Kanye West closed out Lollapalooza Sunday night. After my experience seeing him at Bonnaroo (see earlier post) and my disappointment with most of "Graduation," my expectations for his set couldn't have been any lower, so I was shocked that he delivered what was probably the best non-Roots hip hop show I've seen. He was on stage with a large band and several backup singers (the only pre-recorded parts were the verses of high profile guest singers) and rapped with tremendous energy and passion. Don't worry, I still think he's a douchebag. Fortunately, in the interests of comedy, he also brought his ego.
Here's a close approximation of his monologue about halfway through the show:
"I want you to tell your kids about me. Years from now, when they telling you what they into, I want you to say 'It ain't like Kanye.' In all other creative fields, you're supposed to push… in anything, in computers… If you were back in the '70s, with a big-ass computer that took up a whole room, and said 'In 20 years, we'll have a computer that fits in the palm of my hand,' that's what you're supposed to do. In music, they're obsessed with the past… If you dare say you're one of the greats, they'll call you crazy, asshole, out of your mind. If you dare to mention yourself in the same breath as James Brown, John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix… If I don't say who I am first, no one else will. My job onstage tonight is to try and be the greatest of all time… I'm not saying I'm there yet, not at all. But I'm going to the studio tonight, so that might change in the morning."
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