Summer Jam 2011 was held yesterday (June 5) in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

More than 50,000 people turned out to see Lil Wayne, Drake, Birdman, Young Money, Chris Brown, Rick Ross, Fabolous, Lloyd Banks, Dipset, Wiz Khalifa, and Waka Flocka perform.

The New York Times showed up to review the event. They ended up being less than impressed with most of the acts, except a few.

Ross got the hardest, his set which was merged at the end of Lil Wayne’s. The Times said the rapper looked: “mid-’90s-Versace-esque shirt unzippered; belly and breasts dangling; arms flailing as if he were in reverie.”

None of the other acts seem to stand out either, but Banks was given you a glowing review. Both for his perfromance and steady rise to the top of the New York rap scene.

[Lloyd Banks] may have stealthily become the most important rapper in New York — last year his “Beamer, Benz or Bentley” was a local anthem; this year he’s got “Start It Up.” It’s worth noting that major labels have done little for these two: Mr. Banks’s success came after parting ways with Interscope.

The purest New York moment of the night came during Mr. Banks’s set, when Mobb Deep emerged with “Shook Ones Pt. II.” Ten years ago Jay-Z used the Summer Jam bully pulpit to attack Prodigy of Mobb Deep, showing a childhood picture of that rapper dressed for dance class in a leotard. Prodigy’s emergence here — after a recent stint in prison, and with Jay-Z nowhere in sight — was a small piece of turf reclaimed.

Peep some of the footage and pics below.

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