Jay-Z’s 1997 Notting Hill Carnival Set Caught Him Between Two LPs

The set began around 5:20 p.m. on the last Monday of August 1997, under the Westway at Notting Hill Carnival. Jay-Z was 27, a year removed from Reasonable Doubt and still months away from In My Lifetime, Vol. 1. His UK profile had been building: a Wembley Arena support slot for the Fugees in May, a Hip Hop Connection cover in July, and a national Radio 1 appearance with Tim Westwood two nights before Carnival. The crowd had reason to treat the booking as more than a festival slot.

Dillon Moulder, then an A&R at a Ladbroke Grove label, photographed Jay-Z just before he went on. He remembered Carnival as a rare moment. “You’d be lucky to get one hip-hop artist, maybe, if you were lucky, every quarter to every six months,” he said. That day, the same stage passed through Jay-Z, Busta Rhymes, Common, Lil’ Kim, the LOX, EPMD, Beenie Man, and a group of British and Jamaican acts.

The set arrived while Jay-Z was between musical directions. He opened with “Ain’t No…” and moved into “Who You Wit,” which was already receiving club and radio play in the UK. He performed “Sunshine” and “Streets Is Watching,” then rapped lyrics to “Imaginary Player” over Missy Elliott’s “The Rain”—a verse Moulder believed may have been heard publicly for the first time that day. The newer material leaned toward a shinier, Bad Boy-adjacent sound, which raised questions about where Jay-Z was heading. At Carnival, that uncertainty met a crowd primed by radio and word of mouth.