Live Shot

Rock chauvinists often dismiss rap as a live form, perhaps explaining its virtual absence from area venues. But from The Coup's deep funk to the Quannum label's recent MC revue, modern hip-hop has rendered such prejudices outdated.

With only turntable and keyboard accompaniment, Kanye West's Saturday performance at Dancin' in the District represented a sonic downsizing of his hook-laden debut, The College Dropout. Moreover, without the many cameos that augment his studio recordings, many live renditions were necessarily abridged. That said, in concert, rap tends to succeed on intangibles: energy, presence, skills—all but the last of these among West's strengths.

The evening's set was sprinkled liberally with snippets from the artist's high-profile production efforts, seemingly to foreground just how surefire his own material is. Early on, West complained about Roc-A-Fella's staggered singles release schedule. In his mind, all his titles are potential hits—arrogant maybe, but not undeserved. From "We Don't Care," with a verse MIA, to "Slow Jamz," with a self-deprecating verse added, his songs proved strong and resilient enough to survive even the roughest handling. Still, with the show clocking in at a mere 45 minutes, West could have benefited from additional support—as evidenced by the notable lift provided by keyboardist John Legend's backing vocals and a late-set guest MC.

In contrast to West, whose talent emerged seemingly fully formed, R&B singer-songwriter Van Hunt, who performed beforehand, remains something of a work in progress. Selections from his self-titled debut, essentially a one-man production, proved more muscular and propulsive backed by a four-piece touring band, but his vocals lacked the warmth and richness they have on record. Still, as on CD, Hunt's hit-or-miss songwriting proved the crucial difference. The show's early songs seemed little more than vamp-accompanied catchphrases, a point emphasized by a confident, mid-set cover of Al Green's "Simply Beautiful." Loose and at ease, the performance featured Hunt's most purposeful and evocative guitar work. More focused afterwards, he closed with spirited renditions of his strongest material: "Out of the Sky," "Seconds of Pleasure" and the undeniable "Dust."

Unfortunately, Hunt's performance, both the good and indifferent, was lost on a less than responsive crowd. For better or worse, this was West's audience, chanting along with him from beginning to end. By the evening's close, it was clear he would achieve at least one of his stated ambitions, "Next time I'm in the club, everybody screamin' out / Jesus Walks."

—Scott Manzler