The Tens: 10 Things We Loved About Kanye West’s Coachella Performance
Kanye West performed as the closer at Coachella, and boy, did he close the show. An epic set that featured a plethora of hits from all of his albums had the internet talking as Mr. West’s performance was streamed online. It was one of those special nights that showcased one of hip-hop’s greatest acts. There were so many special moments, but we decided to narrow it down to ten that had us talking.
1) Kanye West Proved He’s The Best Live Performer In The Business
Say what you want about Mr. West, but what he performed on that Coachella stage for two hours was nothing less than sheer excellence. Are there other lesser known rappers who may be able to do what Kanye did? Probably. But who has the hits and stage presence to own a monster stage like Kanye did? Nobody.
2) Kanye West MUST Be On Performance Enhancing Drugs
Seriously, we wouldn’t be surprised if reports came back that Mr. West was on that BALCO supplement that Barry Bonds was on when he broke the single season home run record. I woulda passed out twice and needed an adrenaline shot similar to the one that John Travolta gave to Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction.
3) Kanye Can’t Sing… And Nobody Cares
Listen, Kanye West cannot sing. Watching him perform 808′s & Heartbreak would have been painful if he weren’t Kanye West. Some of the notes he hit nearly made us log out of life. Nevertheless, he still rocked it regardless of how tone deaf he sounded when crooning “Say You Will” and other selections.
4) The Mostly White Crowd Reached Their “Nigga” Quota For The Year
At Coachella, everyone felt free to chime in whenever the dreaded N-word was used. When Ye performed “All of the Lights” and the thousands shouted at the top of their lungs “Our Nigga Dead” we just kind of gave the ‘O_o’ face. But we’ll chalk it up to them being in the moment and give it a pass. Don’t get comfortable with that one though.
5) Gold Digger Is Still Played Out
If there was one Kanye West song that we could live without, it would have to be “Gold Digger.” That song was played to nausea when it dropped in 2005. Nearly six years later and it still makes us sick. Not because it’s a bad song, but because we’re still hungover from the other 8329743207410 they played it. But that’s how you know you have a huge record.
6) Kanye Could Win A Marathon
Was it our imagination, or did Kanye West really perform for two hours without a sip of water? It was the marathon of stage performances. No hype man, no real breaks and he didn’t pass out. He definitely needs to run a marathon. It would be the most watched marathon in the history of foot races.
7) Guests? We Don’t Need No Stinking Guests (except Pusha T and Bon Iver)!
Everyone assumed that Mr. West would bring the ultimate all-star roster with him to Coachella. But after an hour of just seeing him on stage, we realized that the real Mr. Solo Dolo was on a mission to prove that he could captivate thousands without the use of special guests. Aside from Bon Iver contributing vocals and Pusha T popping in for “Runaway,” it was all Kanye. A pleasant surprise to see a rapper not rely on his friends to make a show special.
8 ) Blouses Are Cool…As Long As You Are Kanye West Or Prince
Straight out of the closet of Prince, Kanye rocked the mean dashiki blouse that looked like something Stevie Wonder turned down 26 years ago. He made it look very “Kanye” on stage (for better or worse). Now that doesn’t mean that everyone should go running out and cop blouses tomorrow. I wouldn’t be surprised if the pole jockers of Kanye West did though.
9) He Stole Eddie Murphy’s “Delirious” Suit And Made It Cool
You probably have to be over the age of 25 to truly appreciate this one. Eddie Murphy rocked a blood red leather suit with a medallion back in 1983 and made it look fresh. In 2011, Kanye West brought back the “Delirious” look with a red suit of his own on the Coachella stage. Once again, he made it look fresh. We wouldn’t rock it though. Never in a million light years. You gotta have a certain amount of money to pull that off.
10) No One Man Should Have All That Power…Except Kanye West
Yup, Kanye West is a huge star with an ego to match. His performance at Coachella showcased every single side of the Chicago rapper/producer who has accomplished more during his career than most will ever do in their lifetime. Love him or hate him, you have to admit he is about as captivating as they come. Thirty years from now we’ll be telling our kids all about Kanye West.
“Say what you want about Mr. West, but what he performed on that Coachella stage for two hours was nothing less than sheer excellence. Are there other lesser known rappers who may be able to do what Kanye did? Probably. But who has the hits and stage presence to own a monster stage like Kanye did? Nobody.”
I have a problem with that quote. Not because Kanye didn’t put on an amazing show, which undoubtedly did. But when you say “who has the hits and stage presence to own a monster stage like Kanye did? Nobody,” you forget the two contemporary hip-hop elephants in the room that Kanye learned from, Jay-Z and Eminem. They both have rocked and owned “monster” stages worldwide, on par and/or bigger than Coachella, from solo concerts to festivals. So while Kanye’s show was amazing, engaging in hyperbole doesn’t make it any better. Just let it speak for itself and acknowledge his predecessors.
Eminem nor Jay-Z, unfortunately can’t hold a (k)andle to Kanye West, as far as hits go. As much as I love both, Eminem had a run of shit music that rivaled that of Justin Bieber. In fact, I would rather listen to Bieber than Eminem circa 2004-2010. Kanye West only had one 808′s and Heartbreak, Eminem had like 4. (Yes, I’m comparing each artists shit albums). Jay-Z followed Reasonable Doubt with some of the most epic pile of garbage this world has ever seen. “Money ain’t a thang” with Jermaine Dupri? Big Pimpin? Popping Tags? That song from Rush Hour with Ja Rule?! Hahahahhaha Jay-Z helped define the shiny suit, bling-bling, get money persona of the mid-to late 90′s, and his music sucked because of it. Ahem, Nasir, “Oochie Wally….” get the fuck out of her.
Now, Mr West. A decade of dominance. And this is coming from a dude who was highly critical of his off-stage and personal issues. His attitude, etc….Fishsticks. But what last night showed, on a giant white stage, in a giant desert in the middle of nowhere–is that NO ONE does it better than Kanye West.
Hype man? Nope. Band? Nope. Stage theatrics (aside from the opening and a few other moments)? Nope. It was just Kanye West and a plethora of generation defining hits. I love when i talk to people and they talk about Kanye–re-enactment of many common Kanye convos I’ve had:
Me: Man you don’t like Kanye? I mean, I get it, he’s a dick. But his tunes, man….they are great to the ear. Just good music.
Friend: Nah man, fuck Kanye. Dudes super pop, all he does is make this shitty auto-tune songs where he’s singing and whining and shit.
Me: Yeah, but you like Through the Wire and Stronger, and Diamonds right?
Friend: Yeah, and Homecoming is pretty dope too. Jesus Walks is a tight track too…
Me: And Power, and All of the Lights?….Monster?
Friend: Yeah, those are tight.
Me: So you like Kanye West?
Friend: No, what are you fucking stupid? I just said I don’t like him.
And that folks can be a collective conversation for all of America. America loves Kanye West, whether they know it or not.
And as far as being on Em or Jay’s level. Both of them have had multiple albums where they fell off, or better put, didn’t stay true to themselves or the art that is Music…fuck just talking about the art of hip-hop. Em, ‘crack a bottle’, and numerous terrible improv voices? Please. Jay-Z riding around in convertibles with JD, popping bottles, and making the aforementioned songs such as “Popping Tags”….laughable. Nas with Oochie Wally and other god-awful sellout songs? Hilarious.
Kaye West fell off once (if you consider 808′s a falling off, as I personally do…) and it was due to a myriad of tragic shit happening in dudes life, and probably being a little too over-the-top and cocky, but whatever. I’ll take 808′s over that album with “Crack a bottle” any day of the week.
If you told me 6 or 7 years ago I would be sticking up for Kanye West and defending him as one of, if not the best in the game, I would have laughed in your face. Hard. Now, I just feel like an asshole for not recognizing how amazing Kanye West is sooner.
Let’s end it on this. Most emcee’s would give their right arm to make a hit like Stronger. Or Power. Or Jesus Walks….the closest Jay could get was “99 Problems” (still in my book the single-greatest single of all-time) and the closest Em could get was “Lose Yourself” or “I’m not afraid”….Epic stadium songs, epic radio songs, epic generation songs that you know word by word, even if you don’t know you do. Expansive, head nodding, goosebump inducing hits that shake the very fabric of American and world culture as we know it. Kanye West is America, and last night at Coachella, he proved it.
*can hold a (k)andle
ugh, proofread why don’t I?
And as I said, Jay and Em both used massive backing bands or hype men to help sell their show. Memph Bleek, Freeway, Ja Rule, foxy brown <—lol. D12, Proof, Dre, etc….
It was just Kanye last night. And a big ass, wide-open, white stage. All the while Kanye rocking a Colgate smile and a Devil suit. Fuck even comparing this dude to Eminem and Jay-Z, that's laughable. We need to start looking at Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, and Elvis. No one in contemporary music has had this much of an effect on pop culture and the society we live in. As Elton John said in last months RS, "I don't need to make anymore records, I'm on the new Kanye album, that's enough for me. That man is a genius."
From, "George Bush doesn't care about Black people", to Taylor Swift, to his style influence, his outspokenness on gay issues and his cultural awareness, and his many world-wide, generation defining hits–Kanye West has captivated us all. And last night was bigger than we can even imagine right now. You'll see. To quote Dre, "Thirty years from now, we'll be telling our kids about Kanye West…"
And Dre, 80 years from then, they'll be telling their kids….
I seriously think you’re engaging in revisionist history. You can compare them album by album if you want and I won’t argue that Ye has the strongest catalog, because of the sheer greatness of the music. However, if you say Ye has more hits than Jay-Z and Eminem, then I have to question how long you’ve been around this music thing. You’re right, both Jay-Z and Eminem put out subpar albums, but those albums still had big hits. They both beat Ye on number of hits simply by the length of their careers (BTW, I don’t consider 808′s & Heartbreak an artistic blunder by any stretch, no matter what anyone says… no hip-hop artist has the balls to do a song like “Say You Will” or “Robocop”)
Jay-Z destroyed Glastonbury by himself and that was before the biggest commercial hit of his career, “Empire State of Mind” (Memphis Bleek doesn’t count as a guest, he’s not even a hype man… more like a shadow). That show didn’t have ballerinas and all that fluff, just a band and a mic. Heck, the guy barely moves on the stage and stills rocked a crowd on the strength of his hits; and how quickly we forget that Jay also rocked Coachella just last year.
Also, if you were at any of the Jay-Z/ Eminem shows at Comerica or Yankee Stadium last year, you would know what I’m talking about. Both Jay-Z and Em did near two-hour concerts where the crowds knew damn near every word (I know, I was at one of the NY shows). Those were historic shows; and yes, they had guests and bands (if you bafflingly consider that a detriment), but people paid cash and filled out those stadiums to see them, the guests are just icing on the cake.
Jay-Z and Eminem transcended their genre, sold out massive shows, had #1 albums and chart-topping hits way before Kanye’s career even started. So be a fan of Ye if you want, because we’re all fans (personally, I think the guy is a genius and can do no wrong musically), but acknowledge that he’s just begun walking through the trail of success that the other two blazed for him, like it or not.
Actually, you don’t have acknowledge it at all, history is there for a reason.
Well, we will agree to disagree. But I will say this, two of the 3 best hip-hop shows I’ve seen have been Jay and Em. Em on the original Up in Smoke tour in Mich in 2000?. and Jay-Z two years ago on July 3rd at the Palms with Lebron James on stage the whole time. Both epic shows. The other being a Roots show in 1999 outside of Chicago.
We are really arguing a mute point. All 3 of the artists we mention are trailblazers. But as far as length…without going to the internet I would say Kanye is close to Em as far as the length they’ve been doing it. Kanye was producing in ’99, maybe even ’98….I’m not really sure. Em broke at Scribble Jam in ’98, right before the Rap Olympics if I remember. And Jay dropped Reasonable Doubt in ’95, right? ’94? So we are talking a matter of a couple years. And yes, I’m saying Kanye has more hits than Eminem and Jay-Z.
Lose Yourself and ’99 Problems are each respective artists biggest commercial hits. “New York” and “Crazy in Love” could be counted for Jay, but Crazy was a Beyonce’ song right? Whereas Kanye has made 5 or 6 generation defining songs. It would be like comparing Led Zeppelin and the Yardbirds. Were each band amazing, groundbreaking, innovative, and historically ‘epic’ in their own right? Of course. Zeppelin just did everything that much better. Just like Kanye. And personally I prefer Em over anyone. Mainly because I followed his career from Scribble all the way up, and I spent most of my teenage years in the backpacking/freestyle scene of the mid-west. So I’m partial to punch-lines and freestyles, but Kanye makes the songs of a generation. And for that matter, so do Jay and Em. I just think Kanye has a library of tunes that crush anyone else, when placed next to each other.
But we are probably waxing philosophical on something that doesn’t really matter. What matters is hip-hop is well and good, and hip-hop is playing the soundtrack to our lives. So I’m OK with that. Glad everyone is getting the love they deserve.
And yes history does exist for a reason. As far as Eminem doing this WAYYYY before Kanye and blazing a trail–I would like to point out that Kanye was actually in the game the same time as Em, and being way more relevant. When Em was breaking on Soundbombing 2, and Sway and Tech, Kanye spent 1998 and 1999 producing tracks for Foxy Brown, Goodie Mob, JD, and Harlem World. Makes me wonder how long you’ve been around this ‘music’ thing.
Haha… I was hoping you would go there, because it only helps to prove my point, while putting some history out there… oh how quickly we forget. Obscure “Chyna Doll” production credits are considered trailblazing now? Wow. Not to mention that comparing Ye’s production credits on horrible albums from ’98 and ’99 to Em’s quadruple platinum (in the US alone), Grammy winning Slim Shady LP in ’99 is not even fair. You can’t honestly be serious; it’s apples and oranges.
No one ever heard those songs Kanye produced back then, while Em was selling out tours and performing at award shows; and by the way he did it rapping, not producing. Again, apples and oranges. Kanye doesn’t go to a concert and perform the Harlem World songs he produced, much like Eminem won’t go on stage and perform Nas’ “The Cross.” Also, no one knew Kanye existed back then (he’s said that himself! Lol), much like no one knew who Eminem was when he dropped “Infinite” in ’96, his actual debut album. That album had no cultural impact whatsover, so I don’t consider it relevant to my argument, much like I don’t consider Ye’s Goodie Mob production credits from ’99 relevant.
People paid attention to Kanye beginning with Beanie’s “The Truth,” but he really became relevant producing for Jay-Z, specifically “The Blueprint.” See the correlation here? It’s why Ye calls him Big Brother, but I’m sure you knew that already, since he dedicated an entire song to the guy that made him famous. That’s 2001. Even then, nobody outside of the hip-hop hemisphere paid attention to him as a rapper until “All Falls Down,” or “Slow Jamz” perhaps. That’s late ’03-’04. There are 5 years between The Slim Shady LP and College Dropout, and 8 years between Reasonable Doubt and College Dropout. Even if you say, well, Jay-Z really didn’t impact the mainstream until “Hard Knock Life,” that’s still 6 years (and 6 albums, all #1 and platinum, mind you) before College Dropout.
So you can agree to disagree, but the history is there and it doesn’t lie. I love that all these guys are starting to get top-billing in these predominantly rock festivals. It shows how far the genre has come. I just thought the writer shouldn’t have made such a blanket statement about Kanye’s greatness, when he’s certainly not the first rapper to do it at this level. Heck, even if his star is somewhat dim nowadays, Snoop Dogg’s been a household name across the world for almost 20 years now. The downfall of many human beings (and their blogs) is their lack of perspective and the inability to put things in context.
I can’t even read all of that. All I got to was you debating him going on tour and performing the songs etc… I was simply stating Kanye has been in hip-hop for that time. IN….Hip…..Hop. That’s all. You wanna talk apples and oranges? The matter of 3 o4 for years difference in between each artists legit solo albums…..come on. Either way, like I said, hip-hop is alive and well and it’s playing the soundtrack for our lives. I’m cool with that.
No one ever heard those songs he was producing back then…wtf?…….come on man.
Big Mac just take the L already