Kanye West Readies European Tour

According to the Associated Press, Chicago rapper Kanye West will be starting a new tour inspired by his 2008 chart-topping album 808s & Heartbreak [click to read]. With an expected kick-off in Europe, West will maneuver his way throughout the continent beginning in July, with a return to the states by fall. While the tour has no set dates as of yet, nor an official theme, West has stated that work with Spike Jonze (who directed West’s latest music video “See You In My Nightmares”) and The Jim Henson Company have been significant contributors behind the creation of this new tour.

Speaking on his 2008 “Glow in the Dark Tour,” Mr. West explained the thought process of changing an otherwise ordinary Hip Hop concert into a musical and visual spectacle for his 2007 release Graduation [click to read]. “The last [tour] was done because I didn’t feel like doing a rap show, because of all I was going through in my life. All I felt like was playing with ‘Star Wars’ [toys] and being Luke Skywalker. So I figured you know, ‘I’ll do a rap show if I can just be like Luke Skywalker every night.’ And so I just wrote my own sci-fi and played in it.”

Now, with a whole new tour to plan, West intends to provide his fans with a show that shares continuity with his latest album. “[‘808s & Heartbreak’] subject matter was real life; the medium was melody. And the format was very similar to the way people would organize a fashion show, more so than an album. And I felt like this was my [fashion] season…I deliver my music more as a designer than a producer now.”