A year later, he was able to coax a very inspired performance out of Jay-Z on the "Watch The Throne" collaboration album, then delivered a new sonic approach with "Yeezus" in 2013. After a significant departure from the blueprint he laid out with his first three albums with the release of "808s & Heartbreak," Kanye pivoted again in 2010 with "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy," which remains the high point of his music career. If dealing with the idea of celebrity remains a continuous struggle by Kanye, the past half-decade has proven that the experimentation and elevation of his music remains a priority. Because I'm a celebrity and that's something I have to deal with." "I need to analyze how I'm going to make it through the rest of this life," Kanye said. While Taylor has micromanaged the image she would like to project to the public, Kanye has always rejected the idea of pandering to the rules of celebrity, even as he's gone from one of Jay-Z's producers on The Blueprint to one of the most accomplished musicians of our generation.įundamentally, despite the manic tweetstorms before the release of album, the occasional interview soundbite that makes you shake your head in confusion, and the many missteps that feel unnecessary, the unpredictability of Kanye as the anti-celebrity without a particular blueprint of where he is going is a huge part of why his career remains an exhilarating adventure 12 years after the release of "The College Dropout", over a decade after he set forth his career narrative with the outro track "Last Call."Įven as his fame has exploded over the past decade, Kanye has always felt like the celebrity who wasn't supposed to make it this far, and watching someone without those pre-packaged ideas challenge themselves and embrace the larger platform and the opening of opportunities to explore with his music and in other platforms gives us a unique lens to view an artist's career through.Īt the end of his apology segment with Leno, Kanye announced he was taking some time off (at the time, his mother Donda had just recently passed away and he would cancel a tour with Lady Gaga to retreat from the spotlight). The Kanye-Taylor saga has only ever been fascinating from a single perspective: the juxtaposition of how both artists handled their celebrity status.
The popular Nemek Gothic font tees originally designed by Cali Thornhill DeWitt were not part of the merch table. Instead, fans had to choose between the previously released airbrushed tee with images of Donda West and Robert Kardashian and tees and hoodies with a new Saint Pablo tour logo. While it didn't stop many of the attendees from splurging upwards of $100 on a brand new hoodie, many were disappointed at the bare bones selection of the merchandise available, which didn't feature the Nemek Gothic font tees designed by Cali Thornhill DeWitt. Many of those who wanted to be the first one in the building were motivated by the tour merchandise that would be available, especially after the 21 pop-up store locations he launched worldwide the week prior which spanned New York to Cape Town and places in between.
On Saturday, with a lineup wrapped around the First Niagara Center in Buffalo, New York extending into an adjacent parking lot an hour before the doors to the arena opened, Kanye West made the second stop of his Saint Pablo tour.