| Concert Review of Kanye West at Bill Graham Civic Aud. on Tue Dec 06, 2005 |
| Event Date |
| Tue Dec 06, 2005 |
| Source |
| San Francisco Chronicle |
| Concert Review Preview |
| A rapper with a message -- and a harp and string section Love him or hate him, rapper Kanye West speaks his own truth Neva Chonin, Chronicle Critic at Large Friday, December 9, 2005 REVIEW - A rapper with a message -- and a harp and string sectio... Halfway through his set at San Jose's HP Pavilion, Kanye West showed his audience three traits for which he's become famous: ego, talent and a ferocious social conscience. The frenetic opening beat of "Gold Digger" was still echoing through the venue when the rapper stopped the music. "I'm not starting the show until all the TVs in the VIP boxes are turned off," he announced. "If you can afford a VIP box, you can afford TiVo." True to his word, he continued to berate the offending VIPs until every set in the house flickered off. The non-VIP crowd cheered as he then launched into the shamelessly addictive hit single, dancing across the stage in a gold jacket and spitting rhymes condemning women who stalk men's wallets -- and, unusual for rap, the men who encourage them to do so. While the audience sang along to the chorus, he paused to remind them, "This is your only chance to say n -- tonight, so take advantage of it." Contrary to mainstream rap chic, West doesn't throw such words around. Contrary to Grammy etiquette, he doesn't stay silent when he feels he's been overlooked by the notoriously dusty awards ceremony. And contrary to the current "get rich or die tryin' " zeitgeist, he doesn't kowtow to the wealthy ... or VIPs who watch sports during his concerts. These are all qualities that have made him one of the most successful, lauded, hated and generally controversial artists in the pop spectrum. His 2004 album, "The College Dropout," topped both charts and critics lists. This year's follow-up, "Late Registration," has followed suit and landed him on the cover of Newsweek. West has done all this on his own terms, and in the process, has become a rare commodity in the homogenized rap world: unique and successful. As his Wednesday show proved, he has the live chops to translate his personality and musical skills into a live setting. West might not be the world's greatest lyricist or rapper, but his talent for blending a history of musical influences is formidable. Certainly he's the only platinum-selling rapper -- or any rapper, for that matter -- to ever perform with a live harp and a six-piece string section. Some of the 90-minute set's combinations were remarkable. The wild fiddling and propulsive beat of "The New Workout Plan" used the Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" to segue into the surreal "Addiction," in which stuttering trip-hop rhythms played off a collage of black-and-white images on an overhead screen before fading away into a jazz finale. West's backup band -- the string section, a DJ, a percussionist, a keyboardist and two singers -- played off the usual DAT samples with symbiotic ease. . |
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