The last time Jay-Z stood on a stage in Philadelphia, the rapper-mogul had his pal Meek Mill right beside him as a hometown hero guest to bring the Made in America festival to a satisfying close on the Ben Franklin Parkway on Labor Day weekend.
On Friday, Jay-Z was back in town, headlining the Wells Fargo Center in South Philadelphia in a wholly impressive stop on his tour for 4:44, his late-career return-to-form album full of mea culpas and self-critical analysis that led the way in pulling in eight Grammy nominations this week.