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12Kanye Europe tour super-synopsis
Howdy! I know I’ve been pretty slow in updating the site lately… So now I will attempt to recap the last 3 months in one paragraph. If you want, try reading out the whole thing in one breath at light speed like the micro-machines guy.
After the Truth tour I had a bunch of one-off shows, some with Kanye and some by myself. Then before I could say “shalom” I was off on a 3-week tour in Europe and Japan with Kanye. Talib Kweli was also on the bill for most of the European shows. That tour was awesome because, as opposed to the Usher tour, it was our show so we could play for as long as we wanted and improvise a lot during the set. I also got to extend my solo. Actually I made up a new one entirely. The crowds were great. You could definitely feel a closer connection with them, compared to the stadiums from the previous tour. These shows had on average 5,000 people. After that, Japan was crazy as ever. Always great for buying records and shoes. Noteworthy fact: one of our Japanese interpreters was going to take care of Hall & Oates after our tour. Finally I came home in December and got a bit of rest. I picked up on the DVD, which is coming along great. I can’t wait till it drops. And for the last couple of weeks I’ve been doing spot shows here and there and working on my album and DVD when I’m at home.
Now enjoy these pictures after the jump.
MTV and tour wrap-up
MTV, here I come! I just found out that my piece is airing this evening on Direct Effect (somewhere between 7:30p and 8p)! And after that it will run on MTV News for the rest of the evening and all through tomorrow, on MTV, MTV2 and MTVU. Suffering succotash!
The tour is officially over. Shout out to all my friends who came out to see me at these shows. I’ll update the show dates very soon. I’ve got a bunch of more gigs with Kanye lined up, and of course some of my own shows as well… so stay tuned!
Hurricanes, bowling and more.
Right after my last update, we spent a week in Florida in the heat of hurricane season. I remember one day we almost got hit; we left Jacksonville in the morning to go to Tallahassee, and later that day Jacksonville lost power and had tornado warnings and all sorts of funky stuff. Meanwhile we all went bowling in Tallahassee. I hit a strike on my first try, which is a miracle because I’ve never bowled over 100.
Chappelle and double-Chicago
Last weekend was probably the most action-packed, fun-filled, jet-setting, zig-zag-zigging adventure we’ve had since the beginning of the tour. Here’s a summary.
Friday we all flew to Memphis after a 4-day break. As usual, we played our show in the evening and then went out to an afterparty. This one was kind of far though, and we only got back at 3. Here’s the twist: at 5am we had to leave the hotel to catch our private jet. Wait wait wait, a private jet, you ask? Yes, the one Dave Chappelle got us so that Kanye could play at his outdoor Block Party in Brooklyn at 2 in the afternoon. (Oh, THAT private jet.) So with 1 hour of sleep, we flew to New York and went to this Chappelle event, which boasted performances by The Roots, Common, Mos & Kweli, Erykah Badu, Dead Prez, Jill Scott and the reunion of the Fugees. And Michel Gondry was filming the whole thing for some DVD. To open up the show, Chappelle got a 100 piece marching band from Ohio to replay “Jesus Walks”. Then Kanye performed for half an hour, backed by a band that could be described as “Questlove and friends”. And I was up there scratching, having a blast.
As soon as we were done playing we had to sprint back to the airport (the private-jet-airport) and fly to Chicago in time for an 8pm concert. So we missed the rest of the Block Party. The line-up in Chicago was: Ray-J (!), John Legend, Kanye and Destiny’s Child. After our set I went back to the hotel to catch another hour of sleep, because we had another show coming up at midnight. So I missed Destiny’s Child. Or rather, they missed me. But the midnight show was incredible. There were no other performers, so we played for an hour and a half. And finally, at 5am that night, we got on the bus and left for Kansas City…
On the road again!
Cali Love and Desert Heat
The morning after the MTV awards we flew straight to LA. We hadn’t performed in a couple of days so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but that night turned out to be the best show we gave since the beginning of the tour. LA gave us that California Love! Man, the Staples Center is huuuuuge. And Diana Ross was there that night.
The next day we drove to Phoenix, and on the way there the air conditioning broke down on the bus. We were stuck in the Arizona desert for a few hours while the bus driver fiddled with the fan belt and the thermostat and god knows what else. Note to self: the desert is hot.
Then we had an off day in LA, where we all did our laundry. Fun, no? And we played in LA again yesterday. For some reason that show started an hour earlier (at 7:10). I wish they hadn’t done that. But it was a great show regardless. And Diana Ross’ daughter was there this time. I’m starting to see a pattern here…
Carrots and Asparagus
We’ve been doing shows practically every day lately. That means that I get treated to the delightful backstage catering, which might just be the best part of this tour. I’ve noticed that in almost every city, the vegetable selection includes carrots and asparagus. I wonder if that’s on Usher’s rider.
The shows have been great. There was one show in Cincinnati where my records skipped during my solo. I hate it when that happens but I guess it’s inevitable, seeing how many shows we’ve done. I also switched up my solo a bit recently. I had to make it more accessible to these Usher crowds… It was actually a challenge for me to figure out a way to show these crowds what turntablism is about without going over their heads.
Now we’re in Miami. Yesterday Kanye had to attend the BMI awards (where R Kelly gave a mesmerizing performance — the man is a genius) and later last night we played a party for Boost mobile.
People are still wearing trucker hats in Miami. Didn’t they get the memo?
Workout Plan shoot and New Orleans
Let’s see now, to pick up where we left off… the Toronto gig was cool, it was almost like a homecoming gig. I wish we could have a show in Montreal though. The next day we all flew to LA in the wee hours of the morning, because we had 2 days off and Kanye needed to shoot a video for “The New Workout Plan”. Those 2 days were insane. We got to LA and went straight to the shoot, and stayed there till 4:30 in the morning. Went back the next day and stayed till 6:30am. Really, the shoot should have taken 3 days but we had to go play in Dallas after that. Kanye got all the famous video girls to appear in his video. I recognized a lot of them from XXL Eye Candy. Mmmm… candy. It was funny to try and approach them. Some were a bit high on themselves but some were also very nice. Common came through at one point. The video’s gonna be hilarious but I don’t want to give it away… Overall it was a fun shoot, although very exhausting.
First shows on the Truth Tour
Holy macaroni. We’ve done 3 shows so far and they keep getting better. It started off pretty crazy. All of us except Kanye and John Legend flew into Hampton, Virginia on the 3rd, 2 days before the first show. I got there and met the rest of the guys: Don C (Kanye’s manager), GLC and Consequence, Bobby, who’s in charge of merch and who I share hotel rooms with, and Lil Man, who’s Kanye’s right-hand man/barber/wardrobe guy. I had no idea what our set was going to be like; I wasn’t even 100% sure if I would get to do a solo set. All I knew was that we had a 35 minute slot and that we wouldn’t have a lot of time for rehearsals.
First diary entry
Guess what folks! You might have heard that Kanye West and Usher are on tour together this summer. Well it turns out that Kanye asked me to be his DJ for this tour! So I won’t be at the August Vinyl Kombat events, but here’s my schedule with Kanye for the next 2 months. I’ll be keeping a little journal on here, so come back and check out the site in a few days!
Through the wiiiiiiiire…
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- There's Iberia, and there's Siberia.
