is it a coincidence that while the raptors have lost several games in a row, including one to the the worst team in the nba, the rate at which i post per month has dropped significantly? sure, one could argue that there is a meaningful correlation between the two, but in all honesty im just enjoying my holidays back in sydney. i finally graduated from the university of canberra with my bachelor's degree in science (psychology) so the last few weeks have pretty much been spent chilling. my graduation ceremony was on the 17th of december, and was held at parliament house. it was quite an elaborate ceremony, and it was pretty surreal standing on stage in my gown and hood, accepting my piece of paper from the chancellor. yep, right now life is all good... at least until the wrath of the gamsat engulfs my being in its entirety.
oh yeah i feel this is worth documenting. i was fortunate enough to catch the kanye west and nas gig with my close friend cristal earlier this month. she was extremely excited about seeing kanye, whilst me being the hip-hop head that i am, was extremely excited about seeing the one and only nasir jones! seeing nasty nas perform was one of those things which i had to do in life, and i am now glad that i have done it. he definitely made up for canceling his last australian tour earlier last year. the show was held at acer arena. despite acer arena being one of my least favourite venues due to its size, nas still managed to create an intimate atmosphere for his fans. he performed damn near everything from 'illmatic' to his most recent tracks in 'hero' and 'n.i.g.g.e.r. (the slave and the master)'. he even performed his debut verse on 'live at the bbq'. dude was just tearing it up. complimented by a live band, nas just had that unbelievable stage presence. no fancy stage shit, just straight spittin'. i thoroughly enjoyed his set. nas was a real professional emcee that night.
kanye was on for what felt like an eternity. now, i was moderately excited about kanye's performance since i'd been checking for him since his production on jigga's 'blueprint' in 01. the first time i heard kanye spit was on 'through the wire' when it was dropping all over mixtapes. shit had me excited to be honest. i always appreciated kanye's use of samples, and although he was not ever the most talented rapper, he was always sincere in his rhymes - a quality i appreciate more than most things in hip-hop. when 'college dropout' was released in 04, i bumped that shit back to back to back. that album was my shit. so... about five years and four albums later, we flash-forward to kanye west at present and acknowledge his evolution.
i can appreciate innovation, growth and development in an artist but in my personal opinion, kanye's show was not good. i don't really want to go into the details but let's just say i felt like his show was on some cirque du soleil shit. it did not feel like a personal experience at all. in fact, not once do i recall kanye ever addressing the crowd directly. it did not feel like a hip-hop show at all. yeah, yeah, yeah i know kanye's trying to take music beyond it's limits, but kanye's set was too long. it dragged. his sub-par performance as an on-stage artist was camouflaged by bright lights and effects, and autotuned songs. moreover, he ended the whole concert on 'love lockdown' - this put a real damper on the whole night. it was by far the worst way to end the night.
in terms of performance/show quality, well kanye west failed to join masta ace, atmosphere, and jean grae on my list of favourite live performances. i'm actually pretty certain that given the right venue, nas would not only tear shit down, but be at the top of my list. overall the night was pretty enjoyable. i believe this to be due largely to the fact that i finally got to see nas rip the mic live, and that i shared the experience in good company. thanks cristal.
anyways, it's two days before christmas. it's not really that big a deal to me anymore, kind of like birthdays. they are no longer the same spectacular events that brightened up my day during my younger years. instead, they have become just another day in my life. nevertheless these occasions do provide me with an ample opportunity to spend time with my parents and sister as a family unit. this is nice because we rarely get the chance to do so, what with my sister and i currently living in canberra, not to mention the fact that whenever my sister and i are in sydney together, both of us usually have plans already. so on that note, i guess i'd just like to say merry christmas and a happy new year to all my friends and family out there. you guys are what's up.
always,
nix to the...
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