The thrones of the late hip-hop kings Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac have officially been passed on and taken over by their heirs of the new millennium. The new Kings of rap, Jay-Z and Kanye West, shared their throne and conquered Montreal on Tuesday, November 22nd for a show at the Bell Centre. The hip-hop duo was on tour for their collaborative album Watch the Throne.
Both definitely proved to the audience that they could wear the same crown. The evening was action-packed with non-stop beats to dance to and verses to sing-along to. The duo started out with a battle of the verses with their hit “H.A.M,” on two separate massive cubes that rose 20 feet into the air. The two MCs were able to keep the 13 000 people crowd enthralled and standing up during their two and a half hour show, without any help of any band, dancers or even any of their collaborative artists. Their performance was accompanied by multicolored lasers, fire spout, images of wild animals, and of the American flag in the background.
As well as performing together, each one proved themselves king by rapping off short sets of their best hit singles. Jay Z started off with “Where I’m From” and “Jigga What Jigga Who.” Kanye responded with “Can’t Tell Me Nothing,” “Flashing Lights,” “All Falls Down,” and “Diamonds of Sierra Leone.” Song after song, the crowd kept the excitement as they sang along, screamed, cheered (at the top of their lungs!) and applauded. The momentum was ever increasing. The energy and hype was present during the entire concert as they performed an extensive 41-song playlist. Needless to say, there was never a dull moment, as each song that was played was a popular and catchy hit.
Each performed and demonstrated their distinct style and personality. Jay-Z is the elder, more experienced, spelling out from the street to success stories with “On to the Next One” and “99 Problems,” while Kanye showed his crude emotions with “Jesus Walks,” but also his skills and use of auto-tune, and got the crowd roaring with “Heartless.” Jay Z also showed off his more recent hits and got the entire audience singing along to his hometown anthem “Empire State of Mind.” Kanye even performed some of his songs from his most recent album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.
The Kings revealed their soft sides when they sat down and rapped to their future sons in “New Day,” which obviously has great meaning for Jay-Z who is expecting his first child with Beyonce, but for Kanye as well, who told the crowd to listen up because these were the best lyrics he had ever written.
The end of their performance was the most memorable moment of the concert. They played their super-catchy song “N***** in Paris” five times in row and performed another encore.
This is probably one of the best concerts I have ever been to and it will definitely be one to remember; two of the biggest hip hop artists together in one show, delivered a crazy performance to a hyper, enchanted, and delirious audience. I definitely watched the throne of the new kings of hip-hop.