About 40 years ago, hip-hop started as a penniless outcast in some of America’s poorest neighborhoods.

        "Hip-hop is innovation out of necessity, the necessity of being broke," the rapper/producer El-P once said.

        Today it is a multibillion-dollar industry that transcends cultures and generations and permeates not just the pop music charts, but television, movies, comedy, fashion and product lines ranging from toys to liquor.

    It’s a classic American story of cultural innovation intertwined with capitalist opportunity, a tale of music creating a community which in turn attracted maverick investors who then were swallowed by corporations. The transformation bred multi-media stars, moguls and celebrities such as Jay-Z and Eminem.

        Author Dan Charnas tenaciously follows the money trail in “The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-hop” (New American Librarian), which celebrates hip-hop even as it details the backroom deals and marketing strategies that contributed to its explosive growth.

Jay-Z: The hip-hop kingpin remains a great live performer, with 15 years worth of hits documenting a style that encompasses everything from hard-edged wordplay to pop anthems, 8 p.m. Thursday at United Center, 1901 W. Madison, $39.50, $69.50, $99.50, $129.50; ticketmaster.com.

greg@gregkot.com

The winter brings its share of big shows, with the likes of Jay-Z, Slayer, John Mayer and the Black Eyed Peas hitting the arenas.

But there’s an unusual number of major acts playing it smaller than expected, including Lady Gaga, Mariah Carey and John Prine.

Here’s a sampling of some of notable concerts in the next few months (listed chronologically):

Buddy Guy: The blues patriarch kicks off another January residency at his 20-year-old namesake club. The South Loop institution will be moving to a new location on South Wabash later this year, and Guy is not likely to let the occasion pass without a few flame-throwing guitar solos, Jan. 7-10, Jan. 14-17, Jan. 21-24 and Jan. 27-30 at Buddy Guy’s Legends, 754 S. Wabash, $40; etix.com.

Lady Gaga: There is no more anticipated tour than these headlining dates by pop music’s latest “It” girl. Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta promises a tour loaded with spectacle to complement the string of hit singles from her 2008 debut album, “The Fame,” Jan. 8-10 at Rosemont Theatre, Rosemont, Ill., sold out; ticketmaster.com.

Rosanne Cash: Back in the ‘80s, Cash epitomized mainstream country. Now she works the fringes, celebrating the music’s rich legacy on her latest album, “The List,” in which she covers some of her late father Johnny Cash’s favorite songs, Jan. 29 at the Harris Theatre,  205 E. Randolph, $42, $45; tickets.harristheater.org.

Slayer, Megadeth and Testament: Three ‘80s giants converge, their power virtually undiminished as recent albums demonstrate. Short of a quintuple bill also including Metallica and Anthrax, this is about as close as we’re going to get to a first-generation thrash-metal summit, Feb. 5 at the UIC Pavilion, 525 S. Racine, $38 and $58; ticketmaster.com.

Mariah Carey: The diva’s fans (or “lambs” as she refers to them) will be thrilled to see their heroine in relatively close quarters. The singer has revived her career in recent years with a series of best-selling albums, including her 2008 release, “Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel,” Feb. 13 at Chicago Theatre, 175 N. State St., ticketmaster.com.

St. Vincent: Annie Clark took a major leap in 2009 with her second album, “Actor,” demonstrating her skills as a vocalist, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist who can shred on guitar, Feb. 18 at Metro, 3730 N. Clark St., $16 and $18; etix.com.

Tiniriwen: This band of nomadic West Africans plays a trance-inducing brand of guitar music, underpinned by loping beats and elevated by call-and-response vocals. Call it desert pyschedelia, Feb. 27 at Old School of Folk Music, 4544 N. Lincoln Av., $24 and $28; oldtownschool.tix.com.

John Prine: A pricey benefit show returns Prine to his old stomping grounds. Back when the Old Town School of Folk Music really was located in Old Town, Prine was writing songs that placed him in the first-tier of post-Dylan folk poets, and he’s stayed the course for four decades, March 6 at Old Town School of Folk Music, 4544 N. Lincoln Av., $200; 773-728-6000.

Jay-Z: The hip-hop kingpin remains a great live performer, with 15 years worth of hits documenting a style that encompasses everything from hard-edged wordplay to pop anthems, March 18 at United Center, 1901 W. Madison, $39.50, $69.50, $99.50, $129.50; ticketmaster.com.

The xx: The British quartet became one the most talked-about bands of 2009 with its sparse instrumentation, insinuating songs and the conversational interplay between vocalists Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim, April 8 at Lincoln Hall, 2424 N. Lincoln Av., $18; lincolnhallchicago.org.

greg@gregkot.com

Rating: 2.5 stars (out of 4)
   
    It’s tough for hip-hop stars to age well. Once they become celebrities living in mansions and starring in family movies, street cred is usually the first thing to go. Just ask Ice Cube. Longevity just wasn’t built into the hip-hop lifestyle, with its premium on youthful swagger, street tales and fast turnover. 

    But Jay-Z, who turns 40 in December, asserts that he’s the exception on his 11th studio album, “The Blueprint 3” (Roc Nation), which he rush-released Tuesday after it leaked on-line. In hip-hop, extreme wealth is more potent than any drug, more lethal than any Glock – or so Jay-Z says.

     “I’m a multimillionaire, so how is it I’m still the hardest [guy] here,” he announces on “D.O.A. (The Death of Auto Tune).”

    The track takes a shot at the ubiquitous vocal effect that has dominated hip-hop production in recent years, though Jay-Z is not above using it himself elsewhere on the album. If nothing else, Jay-Z has proven himself an expert at knowing the marketplace, and “The Blueprint 3” employs a handful of top-dollar producers (Kanye West, Timbaland, Swizz Beatz, the Neptunes) to cover all the commercial bases, Auto-Tuned or not.

    Its reach echoes the first “Blueprint” album, released in 2001 and coproduced by West, at that time a relative unknown still three years away from making his star-making solo debut. The combination of West’s dusty soul grooves and Jay-Z’s determination to reassert his skills as a master MC (after a few years in the pop celebrity wilderness) turned the album into a landmark.

    “Blueprint 2” came out a year later, but was a far less focused effort, larded with cameos, as if Jay-Z could only be intermittently bothered to participate in his own album.

    “Blueprint 3” splits the difference between its two predecessors, with Jay-Z sounding hungrier than he has in years on about half the tracks while sharing time with guest stars or grappling with undercooked production on the rest. At its core, the album is less about introducing newfound skills or subject matter than it is a platform for Jay-Z to showcase his imperious flow, to reassert his world-conquering ego, to remind everyone just who the heck he is. Just as his New York predecessor Rakim made his menacing delivery sound almost off-hand, Jay-Z has a way of delivering the news as if he’s already done it all --- twice.

        Born Shawn Carter in 1969, he grew up a drug dealer in the Brooklyn housing projects. He turned to hip-hop as a way out, self-releasing his debut in 1996 when no label would take a chance on him and turning himself into a star and powerbroker. Last year Forbes magazine estimated his annual income at $82 million. Little wonder he once crowed, “I’m not a businessman, I’m a business, man.”

        By celebrating his business as a more elevated (and legal) form of gang-banging, Jay-Z has turned himself into something of a rap godfather. But he’s been phoning it in lately; on his 2006 album “Kingdom Come” he sounded as though he would rather be hanging out on his yacht with Beyonce.  

        “The Blueprint 3” aims to show everyone he’s still got wicked skills on the mike. It does, even as it also illustrates that sometimes he coasts on his celebrity. The opening “What We Talkin’ About” sets the tone: He doesn’t have time to escalate longstanding beefs with his rivals because, let’s face it, they’re just peons and he’s got more important things to do, like hang with his pal, the new U.S. president.

        Hubris reigns. He’s the king of New York, able to command cameos from Rihanna and Alicia Keys on “Run This Town” and “New York State of Mind,” respectively. These tracks are the sound of Jay-Z cruising for pop hits, and they already sound like anthems. But there’s no justifying “Forever Young,”  with a vocal hook sung by Mr. Hudson; it’s the kind of mush that suggests there might be something true to those rumors Jay-Z has gone soft. There’s the ponderous “Reminder,” a blustery list of accomplishments. And “Venus Vs. Mars” reaffirms that Jay-Z has never been particularly strong at seduction raps.

        Yet even at three-quarter speed, Jay-Z can still be formidable. Timbaland’s sci-fi production on “Off That” is a poor fit, but the MC opens up a spigot of rhymes about refusing to live in the past, invoking his nemesis Bill O’Reilly to comic effect. The hard-edged soul claps of “A Star is Born” and the zinging strings of “Already Home” (both produced by West) are natural fits, and he dazzles without breaking a sweat. He even turns a joke about his resemblance to a camel into an opportunity to once again disarm his critics. The message: Don’t mess with ol’ Gray-Z.

    greg@gregkot.com

Sponsored Link: Amazon's Jay-Z Store

Jay-Z's "The Blueprint 3," out Tuesday, is his 11th studio album. Here are the essential Jay-Z releases:

“Reasonable Doubt” (1996): The classic, self-released debut, which alongside the Notorious B.I.G. defined the swaggering sound of ‘90s New York ambition laced with foreboding.

“The Blueprint” (2001): After his debut, Jay-Z reached for the pop charts, then returned to soulful beats and hard introspection on this mid-career classic, with help from a young hot-shot producer named Kanye West.

"MTV Unplugged" (2001): The MC demonstrates his vocal acuity backed by hip-hop's hardest-hitting live act, the Roots.

“The Black Album” (2003): In announcing his premature retirement from hip-hop (only to return three years later), Jay-Z cut his competition to shreds with the hardest-edged music of his career.

greg@gregkot.com

Sponsored Link: Amazon's Jay-Z Store