Early this year, I had a dream. A dream that I'd get to see all my favorite rappers in one year. Gambino, Chance, and Kanye. It was definitely abstract, because at the point that I had this dream, no one even know if Gambino was actually alive, Chance had 0 money, and Kanye was sold out. But I'm not a fan of "no", and suddenly, IT WAS ALL HAPPENING.
September: Gambino
October: Chance
November: Kanye
Let's talk about Kanye for a minute though:
You've probably heard about the now-infamous concert. He performed half of three songs, delivered a 20 minute rant on the state of the music industry, managed to come for Beyonce, Drake, DJ Khaled, and MTV all in one go and then dropped the mike and left. Two days later, he cancelled the whole Saint Pablo tour. A lot of people assumed I'd be upset about it, but honestly I didn't mind. I paid to see Kanye and get my t-shirt, and both of those things happened, so I didn't regret a thing.
I'm always really uncomfortable with the term "perform" as it's applied to musicians, because it reminds me of animals in a circus. With Kanye cancelling his concert, a lot of people talked about how they "paid to see him perform", as though their money was his on switch, and he was obliged to play no matter what. I remember the same sort of backlash surrounding the concert he cancelled after Kim was assaulted in Paris. It kind of freaks me out how people rendered him inhuman. I don't think my $60 ticket bought a piece of his soul, and while I was disappointed to not hear him perform "I Love Kanye", I still love Kanye. (I think this is also introducing a conversation that needed to happen about black men and mental health problems. )
To me, concerts aren't about the music - they're about the artist. If I just wanted to listen to their music, I could do it from my bed for a whopping $4.99 a month on Apple Music, and I wouldn't have to get dressed. I go to concerts because I want to see them, their vision for their art. For Gambino, it was a dome in the desert. For Chance, it was anamatronic puppets from his past. For Kanye, it was Beyonce hurting his feelings. That's why I think people should pay for live music from their favorite artists. Because for every Gambino, who I'm pretty sure lives on some higher plane with no economy, there's a Chance, who's supporting all his music on his own. You gotta cop a t-shirt and keep them supplied with snacks.
Plus, the puppets were pretttttty dope.
x Justina
ps. shoutout to jordan for driving me around/feeding me/taking photos of me/
enabling my insanity for this.
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