Kanye West has been slammed following his headlining ‘performance’ at the Rolling Loud music festival with Ty Dolla $ign.
While many fans were expecting the rappers to perform live, the pair shocked by taking the stage without mics while songs from their chart-topping Vultures 1 album played.
According to the Los Angeles Times, ‘Kanye roamed around in a black jacket and a face mask as their songs played over the festival’s sound system’.
Fans on social media were outraged by the display, with many taking to X to vent their frustration.
‘Sounds like you guys disappointed your fans AGAIN with Kanye and at this point it feels like a literal scam,’ one fan posted to Rolling Loud.
Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign defend their shows without mics
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Kanye West (picured) has been slammed following his headlining ‘performance’ at the Rolling Loud music festival with Ty Dolla $ign
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While many fans were expecting the rappers to perform live, the pair shocked by simply taking the stage without mics as songs from their chart-topping Vultures 1 album played.
Fans on social media were outraged by the display, with many taking to X to vent their frustration
‘Wow horrible “performance” and they didn’t drop the album does this get any better,’ snapped another.
‘If you brought him to do that may as well not bring him at all,’ posted one.
Although Ty and Kanye didn’t sing, the pair hyped up the crowd and danced around to tracks from the album.
Despite the backlash online, videos from the event show an engaged audience who were happily singing along to Vultures.
Some fans also praised it on social media, with one writing, ‘I love that all the photography and video is like dramatic, gothic performance art.’
Kanye has a history of holding live listening parties for his albums, and has been doing it since his Life of Pablo era in 2016.
However, there’s some confusion over how his Rolling Loud gig was advertised, and whether or not it was clear enough about what fans could expect from the rapper’s show.
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‘Kanye roamed around in a black jacket and a face mask as their songs played over the festival’s sound system,’ reported one source
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Although Ty and Kanye didn’t sing, the pair hyped up the crowd and danced around to tracks from the album
Some fans seemed to enjoy the visual theatrics of the ‘performance’
According to Variety, ‘the festival had expected a more conventional performance as well, and even erected a special stage with a circular lighting rig for the set.’
Dailymail.com has contacted Rolling Loud for comment.
Kanye and Ty discussed their performance style, dubbed ‘listening experiences’, with Big Boy TV on Friday.
‘It’s still better than other people’s shows that have a mic,’ Ty said.
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Kanye and Ty discussed their performance style, dubbed ‘listening experiences’, with Big Boy TV on Friday
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‘It’s still better than other people’s shows that have a mic,’ Ty said
Kim Kardashian and Bianca Censori together at Kanye listening party
‘What I’ve noticed a while ago is that there could be a band on a festival and they go up there and kill it, and there’s a DJ that just goes out there solo, never grabs a mic, they pay him way more, you know what I mean? You can still do it without grabbing a mic.’
He added, ‘We found a new way. Just from even the way that the lights are to the way that the smoke is coming out, all of that is the show.’
Kanye also chimed in, describing the ‘smoke and the lights’ as the ‘opener’ for their show.
‘It’s just a way to bring people into a different experience,’ he said.
