Jay-Z made a surprise appearance during Alicia Keys‘ performance at the 2024 Tony Awards last night (June 16) – watch the footage below.
Keys’ Broadway musical Hell’s Kitchen was nominated for 13 awards at the ceremony, which took place at the Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater in New York City.
The R&B artist began singing ‘Empire State Of Mind’ – her 2009 collaborative single with Jay-Z – alongside the cast of her show. While walking into the audience, she said: “[I] had to do something crazy! It’s my home town!”
She then threw to the rapper, who appeared on the big screen. He was seen standing on a set of stairs in a theatre lobby as he rapped his lines from the track before Keys joined him.
Ahead of the outing, Keys told Entertainment Tonight that the Hell’s Kitchen cast would be “bringing all of their passion and fire” to the “spectacular” performance at the Tony Awards. “I’m so excited for this,” she added.
The artist had teased her surprise reunion with Jay by sharing a photo of two microphones on social media. One was labelled with her initials in gold pen, with the other featuring the letter “J”. See the posts below.
Alicia Keys just surprised everyone with Jay Z during her Empire State of Mind performance at tonight’s Tony Awards. “I had to do something crazy! It’s my home town! pic.twitter.com/QOa97iHZoC
— Spencer Althouse (@SpencerAlthouse) June 17, 2024
Hell’s Kitchen is “an unforgettable new show loosely based on Alicia Keys’ personal experiences, featuring both newly created music and many of her soulful, iconic songs”, per an official synopsis.
It reads: “In a cramped apartment hanging off the side of Times Square, 17-year-old Ali is desperate to get her piece of the New York dream. Ali’s mother is just as determined to protect her daughter from the same mistakes she made.
“When Ali falls for a talented young drummer, both mother and daughter must face hard truths about race, defiance, and growing up. Ali feels trapped, until the sound of a neighbour playing piano opens the door to an unexpected friendship and a radically different future.”
In other news, Keys recently teamed up with Sam Smith for a duet of the latter’s song ‘I’m Not The Only One’.
The post Watch Jay-Z’s surprise performance with Alicia Keys at 2024 Tony Awards appeared first on NME.
