Summer Jam

Summer Jam is the annual hip-hop fest held in the tri-state area and sponsored by New York-based radio station Hot 97FM. Normally held in June, the concert features popular New York and national acts in hip hop and R&B. The most recent iteration was held at the UBS Arena in Elmont, New York on June 4, 2023. History The hip-hop summer festival format was originally pioneered and popularized by San Francisco radio station KMEL with their large-scale Summer Jam concerts from 1987 through the 1990s and present day. KMEL continues to host smaller versions of the event annually. Similarly, Los Angeles station KKBT held an annual Summer Jam hip-hop concert during the 1990s after hiring KMEL's Program Director in 1993. The concert was discontinued as the station switched formats. By 1994, there was thought to be a lack of large, exclusively hip-hop festivals in the tri-state area. As hip-hop began to rise in commercial success, WQHT, Hot 97, the primary Hip-hop and R&B FM radio station in the area, began to plan an exclusively hip-hop festival. Given the scale of such an undertaking, Carl Freed, who at the time worked with Metropolitan Entertainment, was asked to executively produce the festival. The first Hot 97 Summer Jam took place at the then Brendon Byrne Arena (later Meadowlands Arena, Continental Airlines Arena and Izod Center) in East Rutherford, New Jersey on June 21, 1994. The original lineup included Black Moon, Gang Starr, Nas, Queen Latifah, A Tribe Called Quest, Arrested Development, SWV, and the Wu-Tang Clan. By 2001, the festival venue moved to Nassau Colosseum, in Uniondale, New York, due to safety concerns of venue managers at the previous venue. The 2001 festival included many more national acts from outside of New York, with a line-up including Destiny's Child, Eve, Ja Rule, Jadakiss, R. Kelly, Ludacris, Outkast, Nelly, and Jay-Z. Famously, that year, Jay-Z debuted his infamous "Takeover" diss track directed at Nas and Mobb Deep, and brought out Michael Jackson, Missy Elliot, and EPMD on stage, establishing the tradition of surprise guests at the festival.