When Jay-Z and Kanye West decided to form the supergroup which led to the masterful album Watch The Throne, the two rappers decided to travel overseas to begin production.
After spending a few days together in Paris, Jay-Z and Kanye West had completed nearly half of the songs that would later appear on the album.
So it was only right for the duo to return a third time to the country where most of it all began.
Rolling out magazine was there as Jay-Z and Kanye West played before a sold out crowd at Bercy in Paris. The crowd filled the venue an hour before the performance. But when Jay-Z and Kanye West were finally elevated on the two stages that served as 10 foot thrones, audience members were taken on a hip-hop/rap ride that lasted well over three hours.
Both artists were dressed in all-black as Jay-Z wore a Brooklyn Nets snap back hat and Kanye West wore his coveted sneakers, the Air Yeezy 2.
For the first hour of the show, the two tagged team through their solos songs as Kanye West rapped songs “Can’t Tell Me Nothing,” “Jesus Walks,” “Diamonds Are Foverver,” and “Flashing Lights.,” and Jay-Z performed “Where I’m From,” “Public Service Announcement,” and “You Don’t Know.”
The two returned together and sat down at the edge of the stage to perform their ode to fatherhood, “New Day.” ‘At the end of the performance, Jay-Z said “We’re sending this one out to the real fathers who take care of their kids.”
Jay-Z also covered his hits “Big Pimipn,'” H-to the-Izzo,” and one of the crowd’s favorites, “New York.”
Kanye West returned to the elevated stage in the center of the crowd wearing all red to compliment the red stage lights that shined brightly as he sung “Runaway” and “Heartless.”
Surprisingly, Kim Kardashian was there to meet Kanye West after his short set and walked backstage with him. Jay-Z filled the time with “Big Pimipn” and “99 Problems.”
The two rappers returned to the stage together to watch a montage of past inequalities while Louis Armstrong’s “Wonderful World” played in the background.
The crowd booed as footage of the KKK was shown on the two giant screens.
But, oddly enough, Jay- Z and Kanye’s use of a racial epithet in the bouncy “N—s In Paris” took the crowd to an insane level.
With Paris in the title, most of the crowd felt a close connection to the song. Even with the controversial song title, they have accepted it to be as thematic as Jay-Z’s aforementioned hit “New York.”
In the end, Jay-Z and Kanye West broke a record for playing one song more than 11 times in a row. But deeper than the significance of their appetite for the party track is the fact that rap and hip-hop has touched lives all around the world.
Thousands at the Paris Bercy weren’t fluent in english, but they related to the slang of a young music genre that continues to prove its worth and power.–amir shaw
