If Kanye West decides to retire from music, he certainly has a career in marketing. The man is a master of branding and attention grabbing, and this weekend he proved this to New Yorkers in a big way.
West took to Twitter to announce a 2 a.m. pop-up concert in the East Village. More than 2K people showed up outside Webster Hall to see Yeezy perform. Unfortunately, the pop-up didn’t quite pop off and things got ugly from there.
It started with the Governor’s Ball music festival. West, along with Death Cab For Cutie and Two Door Cinema Club, was rained out, as the city was pelted with showers this weekend.
Understandably, fans were quite upset.
West tweeted that he was going to perform at 2 a.m. He shared, “Show at 2am SOLD OUT.” Fans showed up at Webster Hall to get a glimpse of Kanye. At some point, more than 2K people were gathered in the street.
However, at 2 a.m., Ye didn’t hit the stage. He was instead escorted out of the venue by his guards. He was led through the crowd to his SUV.
Things got interesting for onlookers, as the SUV began circling and West waved to the faithful followers through the sunroof. He even stopped to shake a few hands. Shortly after, Webster Hall tweeted that fans should leave the street.
While there’s no official word, many believe the show was canceled due to the bustling street crowd. Rumors leaked that West wanted the mayor to shut down four blocks and erect huge screens on the street so fans could watch from outside.
Fans damaged cars and became unruly before police officers became involved, aggressively clearing the street.
While many people were upset, others were excited that Kanye clearly wanted to perform.
“Nothing Kanye can do about it — it’s the cops,” Trevor Lastella, to the New York Post.