By Nooreen Kara

Carling Brixton Academy - 22 November 2004

Man of the year Kanye West kicked off his first full UK tour with a sold-out London date at the Brixton Academy on Monday. At the start of the calendar, seeing a video about a producer who had just escaped death and been signed to arguably the best record label around made almost everybody pause. The ‘College Dropout’ has since gone multi-platinum, and he was in the UK to top off his success with a potential six-figure money-making tour... “and for that paper/look how low we a'stoop” – almost £30 tickets? Tut tut, Mr West.

A couple of Brooklyn MCs started off the show in an attempt to hype up the crowd, but shit didn’t move and after a couple of songs and a weak London reception they shuffled offstage. It was Talib Kweli who injected life into the crowd as he got the real show underway. He and his DJ, Hi-Tek, exhilaratingly performed a number of hits including new cuts ‘I Try’ and ‘Broken Glass’, old classics ‘The Blast’, ‘Shock Body’, and Kanye-produced ‘Get By’, before taking it back to the old skool, spitting some old-time favourites and inviting people from the crowd to break-dance. The crowd definitely took to Kweli, and a plus point came when the security guards tried to usher the break-dancers off-stage, only for Kweli to stop and tell them to go backstage. British talent Est’elle also received a warm welcoming as she momentarily joined Kweli to freestyle on Snoop Dogg’s ‘Drop It Like It’s Hot’.

Kanye West hit the stage around half nine to an ultimate roar of around 5,000 hip-hop hungry revellers. He blasted out ‘Get ‘Em High’ wearing his typical preppy clothes – an argyle blue and white sweater, white blazer and cream-coloured trousers. A rapper rocking the preppy look… successfully?? That just shows how far Kanye has come this year.

He then went through ‘We Don’t Care’ before briefly pausing and stretching his arms. At first it looked like he may have pulled a muscle before he beamed and said, “I’m just warming up for the next song.” Suddenly, all that could be heard were 5,000 voices yelling out lyrics to ‘The New Workout Plan’, a capella style. His immense and enticing stage presence was so great that even I, as a girl, couldn’t help but yell out as he rapped, “It's a party tonight and ooh she's so excited/Tell me who's invited: you, your friends and my d***.”

He then bought on stage GLC, an upcoming artist, and the two went through his breathtaking catalogue of album songs including reminiscing next single ‘Spaceship’, near-death-inspired ‘Through The Wire’, the rhythmic ‘School Spirit’ (complete with a very nifty dance) and an absorbing performance of ‘All Falls Down’. Other songs included Dilated People’s hit ‘This Way’ and Slum Village’s ‘Selfish’, snippets from Twista’s ‘Overnight Celebrity’ and ‘Slow Jamz’, plus a very witty freestyle – “Excuse me miss, I don’t appreciate your rudeness, but if you strip, I’m sure I could appreciate the nudeness”.

Despite this being just one of a string of concerts he’s performing this week, Kanye made this show seem so intimate. The crowd were definitely hyped up, and Kanye responded by making himself feel closer to his fans, continuously telling the Academy’s workers to turn the lights on his crowd so he could see us. What’s more, Kanye jumped off the stage into the gap between the crowd and him and took the time to shake everyone’s hands in the front row.

Towards the end of the night, he suddenly walked off stage and his DJ abruptly disappeared… Seriously, his DJ went down and didn’t come back up. Leaving without playing ‘Jesus Walks’? Never! The audience was reassured as a few minutes later he came blazing out with an encore of the familiar bass-heavy marching beat and Kanye passionately burst onto the scene once again. He then performed his excellent verse on the soulful ‘Never Let You Down’ and ‘Two Words’ before a wistful finale of ‘Family Business’.

Onstage, Kanye showed frightening charisma and energetic presence, was rhythmically compelling, humorous and spit his rhymes with flair. The £30 tickets were definitely worth every penny and the sooner he gets his busy ass back to London, the better.

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