Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum livestreamIn a much-hyped livestreamed gig, Drake’s prosaic pop-rap is shown up by the magnetic stage charisma of his new friend
Kanye West and Drake’s live-streamed benefit gig has attracted a great deal of excited pre-publicity. Not merely because of the causes behind it – it aims to free Larry Hoover, a
Chicago gang leader who has been in
prison since a 1973 murder conviction, and raise money for nonprofit organisations dealing with former convicts and prisoners’ rights – but because it represents the squashing of the long-running and occasionally incomprehensible beef between two of pop’s biggest stars.
The prospect of reconciliation between
Drake and West notwithstanding, it’s hard not to feel a certain trepidation during the lengthy run-up to the performance, beamed live around the world via the gaming platform Twitch. West is an erratic live performer. He can be fantastic, but things can go desperately awry, often in the form of extempore on-stage lectures. Tonight’s show feels particularly high-stakes: if it goes wrong, what price its objectives and good causes?