Jay-Z doesn’t walk; he glides.
His movement onstage is melodic, as he takes rhythmic, almost balletic, steps while rapping. He slowly jogged forward, before sliding backward as if moonwalking around the octagonal stage at Oakland’s Oracle Arena. When he did walk, his leg dipped at the knee while stepping. It was a bop that exuded supreme self-confidence.
But the Jay-Z who performed on Saturday, Dec. 16, in support of “4:44,” his most confessional album, showed he had learned a new skill to tap into for inspiration: vulnerability.
On “4:44,” he apologizes to Beyoncé, his megastar wife, for indiscretions. He’s humble, asks forgiveness. It’s therapeutic for the author and the listener.
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For so long Jay-Z has presented himself as an eminence — “I’m not a businessman, I’m a business, man” is one of his most famous couplets — but this tour is a convergence of the contrasts in his music catalog. And the sounds melded, because good music is nothing but good music.
The older hits — “Run This Town,” “Dirt Off Your Shoulder,” “Public Service Announcement,” “99 Problems” and “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)” — were vintage Jay-Z: braggadocious and venomous, vestiges from his past as a dope hustler reaching for acceptance in society.
The songs from “4:44” embody the maturation of an artist. Jay-Z rapped about racial stereotypes in “The Story of O.J.” and his mother coming out as a lesbian in “Smile.”
It’s no secret that rappers remain relevant as long as they have something to talk about, and Jay-Z, an elder hip-hop statesman, is using his position to do more than sell records. He wants to influence culture, politics, life.
He brought up NFL players like Colin Kaepernick who have protested police brutality by taking a knee during the national anthem to take a stand for social justice. “It’s not about disrespecting the flag. It’s about justice,” he said. “That’s not even a black-and-white issue. We should all be affected.”
He’s also become a motivational speaker. On “Family Feud,” he raps about racial wealth inequity and black investment. At the concert, he told people to look out for mental health. “Y’all make sure you check on your people,” said Jay-Z, who discussed his own therapy sessions in a recent New York Times interview.
Other entertainers like Chicago’s Vic Mensa are paying attention.
Mensa, who wore a black-and-red leather outfit reminiscent of “Thriller”-era Michael Jackson to open the show, has socially conscious verses and opinions of his own that are gaining attention. Known to Kanye West fans for his cautionary verse on “Wolves,” the Jay-Z protege was the perfect warm-up for the night.
“I got so many issues, I should be my own publisher,” Mensa deftly rapped on “Wings.”
Jay-Z’s stage included four huge sets of screens that tilted and folded, not unlike the Lambda-class T-4a Shuttle in “Return of the Jedi.” People were walking to their seats carrying plastic merchandise bags as the screens unfolded to obscure his entrance for “Kill Jay-Z.”
But when he performed the confessional “4:44” title track, Jay-Z reduced the arena spectacle to hip-hop’s ethos: a rapper, a microphone and a rhyme.
He cradled the microphone in both hands, hiding his face in the crook of his arm as he rocked to the beat. With his foot on the base of the mike stand, he turned in a circle to make sure everyone saw the great Jay-Z dancing within his own pain.
Otis R. Taylor Jr. is the East Bay columnist for The San Francisco Chronicle. Email: otaylor@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @otisrtaylorjr