Jay-Z Runs The Town, Scoops Gold For Super Bowl Performance

Details of his accomplishment hit the Internet Tuesday (May 3).

The Brooklyn, New York rapper received the Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition/Direction/Lyrics for his performance of "Run This Town" during Super Bowl XLIV. The epic performance, aired as the opener to the football game, featured Hov in a dapper suit surrounded by the E.S. Posthumus music group. As he rapped along to the cut, footage from NFL games cut across the screen. Additionally, Jigga man collaborators U2 were honored with the award for their performance with the Soweto Gospel Choir during the 2010 FIFA World Cup. (Hip Hop DX)

Jay's Super Bowl performance helped kick-off the annual football championship finale.

Opening with a single pianist on a Steinway, the song began with Rihanna's recorded voice singing the song's hook, then showed Jay walking into a gothic room with high ceilings and the black-clad orchestra packed onto a stage. Jay, wearing a cool tux with no tie, performed his verse while holding the golden Super Bowl trophy high, as action clips of both teams scrolled behind him. The song continued, cutting between footage of Jay at the orchestra's helm, football footage and action-heavy shots of the orchestra members performing. (MTV)

The taped spectacle was assisted by New Jersey's Rutgers Symphony Orchestra.

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." (VIBE)