We didn’t ask for this.  We didn’t pray, didn’t do a hollowed dance, consult the sacraments. Because, quite frankly, we didn’t think this was heavenly possible.    

We condemned the members of the Music Group as hacks, nobodies—dimwitted high-rollers with our tuition as their chips, who bet and lost big on Pitbull—Pitbull!—and OAR after a nice string of beginners luck.  We were mad, steaming mad.  Well, my friends, redemption has come. His name is Jay-Z.

“It’s the biggest artist Vanderbilt has ever had,” Scott Krenitski, senior and Music Group co-chair, said. “We sat down and thought ‘We had Kanye West; we had Lil’ Wayne; how do you possibly top that?’” Well, top that they did.

Shawn Carter has no peers in entertainment.  He should be canonized for his musical miracles, his marvelous swag.  He should be heralded as the second coming of Elvis Presley.  Rappers want his career, producers want his ear, women want his…love, and Beyonce—Beyonce!—wanted a ring for God’s sake.  The man is a living legend and he’ll tell you why: “Everybody wanna be HOV, and HOV’s still alive.”

Not since The Beatles has one act produced so many classic albums.  “Reasonable Doubt,” “Hard Knock Life, Vol. 2,” “The Blueprint,” “The Black Album”—the list reads like a hip-hop history, much less pickings from the catalogue of one rapper.  With his most recent release, last week’s “The Blueprint 3,” he proved the timelessness of his talent, rapping each track with the same self-assurance present on 2001’s “Izzo (H.O.V.A.),” with the same effortlessness he flaunted on 1996’s “Feelin’ It.”  With last week’s 9/11 Memorial Concert in Madison Square Garden, he proved his indelible, unarguable ability to rock Memorial Gym to its core of cores.

Never in recent memory has a musician built such an empire from such humble beginnings.  Formerly the CEO of Def Jam Recordings, he reigns over a vast conglomeration of music, clothing, nightlife and athletic ventures.  LeBron James, an international superstar and, by all accounts, personal friend, stands as a business deal waiting to happen for Jay.  And, let’s not forget, the artist’s entire wealth is founded on one thing and one thing only: his ability to entertain.

His arrival on November 13 is no fluke, no product of chance or divine intervention.  As Owen Canavan, senior and Music Group co-chair, explained, he, Scott, Director of Student Campus Events Dwayne Elliot, and other student members have arduously pursued the possibility of a Jay-Z appearance since the beginning of August.  Although the artist’s schedule conflicted with Commodore Quake, persistence and the strong draw of Vanderbilt as a venue combined to allow the group to close a deal.

Although students will undoubtedly have to wait in a lengthy line, only to furnish the hefty sum of $40 for a single, solitary ticket, all is well, for that ticket is gold.  That ticket is a badge of honor, a token to a magical place, a promise of being face-to-face with a kind phenomenon entirely foreign to Vanderbilt’s campus.  That ticket is the gift we always wanted but never thought to ask for. That ticket is priceless. Enjoy.

Tickets for Jay-Z will go on sale on Tuesday, September, 29th and will be $40 for students. There will be limited tickets at the $40 price and students are only allowed one ticket at the $40 price.