Jay-Z Makes It To The Super Bowl

If your favorite NFL team wasn’t good enough to make it to the biggest sporting event in America, at least you still have Jay-Z. The Brooklyn rap icon will appear in a Super Bowl XLIV music video on CBS with the Rutgers Symphony Orchestra and respected conductor Kynan Johns.

The two-minute clip will air just minutes before the 6:28 p.m. kickoff between the Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints.

Johns, the director of orchestras at Mason Gross School of the Arts, said appearing in the music video will be “outside the mainstream of classical music.” He added of the hip-hop-rock-classical mash-up, “It doesn’t happen in our realm.” The video shoot is set to take place this week in New York. Johns hopes that the classically-trained students taking part in the Jay-Z showing will see that “it takes a lot of time to get pop music to that level.”

For Jigga and the Rutgers Symphony Orchestra, the unusual pair will be appearing in what’s viewed as the largest television event of the year. Last year, according to Nielsen ratings, the Super Bowl pulled in an average of 99 million viewers.—Keith Murphy