I went to a Yeezy Season 3 presentation stream and all I got was a great time

Anteneh Gebre
Aug 23, 2017 · 4 min read
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

I don’t wanna go to this shit. A friend called me at 8am last week and asked if I wanted to go. I was getting ready for work and FOMO lead made me pull the trigger. I didn’t think about the possibility of getting a live stream via random twitter link like I did for season 1. I definitely forgot Kanye and Tidal were still dating. And because I got a new job, the idea of spending money on something I could view later for free (just like any other piece of video entertainment I was supposed to pay for) didn’t bother me much. I said yes, paid twenty-five (25!) American dollars and changed my work schedule so I could experience the latest creations of a man who has inspired and disappointed me more times than anyone I know in real life. Time to go see Kanye.

I showed up 30 minutes early to get decent seats and walked into a movie theater packed with KTT members in their best Kanye and Jerry Lorenzo costumes. I’m surprised I was allowed inside without a flight jacket. I stared at the screen, looking at what I joked was a giant blanket hiding human pyramids of models in Madison Square Garden. The show started only 20 or so minutes late, which is remarkable if you know anything about an ongoing beef between rappers and time. Enter the Kardashians, Kanye, and in maybe the most relieving moment of the event, a healthy looking Lamar Odom. Following the royal family, Virgil Abloh, A$AP Rocky, Travis Scott, amongst many others rappers. Your entire Instagram feed is here.

The clothes were basically the same as season 2 for the most part, the most noticeable change being a brighter color palette. More red, yellow, and light green than previous seasons but that’s about all that changed for the mens line. Native American and African inspired patterns were featured on a few knits for the women’s collection. New to the footwear line is the Yeezy 1050 boot, which is basically the 950 boot with a very croc like material around the midsole and toe box with a Gore-Tex upper. A new 350 Boost was also unveiled, featuring different patterns running along the side of the sneaker. Still military inspired. Still the occasional shearling lined coat. Same Hunger Games jokes on the TL, same Yeezy.

Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

Of course, this wasn’t the only offering Kanye brought to the party. He figured he’d kill 2 birds with 1 historic venue rental and play his new album, freshly titled The Life of Pablo, for us. The second he grabbed the laptop, he became the greatest aux cord DJ of all time. There were too many moments were the crowd in my theatre (and thus I assume MSG as well) went crazy to keep track of them all but here are some highlights:

· Chance The Rapper’s jaw dropping verse on the album opener “Ultralight Beam”

· The “If Young Metro don’t trust you” drop playing on “Father Stretch My Hands”

· The Taylor Swift mention

· SUPER supermodel Naomi Cambell being on stage with the other models

· The Rob x Blac Chyna mention

· The Ray J mention

The one moment that trumped all of these is the song “I Love Kanye”. Anybody who was willing to pay to see Kanye play music off his laptop is a huge fan and thus has heard the “I love the old Kanye” rant from friends/family at least 647 million times in their life. Kanye addressing that rant from both sides was super fan heaven and when it ended, the entire theater erupted with applause.

As the album played and we all looked at oversized sweaters, it suddenly hit me that Kanye didn’t disappoint. This whole week, I was dreading going to this event because I was so sure he was going to throw up a brick. Whether it’s his transparency, his relatability (I know it’s not a word ~middle finger emoji~), or that he’s made so much great music, it really sucks to watch Kanye take L’s. After all the tweets, the album titles, the photos of that notebook; there was no way this thing was gonna live up to expectations. But off the first listen, it actually did. I don’t remember being this pleased immediately with a Kanye album since Graduation. I liked Yeezy Seasons 1 & 2 so Season 3 not being a huge departure was fine by me. I still can’t believe he didn’t miss. In Madison Square Garden, playing “one on no one.” The album, the clothes, and the event; all wet.

Swish.

(Originally published on Austeremag.com on February 12, 2016)

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