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Music

What the Hell Happened at Kanye West's Closing Performance at the Pan Am Games?

R.I.P. Kanye's mic.

This article originally appeared on Noisey Canada.

UPDATE FROM PAN AM: Director of Media Relations and Chief Spokesperson for the 2015 Toronto Pan Am games, Teddy Katz, told us that, “ [Kanye] and his team were in full control of the lights in what we thought was a classy move to recognize and honour all the athletes standing close to the stage. Near the end of his set he did ask to turn up the volume quite high but it didn’t look like the sound system could keep up with him but that may have been the plan all along. Kanye is one of the most creative performers in the world so we don’t know for sure what his intention was but it was a fantastic performance and we couldn't be happier.”

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It’s interesting to note that the spectacle and protest which prefaced the performance of acclaimed artist and human thinkpiece generator Kanye West, was for something that only lasted about 13 minutes. The Pan-Am Games—which upon their iToronto announcement were more known for generating apathy and frustration from locals over the addition of HOV lanes—were given renewed attention after Pan Am officials confirmed that Kanye would be part of the final act. Following the tired routine of Ottawa, London, and dozens of other festivals, the reactions became something of a routine: patrons complain, outlets came to his defense, and someone ends up making a petition. In Toronto, a struggle-Soundcloud producer started a Change.org petition that, as of publishing, has 54,107 supporters. These arguments were all wrapped up in the opinion that there is a swath of Canadian talent that should be closing the games and are being ignored. This argument didn’t seem to hold any water to the 40,000 people who were seated in the Rogers Centre to watch Mr. West perform.

KANYE OUT HERE DROPPING THE MIC LIKE HE'S THE 6IX GOD. #GOAT #YEEZUS pic.twitter.com/odV2i4yw6T

— Alex Weldemichael (@AlexWelde27) July 27, 2015

Following a very Canadian and safe performance by Canadian artist, Serena Ryder, and an out of shape Mr. 305 Pitbull, Kanye West finally opened with “Stronger.” Devoid of the grand opera styled stage and the ballet dancers of his Yeezus tour, this was just Kanye featuring Kanye, swaying back and forth wildly on the large stage. At first the audience seemed tense by his sudden introduction, but once the Daft Punk sample kicked in, a wave of “Oh, I know this song” settled onto the audience and the couples and the families in the crowd decided it okay to recite “I’d do anything for a blond dyke.” Not long after, Kanye would ask for the stadium lights to be turned on illuminating everybody in attendance as they clapped for the athletes and chanted to “Power.” Just before Kanye took to the stage, two audience members, one with a “mango smoothie-flavoured” e-cigarette in hand were making bets on whether he would do “Black Skinhead.” “There’s no way he’ll do a song with that much black rage for a family-friendly event like this,” the vapist said. But sure enough, the familiar dum-dum-dum and crackling distortion of the track came forth as Kanye’s familiar mantra of throwing the mic stand and screaming “God!” presented itself.

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As entertaining as Kanye’s performance was it was also much more interesting watching some of the audience react. As he rapped “If I don't get ran out by Catholics Here come some conservative Baptists/ Claiming I'm overreactin'/ Like them black kids in Chiraq bitch,” it left some, physically paralyzed. But before long all was assured as he shuttled between verses of “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” and “Touch the Sky” with slight mic hiccups. While far from noticeable, Pan Am volunteers and audience members slowly started funneling out of the venue. And with the full stadium lit to the brightest exposure, it felt odd watching as more and more people started leaving in greater frequency before the show was over. It may have been possible that they were leaving to get a better view of the fireworks at the CN tower, but maybe some wore thin of the performance. Meanwhile, as Kanye drew on the crowd one last time for a “ayyy, ayyy“ from “Good Life” his mic began to cut out, dropping his vocals at random while he continued screaming the hook. And just like that, he lobbed his mic high in the air and walked off as the mic snapped against the floor. The final line of the song left unsaid.

According to

reports

, Kanye and his team were completely in charge of the lights and mic at the end, and that was how the performance was

supposed

to go. Surely by now there will be those who praise Kanye for “not giving a fuck,” along with the oft-repeated argument he’s an egotistical being who showed up for bad karaoke. Either he was the target of a “technical error” at the behest of the city of Toronto, his on-stage temper tantrum will likely be the main conversation point in the media. Perhaps Kanye decided to renegade the entire last half of the concert because he was seeing audience members leaving early. While you can accuse Kanye of a great many things, he’s always entertaining to watch and may have felt some type of way watching volunteers decide to take selfies as proof they were “

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living in the moment

.” Maybe he was testing the waters by dropping in his hit-single driven set with “Black Skinhead,” if only to remind viewers that their comfort can be disrupted by will of his choosing. It’s certainly in his character-and well-documented to the

point of excess

for Kanye to strike out against those who offend him, his time, and his art.

By the same token, albeit unlikely, maybe his abrupt exit was intentionally caused by organizers and or city planners. Once can certainly see the value of rewarding Mr. West’s ego with a nice little err in his set while satisfying seemingly outraged denizens who wanted him ousted from show. As unlikely as all of this sounds, its telling when a Pan Am volunteer can admitts to “leaving the show early to try and catch the fireworks display and possibly make Kanye feel bad.” Through extension, it’s not difficult to see organizers using Kanye’s name as a draw for sales, which of course successfully hit their projected earnings for the games and the closing ceremony as soon as Mr. West was announced. But considering the crowd continued chanting “Kanye!, Kanye!” long after he had left the stage, there didn’t seem to be any doubt that both parties were satisfied with the outcome.

Jabbari Weekes finally found an excuse to drop this Beanie Sigel classic—@DaysandWeekes