yeezy season 3 — my view

i come from a small town in south wales, i go to university in a larger town in south wales. yesterday i paid £13 to see kanye play his new album from an itunes playlist whilst a couple of hundred models stood around for 2 hours. sounds ridiculous right? well yes, to a certain extent i’d agree.

i was sat in a cinema in swansea with 60–70 other people. never heard of swansea? theres no real reason to. there’s not much culture here, it’s not a bastion of fashion and style. it’s a place where if you want to buy fashionable clothes you have the choice of zara, h&m and topshop. where there are 5 small venues devoted to live music.

60–70 people also paid £13 to see season 3 in swansea. now you could argue with somebody for days whether his fashion line has any merit or not, but i think they are missing the fundamental point. swansea isn’t ever going to see anything like this in our city, it’s just not going to happen. it’s never going to be a european capital of culture, banksy is never gonna paint on a wall here and fka twigs is not going to do a gig in sin city.

i’ve woken up today inspired. i’m not an artist or anything, just a consumer. why am i inspired? well, today i felt like dressing a bit better, i felt like spending a couple of more seconds in the mirror. i felt like not just listening to whatever came up on shuffle on itunes.

let’s say i’m not the only person in swansea who feels this way after last night, imagine the 60–70 people feel the same. now imagine every other person that went to see this in a small town or city in the uk. then, think about every other person that went to see this in a small town or city in europe. then, imagine everybody that saw this in a small town or city in the world. a couple of hundred thousand people would feel a bit more inspired today, they might start making music, start writing, start painting or stop dressing like the people around them.

last night wasn’t about the 20,000 people who were at madison square gardens in new york. or anybody that was in a sold out showing of season 3 in paris, london, berlin or any other major city. it’s about the people that make up our small towns and cities, that for once in their lives got to experience a cultural event like this only a 20 minute bus ride away from where they live.

this will be the lasting legacy of last night.