So, Kanye West’s Donda Experience Performance at Miami’s loanDepot Park actually went down on 2.22.22 as advertised. The event featured special guests, none of the Kardashian clan, some surprising samples and a bit of technical difficulty — none of which was advertised, but it’s Ye so also not entirely unexpected.
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Engulfed by a shallow pool of water, over the course of the four-hour Miami event (2 of which was the actual concert), West roamed about the mostly bare stage, playing his new tracks along with some old, as a replica of his childhood Chicago home burned in the background.
Doubling down on his current vibes, Kanye’s Donda 2 tracks center on ego, feeling disconnected from his four young children, and his estrangement from Kim Kardashian. Taking a leap from last year's melancholy Donda, for a more confrontational and rage-filled, aggressive Donda 2.
Having already made his feelings about Kim’s current boyfriend Pete Davidson abundantly clear on social media, Ye took the opportunity to also take a few jabs at the comedian on stage.
“God saved me from that crash, just so I can beat Pete Davidson’s ass,” he rapped alongside The Game on “Eazy.”
And West wasn’t finished, on “Security,” he seemed to reference that text from Davidson that Kanye posted a screenshot of, where Pete extend an olive branch to him assuring that he had no intention of getting in the way of West’s relationship with his children.
“He’s not a threat, send him a text, put him in a timeout,” West rapped on the track. “I’ll put your security at risk. Never stand between a man and his kids.”
As for the intro of “Sci-Fi,” West surprising used Kardashian’s Saturday Night Live opening monologue, apparently trying to conjure up her happy memories of their relationship. “Honestly, all the ups, all the downs,” she says. “I mean, I married the best rapper of all time. Not only that, he’s the richest Black man in America,” which he conveniently cut off before Kim went on to quip that she divorced West because of his personality.
Elsewhere during the delayed concert, West paid tribute to his late friend Virgil Abloh, name-dropped CNN and Monica Lewinsky, and also managed to utilize Vice President Kamala Harris’ now infamous “we did it, Joe” audio into the “Louis Bags” intro.
Aside from airing of grievances, West also enlisted plenty of star power; including Playboi Carti, Jack Harlow, Alicia Keys, Migos, Pusha T, and of course the Sunday Service Choir all of whom at one point or another joined him on stage.
After performing about 16 songs pulled largely from Donda 2, the latter leg of the night featured selections from its predecessor, including “Jail pt 2.” Which to the audience's surprise and dismay, meant the controversial artists featured on the track — DaBaby and Marilyn Manson, joined him on stage. Eliciting discernible objection from the audience that had otherwise tolerated everything West threw at them until then.
It was around that point when multiple audio problems began to stack on top of one another.
Here’s a quick list of some issues — “Heaven and Hell” was abruptly cut short after its 20th Century Steel Band-sampling intro, the bass on “Praise God” reached deafening levels, and what should have been an amazing display featuring the show’s final guest triumphant appearances by Playboy Carti, Fivio Foreign, and Alicia Keys, was instead spoiled by cue issues.
Of course we skipped some things, but those are the general key moments. All of which culminated in the the concert's rather sudden ending, which we can only assume was the cherry on top for those who sat waiting for two and a half hours for the event to start.
Obviously making total sense, Kanye put the entire exclusive experience on YouTube. Check out the DONDA EXPERIENCE PERFORMANCE above.
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