Jay Z

Both are edging close to 40. So it was fitting that Mary J. Blige and Jay-Z, two legendary figures in the youth-obsessed world of hip-hop, brought some grown-up class to Heart of the City, their joint national tour. The nearly three-hour show, which packed 1st Mariner Arena on Wednesday night, was grandly presented. But neither artist forsook the accessible, ghetto-fabulous elements that made each a superstar more than a decade ago. The two were backed by a Titanic band, which included a 12-piece horn-and-string section.

Hip-hop veterans Jay-Z and Mary J. Blige have been going nonstop. Being president of Roc-A-Fella Records and being in "retirement" didn't stop Jay-Z from releasing his narrative album American Gangster, and Blige's latest release marks her ninth album. The powerful pair have matched up on the Heart of the City tour, making an appearance at 1st Mariner Arena at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. Tickets are $49.75-$124.75. 1st Mariner Arena is at 201 W. Baltimore St. Call 410-547-7328 or go to ticketmaster.

Complain all you want about $110 tickets - Friday night's Jay-Z show at Rams Head Live set the bar for hip-hop concerts. The rapper-impresario-entrepreneur born Shawn Carter came to Baltimore backed by a full band and armed with his vast catalog. His current mini-tour promotes his new release, American Gangster, but his sold-out performance sampled all parts of his career, taking those of us younger than 30 back to moments from our youth. "I thought there would be more from the [new] album," said Ashlyn Weyant, 21, of Brooklyn Park, who won tickets from a WERQ-FM 92.3 promotion.

Jay-Z got it right the first time. When he "retired" in 2003, he strutted off the stage in near-perfection, with the stunning, powerful legacy-builder The Black Album and his equally on-point farewell concert at New York's Madison Square Garden memorialized in the movie Fade to Black. How could you top all that? Why would you even want to try? In his years of "retirement," Jay became President Carter, head of Def Jam Records. He made some high-profile appearances on singles from Beyonce, Rick Ross and Young Jeezy, as well as that hot "Dear Summer" freestyle he did on New York radio station Hot 97 last year.

"If I'm doing a story on Jay-Z or Beyonce, I don't want to be so souped that I can't ask them a question." Toure, for more than 10 years a contributing editor at Rolling Stone and now host, writer and producer at BET News, on how he approaches stories. He has a new collec tion of essays called Never Drank the Kool-Aid.

Critic's Pick-- Rapper Jay-Z (above) and friends capture a magical night at Madison Square Garden in Fade to Black (8 p.m.-10 p.m., Showtime).

June had barely begun, but the legendary French Riviera celebrity bastion of St.-Tropez already had its first scandale of the summer. All across the seaside village, fresh piles of the June 10 issue of La Tribune de St.-Tropez declared the breaking news. From socialites shopping in the Rodeo Drive-like stores along Rue Francois Sibilli to the jet-setting playboys and billionaires trawling the coconut-oil-scented fleshpots along Mediterranean beaches, the summer crowd that arrives early suddenly found a disturbing front-page discovery that would once have been unthinkable.

If you're disappointed that the Jay-Z and R. Kelly tour will no longer feature the R&B star half of the bill, fret not, you can still experience the "Best of Both Worlds" in the concert documentary Fade to Black. The film is a celebration of rapper Jay-Z's November 2003 show at Madison Square Garden where the hip-hop superstar/mogul marked his "retirement" from solo performing, giving and receiving shout-outs from his fans and friends. The movie, directed by Michael John Warren (though Jay-Z takes the possessive "a film by" credit using his given name, Shawn Carter)

They can't be friends. This "reunion" of sorts must be all about the money, because Jay-Z and R. Kelly barely interacted or even acknowledged each other Friday night during their 2 1/2 -hour show at 1st Mariner Arena. The titans of urban music are playing 40 national dates to support their second collaborative album, The Best of Both Worlds: Unfinished Business, due out Oct. 26. It's a new and expanded version of 2002's The Best of Both Worlds, which tanked after Kelly was indicted in June of that year on multiple felony counts of making and possessing child pornography.

AS ANOTHER year comes to a close tonight, it's time once again to honor those who've elevated gall, audacity and excessive cheekiness to a cultural imperative. Yes, the 2003 Chutzpah Awards are upon us. There just might be a year when these awards aren't given out, but 2003 wasn't one of them. So without further ado, it's on to the kudos. Ninth runner-up: Rapper Jay-Z, whose latest album features a cut with the lyric "I got 99 problems but a b-- ain't one." Call some women that word, Jay-Z, and you'll have several problems, a lot more than 99. Jay-Z has said the album this foolishness appears on will be his last.