Philly hosted the original Fourth of July, so when the date comes around, the pressure’s on to do it up. The city hosted its annual Fourth of July Jam Saturday night with a performance from the Roots. That’s sounds great, but some unexpected local star power took the performance to the next level.
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To close out the set, Black Thought introduced a very important guest — Mayor Michael Nutter. Watch him team with the Roots crew to cover Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” below:
There’s a reason Nutter looks so natural onstage, aside from the fact he’s a pretty cool cat. Back in the late ’70s, before he got into politics, Nutter worked at a Philadelphia disco club called Impluse, where he DJ’d and did odd jobs like keep guys from coming in wearing hats. Check out his 2011 interview with Jump Philly for more.
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The Fourth of July performance also included Miguel, Sugardland’s Jennifer Nettles and Cee Lo Green.