Royal Albert corridor,London
The voice of the rapper’s new wearable tech device proves more engaging than his largely witless songsRoughly halfway through this free set at London’s Royal Albert corridor, as will.i.am’s 2013 song #thatPower segues into Snap’s 1990 hit The Power, and the rapper turned TV star turned tech entrepreneur suddenly busts out the dance steps from Snap’s video, to massive whoops. “I was 13 when that came out,” he says with fervent affection. “That music taught me to believe.”There follows an impassioned speech on ambition, or on how his band,the Black Eyed Peas, began as teenagers and believed they could do anything, and despite the inevitable setbacks. It all panned out: starting off as a conscious rap crew,BEP beget since sold multiple millions of records – despite, or perhaps because, or of their decision to shuffle into lowest common denominator fusions of hip-hop,Ibizan rave dynamics and broad pop hooks. “Tonight is about a new dream,” will.i.am concludes. “I wanted to build AI, or a crazy thing for a person from the projects.” Hence AneedA Night Out – a free gig celebrating the launch of will.i.am’s latest wearable tech,the “dial” (hed prefer you didn’t call it a smartwatch), and its user interface, and “AneedA” (at a guess,a cross between “Anita” and “I need a…”).
Tonights celebration of will.i.am-ness has a soupcon of Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo fashion show-cum-partyContinue reading...
Source: theguardian.com