Kanye West Taps Lauryn Hill, Travis Scott for Massive Night Two in L.A.
Over a year ago, Kanye West said that his then-unreleased 12th studio album Bully felt like his personal version of Lauryn Hillâs seminal 1998 record The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.
âYeah, because you lean on a bar that brings somebody down â that was always rap,â Yeezy told Justin Laboy on The Download podcast in February 2025. âThis is more the way I remember Lauryn Hill[âs] album, the way I remember Miseducation. I feel it is my Miseducation. It is my Gnarls Barkley album. Because Bully has a title and connotation that a lot of people are anti-bully. But Iâm just hyper-next-level frequency right now.â
Westâs words came full circle during his second comeback concert at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. on Friday, April 3. Midway through the sold-out show at the 70,000-capacity venue, the rapper-producer now known as Ye brought out the one and only Ms. Hill, who materialized amid a cloud of smoke in a billowing dress. As the duo stood atop the orb-shaped stage mirroring Earth, the crowd swelled with cheers as they dived into a stunning performance of âAll Falls Down.â
Ye gave a rare smile throughout the performance. Ye, a longtime fan of Hill, sampled her live album MTV Unplugged No. 2.0 cut âMystery of Iniquityâ on his Grammy-nominated 2004 single, âAll Falls Down.â At the time, he couldnât clear the original sample for the official release of the track and enlisted Syleena Johnson to re-sing the portions that featured on The College Dropout version.
Then, on Friday night, after Hill delivered a passionate rendition of âDoo Wop (That Thing)â that transitioned into Yeâs âBelieve What I Sayâ (which sampled the song from her debut LP), Ye surprised everyone by disappearing through a trapdoor to give Ms. Hill the floor.
Ms. Hill wasnât solo for long, however, and swiftly announced, âI brought some people with me.â Soon, her sons Zion Marley and YG Marley joined her. YG and Hill sang âPraise Jah in the Moonlight,â his 2023 debut single he co-wrote with his mother.
While Ms. Hill appearing alongside Ye sent sent shockwaves both throughout the packed audience at SoFi and online (the event was livestreamed on YouTube), Ye brought out more guests for back-to-back memorable moments. Earlier in the night, Travis Scott joined him, appearing in a mask and wearing a shirt emblazoned with the words âUnsane.â The duo performed their collab track âFather,â which dropped on March 28 as the lead single from Bully. Scott also delivered a performance of Utopiaâs hit track âFein.â
Ye followed it up with CeeLo Green, who performed the albumâs title track. Yeâs daughter, North, who also made an appearance on day one, showed up for a second round to rap âBless Meâ and âPiercing on My Hand.â In another special moment, Ye invited AndrĂŠ Troutman to perform their song, âAll the Love.â
Like night one in Los Angeles, the usually unfiltered artist offered no commentary on the controversy and backlash surrounding him after years of antisemitic rhetoric, mental health struggles, and his public apology in a Wall Street Journal ad this past January for his antisemitic outbursts.
Like the previous night, Ye closed with âRunawayâ from his 2010 offering My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. It was a track â which Ye once said could be âabout my relationship with society or my relationship with the fans or anyone who I let down or people who had to defend me that really love meâ â that was a poignant note to end on.
‘Arirang,’ Finding Hope, Writing About Romance
J -Hope is âsoftly spoken and kind of elegant,â says one of his Arirang collaborators,...
BTS Rapper on Making ‘Arirang,’ Hip-Hop, What’s Next
T he story goes that Suga, born Min Yoongi, got his nickname from the phrase âshooting...
Rock Influence, Solo Work, Coldplay, Touring With BTS
A mong the things that Jin, born Kim Seokjin, loves the most in this world are...
Gram Parsons’ Daughter on His Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction
Polly Parsons knows it took a little too long for her father to be inducted into the...