Jay-Z concert film captures a stellar moment.... in hip-hop

Nothing in the mythography that is the Jay-Z concert film Fade to Black has the drama of this week's headline that R. Kelly had filed a $75 million breach-of-contract lawsuit against the hip-hop kingpin.

Those disappointed that they won't get to see R&B artist Kelly and Jay-Z share the stage in the current Best of Both Worlds tour still can catch the pair perform in this hypnotic rapumentary chronicling what was then billed as Jay-Z's farewell concert.

With echoes of Frank Sinatra's The Main Event goodbye performance at Madison Square Garden in 1974 and The Band's Last Waltz at Winterland in 1976, Fade to Black is a summation of a musical career. Filmed before a roaring capacity crowd at Madison Square Garden last November, the documentary captures a celestial moment when it seems that all the stars of hip-hop and R&B are in glittering alignment, and Manhattan sparkles like the Emerald City.

For, not only does Jay-Z perform with Kelly, but also with fiancee Beyoncé (now that's a rhyme he hasn't chimed), Mary J. Blige, Kanye West, Foxy Brown, Usher, and ?uestlove and the Illadelphonics.

"I'm the luckiest man on the planet," Jay-Z (born Shawn Carter in Brooklyn almost 34 years ago) pronounces in a voice-over, striking a humble, Lou Gehrig note before patting himself on the back: "You create your own luck."

Though Fade to Black veers into vanity-production territory at such moments, it mostly is a triumph of stagecraft and speaker-blowing freestyling. The concert opens with boxing announcer Michael Buffer introducing Jay-Z as "the undisputed heavyweight champion in the world of hip-hop."

Mixing sports metaphors, Buffer flies a basketball jersey bearing Jay-Z's name to the rafters when Himself, wearing a Notorious B.I.G. T-shirt, strolls out before a bank of seven Jumbotrons, quaking the arena with "Big Pimpin'" and wrenching tears with "Song Cry." The song order does an excellent job of characterizing Jay-Z as one who needs both to be a leader of his posse and a solitary man.

Filmmakers Patrick Paulson and Michael John Warren capture the customary backstage vignettes (including a testimonial from P. Diddy) as well as interspersing footage of Jay-Z's recording process.

But the real energy of Fade to Black comes from Jay-Z's rapport with the audience, which joins him in a call-and-response that takes this concert to church.

Contact movie critic Carrie Rickey

at 215-854-5402 or crickey@phillynews.com.

Read her recent work at http://go.philly.com/carrierickey.

Fade to Black

*** (out of four stars)

Produced by Bob Ezrin, Justin Wilkes and Rich Kleiman, directed by Michael John Warren and Patrick Paulson, music by Jay-Z and others, distributed by Paramount Classics

Running time: 1 hour, 49 mins.

Himself. . . Jay-Z

Herself. . . Beyoncé

Himself. . . R. Kelly

Herself. . . Mary J. Blige

Himself. . . Kanye West

Parent's guide: R (profane and sexually explicit music lyrics)

Playing at: area theaters