwing up the R-O-C and screaming HOVA, HOVA, HOVA prior to him coming out.  I have to say that the crowd downstairs was throwing up those diamonds harder than the VIP sections upstairs.

#9 Jay-Z  backed by the Roc Boys, a 12-piece band: horn section, guitarists, percussionists, a keyboardist and DJ AM

#8 DJ AM killing it on the 1s and 2s up on stage even after having been in such a tragic accident

#7 Bringing T.I. out for a guest appearance for “Swagga Like Us”

#6 Jay-Z literally flipping through DJ AM’s playlist on his laptop and proceeding to plug the lyrics as he hits play.

#5 Having the honor to re-open the Palladium when 68 years ago, Tommy Dorsey & Frank Sinatra originally opened for the Palladium

#4 Jay-Z doing an acapella rap, giving his big “F-U” to Bush with a montage of pictures in the background of: Bush, FEMA, New Orleans, and the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

#3 Jay-Z proudly giving his support to “Change” and Obama following it with: “This concert is not sponsored or endorsed by Obama.  I’m a free citizen and I’m just stating my free opinion.”

#2 Me being a sucker for the old school mixes.  A throwback 10 years to 1998 with: “H to the Izzo” mixed with “Can I Get A,” followed by “I Just Wanna Love You (Give it To Me).”  Good Times!

#1 Jay-Z dedicating “99 problems” to Obama for the 99 problems and more Obama has to deal with Palin. Ouch! The crowd was definitely going wild on that one.

After Jay-Z announced the fact that Frank Sinatra had originally opened the Palladium in 1940, he called himself the “black Frank Sinatra.” I think that after last night’s performance he definitely earned that title.

Photo: LA Weekly (Timothy Norris)