October 28, 2011: The "Watch the Throne" Tour Begins

Kanye West (left) and Jay-Z

October 28, 2011: The Watch the Throne Tour begins, at the Philips Arena (now the State Farm Arena) in Atlanta. It remains the highest-grossing tour in hip-hop history.

It was in support of Watch the Throne, a collaborative effort between what were already two of the biggest names in rap history: Jay-Z (Shawn Carter) and Kanye West. It was released on August 8, and it was practically a rap Justice League, also featuring Jay-Z's wife Beyoncé, Frank Ocean, The-Dream (Terius Nash), Kid Cudi (Scott Mescudi), Seal (Seal Samuel) and others. Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, known as The Neptunes when they worked together, produced it, with assistance from Q-Tip (Kamaal Fareed) and Swizz Beatz (Kasseem Dean -- whose wife, singer Alicia Keys, was not involved with the album).

The 1st single, "H-A-M," introduced the expression "Go HAM" into the lexicon, meaning "Hard As a Motherfucker." It only reached Number 32. The 2nd single, "Otis," reached Number 12. A later single, titled "Niggas In Paris," reached Number 5.

The tour came to the New York Tri-Stare Area a week in, playing the Meadowlands Arena (then named the Izod Center) on November 5 and 6, and Madison Square Garden on November 7 and 8. Later in the month, it moved on to Canada, playing the Bell Centre in Montreal on November 22, and the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto on November 23 and 24. As the tour moved west, it went back into Canada on December 17 and 18, at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver.

After that 2nd Vancouver show, the tour took a break, then headed across the Atlantic Ocean. Between May 18 and June 22, it played the British Isles cities of London, Manchester, Birmingham, Dublin and Sheffield; and also played in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

Despite Kanye's difficult personality, both already-established and later on, there was no indication of friction between him and Jay-Z, or any of the other performers. The tour did so well that comedian Chris Rock said, "This might be the greatest show I ever saw. It's the equivalent of the Billy Joel-Elton John tour, but if they did it in 1979, when the songs were hot!"

For perspective: When the tour began, Jay-Z was about to turn 42, and Kanye was 34; whereas, when they began their 1st Face to Face Tour, Elton John was 47, and Billy Joel was 45. But Elton and Billy had already been having hits for 20 years. Jay-Z's 1st Top 10 hit, "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)," came in 1998, 13 years earlier; while Kanye's, "All Falls Down," came in 2004, just 7 years earlier. So while Rock was a little off on the ages, he was pretty close to where each of the 4 men was in his career at the respective times.

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October 28, 2011 was a Wednesday. Game 7 of the World Series was played. The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Texas Rangers, 6-2 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

Football was in midweek. The NBA season was delayed, due to the team owners locking the players out, and the season did not begin until Christmas Day. There were 4 games played in the NHL:

* The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 3-0 at the RBC Center (now the Lenovo Center) in Raleigh, North Carolina.

* The San Jose Sharks beat the Detroit Red Wings, 4-2 at the Joe Louis Arena.

* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Colorado Avalanche, 3-1 at the Pepsi Center (now the Ball Arena) in Denver.

* And the Calgary Flames beat the St. Louis Blues, 3-1 at the Saddledome in Calgary.