If the Jay-Z/Kanye West shows at Madison Square Garden tonight and tomorrow even come close to the show they played at the Izod Center this weekend, New York is in for a rapping thrill ride.
What made their collaboration on the record “Watch the Throne” interesting was how their very different styles, placed together, gave the tracks a dynamic. That same chemistry was in play at Saturday’s show. Jay’s raps were street poetry, where images were delivered in staccato eruptions of words. Kanye layered more melodic qualities into complex rhythms that told stories. Together they were two sides to the same coin.
The “Watch the Throne” concert opens and closes with mini sets of the strongest material from that summer release, including one of the night’s best offerings titled “Otis,” a back-to-the-future fusion where West and Mr. Z rap over a foundation of Otis Redding’s “Try a Little Tenderness.” At the close of the show the pair’s “N*ggas in Paris” from “The Throne” was the standout.
Other than the “Watch the Throne” bookends, the rest of the 40-song set stayed tightly focused on the pair’s individual greatest hits. The solo performances such as Jay doing “Empire State of Mind” and West testing his nu-gospel “Jesus Walks” were lavish arena productions where you got exactly what you expected.
For a show that started with the two rappers working the music from separate stages set at opposite ends of the arena, the concert’s surprises were laid in the pieces performed together. The J & K meld on West’s “Monster,” for instance, percolated with fast patter and forced Jay to adapt to the song’s cascading musical quality. Later, West tried his hard-core skills helping on Jay songs like “Hard Knock Life” and “99 Problems.”
Making the men stretch, like this, added performance excitement because of the duo’s hip-hop instinct to compete.
That battle even went to the field of fashion, where Jay-Z was very conservative in a totally black get-up of a Yankee cap, T-shirt and cargo pants. West, on the other hand, was more adventurous as the show progressed. While we don’t recommend his grandma sweater, black leather leggings and a black leather skirt for the ’hood, he looked quite comfortable in his ensemble.
Even if you could forget Kanye’s sartorial style, this show is notable as a coming-of-age for hip-hop performances because stagecraft has finally been given equal status with the beats. The multiple stages gave everyone a chance for a seat with a good, close view, and the special effects were visually stunning. With bursts of flames belching out of the stage and elegant laser lights slicing the interior sky of the arena, the “Watch the Throne” concert seemed more like a visit to Oz than New Jersey.