An Empire State of Charity by Allison O’Hagan, staff reporter

Hip Hop mogul, Jay Z, hosted two benefit concerts on February 6th and 7th in Manhattan at Carnegie Hall to raise money for college scholarships.

According to allhiphop.com, this was the first time in 15 years that the hip-hop superstar had played at the hall. Tickets were sold to the public on January 30th, and only limited sales were offered. Ticket prices ranged from $500 to $2,500 for a regular ticket and high end boxes were priced at $25,000.

The main hall of Carnegie Hall hosted this event, the seats were filled with people from all over the city. Jay Z was the host and main performer for most of the night. He sang songs from previous albums including “Bounce”, “On To The Next One” and also “Numb”, which was a collaboration with Linkin Park. Head of Security James (I need to get the last name)  stated that “This was one of the most anticipated concerts that I have seen thus far in my career

Additional artists that were there to perform were not released until the day of the concert. Alicia Keys was in attendance, and performed a couple songs including “Empire State of Mind” with Jay Z.

According to artsbeat.com, the mission of this concert was to reduce the drop out rate among New York City teenagers. Jay Z has created a foundation with the help of his mother, Gloria Carter, that provides college scholarships to more than 120 students from poor backgrounds. Jay Z has made it possible for  $1.4 million to be donated to 750 students since 2002.

Jay Z had stated that he hoped the benefit concerts would raise millions of dollars for both his foundation and the United Way, which has a program that works to improve graduation rates in many of the city’s most troubled public high schools.

“It honestly a concert to remember,” said Dina Maksoud a fellow ticket holder stated once the concert was finished. “He is a musical genius.”