Kanye West

Kanye West onstage Thursday night at the Rolling Loud California festival in Inglewood.
Whatever Kanye West was paid to headline the first night of this weekend’s Rolling Loud California festival, it was easy money.

Onstage for about an hour Thursday evening with Ty Dolla Sign — his partner on the chart-topping “Vultures 1” album released last month under the artist name ¥$ — Kanye roamed around in a black jacket and a face mask as their songs played over the festival’s sound system on a huge circular stage planted in the parking lot of Inglewood’s SoFi Stadium.

If he was rapping, you couldn’t hear it; if he was holding a microphone, you couldn’t see it.

This kind of presentation isn’t new for the controversial rapper now known as Ye, who’s introduced his last several albums with high-profile listening events held in arenas and stadiums around the country. But Kanye’s booking to mark 10 years of Rolling Loud — hip-hop’s festival of record, with wildly popular editions in cities including Miami, New York and Los Angeles — was billed (or at least was widely perceived to have been billed) as something different: his first full-scale festival performance since the apparent meltdown of his career after he made a series of antisemitic remarks in late 2022.

Kanye West

Kanye West onstage Thursday.

His assertions regarding the influence of Jewish individuals over Black representation lingered in memory; his declaration on Twitter to escalate tensions, going as far as to proclaim “death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE,” proved detrimental. This rhetoric severed ties with his record label and booking agent, resulting in the termination of his lucrative partnerships with Adidas, Balenciaga, the Gap, and numerous other prominent corporations. At that juncture, Kanye appeared to be facing serious repercussions.

 

Yet the 46-year-old musician — who apologized for his comments in December in an Instagram post written in Hebrew — has been on something of a comeback tour of late. “Vultures 1” spent two weeks atop the Billboard 200 last month, becoming Kanye’s first LP to repeat at No. 1 since his and Jay-Z’s “Watch the Throne” in 2011. (He’s said a second volume of “Vultures” is due soon.) Even more impressive, perhaps, his single “Carnival” hit No. 1 on the Hot 100 this week thanks in large part to the song’s health on streaming services like Spotify, where it’s racked up more than 191 million plays.

Kanye’s last visit to the top spot as a lead artist? “Stronger,” way back in 2007.

His performance at Rolling Loud, scheduled to continue until Sunday featuring artists such as Nicki Minaj, Post Malone, and the duo of Future and Metro Boomin, was framed as the next chapter in this unfolding story: a pivotal moment to demonstrate his continued ability to captivate audiences as a live performer.

Instead of the anticipated performance, Kanye and Ty opted for another listening session on Thursday. They casually occupied the stage as the sound system streamed several tracks from “Vultures 1.” Throughout the session, guests like Quavo and Freddie Gibbs joined them onstage, following suit. At one point, Kanye’s daughter North made an appearance alongside some of her friends, joyfully dancing to “Talking,” a track from “Vultures” featuring her.

 

Fans climb a structure to watch Kanye West perform Thursday at Rolling Loud.

Fans climb a structure to watch Kanye West perform Thursday at Rolling Loud.

After the stage emptied, an unseen DJ took over, treating the audience to a half-hour of classic Kanye hits, including “Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1,” “All of the Lights,” and “Runaway,” while a smoke machine attempted to obscure the fact that the rapper wouldn’t be returning. (“Vultures 1” showcased some highlights, but the stark contrast with these timeless classics underscored the noticeable decline in Ye’s musical prowess in recent years.)

Did fans express discontent? Certainly, salty tweets flooded social media platforms from apparent online viewers, suggesting Kanye had orchestrated a scam. However, those present at the event seemed largely unperturbed: New tracks like “Paid,” “Back to Me,” and “Keys to My Life” elicited enthusiastic responses from the tens of thousands in attendance, including a group that breached a security fence to climb onto a section of the stage scaffolding. During the chorus of “Carnival,” as the stage music momentarily ceased, the audience seamlessly took over the percussive vocal chant, overpowering the performers in the spotlight.

But then again, that wasn’t a challenging feat.