I didn’t go downtown a few weekends ago with the intention of going to the Made In America festival. In fact, as a Philly local, I found everything about Made In America obscene. Firstly, I was turned off to the whole thing after its launch when Jay Z came to Philadelphia to announce it. I went to the Art Museum (“The Rocky Steps” to out out-of-towners) so that I could see a celebrity I “fan out” for and to get exclusive pictures for the newspaper I was working for at the time (FYI [the rapper] Freeway didn’t sneak on stage. Jay invited him). There, I saw that I was naïve in thinking this would be a hip-hop production. I didn’t take into account that Jay traded “Summer Jam stages” for Glatonsbury-esque venues a long time ago. The point was driven home when I saw a White woman get haughty with an intern working the press area who asked her for her credentials for entry into the press area. She told the intern (in the most elitist of tones) that it was her event.
Furthermore (maybe a reach), I find it so disrespectful. Don’t get me wrong. It’s awesome that the city is getting that business, but I find it a little dickish to charge a hundred dollars to hang out on Benjamin Franklin Parkway when The Roots host the nation’s largest, FREE outdoor concert at the exact same location every year on the 4th of July. WDAS FM used to have their Unity Day on “The Parkway” every summer which featured venerable acts.
I decided to walk down and lurk around the festival for a bit to do people watching. I was also going to try to connect with some college buddies who were going at the entrance. Throngs of bubbly, young Caucasoid concertgoers surged through the streets of downtown Philadelphia. You knew some of them were on an adventure to the big city for the day. I found myself in an awkward moment when I got caught in a unisex swarm of amped youth chanting “In West Philadelphia, born and raised! On the playground is where I spend most of my days!” They finished the whole “Fresh Prince theme.” I wanted to get away. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I slowed my meander so they would pass.
When I reached the mouth of The Parkway, I heard “Tickets! Who needs tickets?!” The brother yelling caught eye contact with me. Before I knew it, I had a ticket. I wasn’t doing anything better. I had the money and I couldn’t beat the price. I could just hang out with my friends.
I wasn’t too into the acts slated to perform at Made In America except for one. His name is Kanye West. Maybe you’ve heard of him. I got the opportunity to see him perform live once in 2003 when he first started bubbling. He opened for openers at Howard University’s Yardfest during Homecoming. I was a Bison in my sophomore year and I dug what Kanye did. Being the progressive bunch that we were at Howard, we were all hip to Yeezy due to his circulating mixtape tracks. He was getting ready to release his debut album, ‘College Dropout,’ a provocative title to a 19-year-old collegiate stoner like me. I remember seeing the bear mascot and it intriguing me.
I didn’t know that the man I saw on the Yardfest stage would soon become “Yeezus.” He was humble, performing his tracks (“Through The Wire” was his single at the time), but he turned in a very lively performance for the early, semi-interested crowd (a not-so-coveted time slot for Howard’s Homecoming). They were far more amped when Kanye’s label mates, the Young Gunz and Juelz Santana, performed their hits of the day later. Kanye even got on stage in the capacity of an entourage member, a move seemingly beneath Yeezus.
That was over ten years, tens of millions of album/single sales/sneaker and countless Illuminati rumors ago. I’ve loved most of his material. I didn’t know that the Kanye West I saw on stage in DC would be the man to go on to represent me in hip-hop and (finally) be the voice for all of us college educated, mentally talented, middle-class Blacks. In my opinion, Kanye has had the most influence on artistry in hip-hop forcing everyone to step their games up. Yeah, he rants every now and then, but (at least for me) a lot of what he’s saying is in interviews is stuff that I have thought in different ways. He says things I wish I could say. While there seem to be a lot who find Kanye’s rants childish and annoying, I appreciate them, and now I was about to see one live!
The only similarities between Yardfest 2003 and Made In America 2014 was that I was standing in an audience watching with Howard buddies and the surprisingly heavy presence of throwback jerseys. The jerseys were a little tighter than we used to wear ours copped with tuition refund checks. Some of these kids didn’t know what they were doing. I mean, the guy with the Larry Johnson Charlotte Hornets jersey knew what he was doing as did the one with the Jesus Shuttlesworth Lincoln High jersey (which I have). The guys with Lamar Odom Clippers or Chris Webber Sixers jerseys didn’t quite get how nostalgia works. I would’ve rocked my Howard ,Larry Spriggs jersey if I wasn’t already wearing my custom tee shirt honoring Eric Garner, John Crawford, Mike Brown and Ezell Ford. It has the four first names in red and ampersands in green in Helvetica font stacked on top of each other in the trendy fashion. The hashtag #BlackAugust2014 at the bottom.
As I walked through the energy, ( well, first I was handed a sample of black soap by a White woman which was funny to me) I made my way to the area designated for the charitable causes. Kanye’s Donda’s House and his “big bro’s” Shawn Carter Scholarship Foundation had booths right next to each other. The booth was run by Donnie Smith, wife of Donda’s House co-founder, Donnie Smith. I laughed with er about the time I saw her husband booed off stage at Yardfest. There weren’t any extra Kanye plots at Yardfest. I was impressed by the group’s mission of encouraging the youth’s creativity. In fact, they were letting concertgoers record bars on a
There was a certain magic to an artist of Kanye’s caliber to be performing in front of the Art Museum (I’ll excuse the bedazzled mask he wore at points). I liked what I saw as the marijuana fumes lingered and my friend purged every meal he had this week in a recycling bin. The performance was light years beyond the Yardfest show. Nobody was at Yardfest for Kanye (I can’t remember who headlined that year), but there were plenty of suburban kids rocking “Yeezy Taught Me” tee shirts at Made In America. I mean, I was on stage at that Yardfest with my friend D. King who was pretty much in a boat similar to Kanye’s at that point. I wasn’t going to find myself on that Made In America stage if my life depended on it.
I, like many others, wasn’t so keen on the ‘Yeezus’ album when it came out, but I didn’t hate it. In a conversation I had about it, I came to the conclusion that Kaye’s experimenting and he should be allowed to do that. I have a feeling if he released a track like Hendrix’s “…And The Gods Made Love,” he’d catch Hell whereas Jimi was venerated. However, when that ‘Black Skinhead” dropped, EVERYONE out there lost it. Same for “New Slaves.” At the “It’s leaders and it’s followers” part came on, Kanye let the crowd handle it. He brought it back twice. It was ironic, because everyone chanting the bars was following his lead. I was also impressed when he decreed a mosh pit in front of him during “Runaway.” It was a real “Dance, puppets, dance” kind of thing.
Then, the time came for the rant. I was ready and on a high from his electric performance. As usual, I liked what he had to say. I knew where he was coming from when he said he feels like he’s the only one who’s not crazy. He spoke my grandmother’s truth when he said that Blacks have to work twelve times harder than the majority to make it in this society. However, I was a bit miffed at the fact that while talking in-depth about racism, as outspoken as he is, not a word about Ferguson was uttered. He bigged himself up for being in an interracial marriage, but nothing about atrocities this summer. I’m not one who feels celebrities should be obligated to speak on current events, but it’s not far-fetched to expect some words about Eric, John, Mike, Ezell and the others from the man who went on MTV and said that the President of the United States didn’t care about Black people after Katrina. That didn’t ruin the show for me, but it made me think that Kanye is as conceited as folks say.
All in all, I’m glad that I went besides my disappointment in him for having a race talk in such a forum and neglecting to address the excessive police brutality going on. I was a Kanye fan before, but after seeing him live, I feel I understand the music better. Also, judging from the reception he got, Kanye saying he’s the biggest rock star of all has some credence. He’s every bit of the genius he thinks he is. Much like Yardfest was probably the most fun I had in 2003, seeing Kanye perform at Made In America was the most fun I had in 2014.
The post Kanye West At Made In America: From Opener To Closer appeared first on Don Diva Magazine.