First, he showed footage from his own security cameras of cops storming the place - political red meat that would have been more incendiary if shown before the song. Cole’s blistering rendition was a highlight of the show. The song is about a SWAT team invading Cole’s suburban home recording studio because his neighbors reported him as a suspected drug dealer. It turned out to be “Lights Please,” from the second of his three mix tapes, which fostered enough hype to land Cole regal guest stars like Jay-Z and Drake on his official debut album, “Cole World.” To the delight of all, the woman who volunteered nailed almost every word under the spotlight.Ĭole then performed two other “Cole World” numbers - “Nobody’s Perfect” (with a great Missy Elliott sample) and “Can’t Get Enough” - before returning to “4 Your Eyez Only” with a glorious vengeance on “Neighbors.” The crowd, which nearly filled Xcel despite a last-minute, 24-hour time change resulting from a delay in the band crossing the border from Canada last week, was pumped, collectively roaring the lyrics of every song.Ĭole then upped the ante, asking for a volunteer from the audience to help him deliver the words from a song he would choose from deep in his back catalog of material. 1 on Billboard and is his fourth-straight platinum-selling record. He opened with the first five songs, in order, from his latest album, “4 Your Eyez Only,” which debuted at No.
Adorned by banks of lights at each of the four corners (to aid the video screens above) and just a stool in the middle, it had the feel and contours of a boxing ring. While his backing band - which included violinists, backup vocalists, a traditional rhythm section and a DJ mixing and scratching beats - played on the stage used by most performers at the end of the arena, he was escorted in, clad in an orange prison jumpsuit, to his own stage in the middle of the crowd. Hip-hop is a genre that honors its hardscrabble, old-school traditions and its role of providing an outlet for righteous racial and economic indignation.Ĭole finesses these codes with a flourish. His 17 songs were arrayed into tactfully ambitious morality plays, frequently buttressed by Cole’s lengthy preambles and postscripts.Ĭole’s concerts manifest his genius for blending street credibility with commercial success and moral positivity. His cadences were contagious and his passion visceral in the service of narratives meant to be both personal and universal. Paul, Cole displayed the strengths shared by accomplished poets of the streets and men of the cloth. Cole is onstage.ĭuring his compelling, expertly scripted, 100-minute performance Saturday night at Xcel Energy Center in St.
The occasionally thin line between a rapper and a preacher disappears entirely when J.