#ARTIIFACTTour pic.twitter.com/SV2Y9C45qC
— Yule (@YuleD) September 30, 2016
Why do I ask this, well look at the way he has built his career, the people he has worked with, the people he has produced for and the people he has assisted in studio but of course, yes, we could say he is a top graduate from the School of Timbaland but then hold that thought, let me take you through the ArtiiFact tour during the JHB leg.
Having brought down Omarion, the ArtiiFact tour only had them on the line-up as performers. It had a rocky start with a couple of delays before it went live, that’s nothing to penalise someone on, I just wish we were given the exact times the concert would start or the line-up times.
The VVIP section was really on point with free drinks and food but something could have been done about the décor because it felt like a wedding. The General admin section had a more of cosy vibe going on but I guess they anticipated that people would have to wait a while before it started.
When things did finally kick off Anatii’s sister would be the opening act, she promises to have a great career ahead of her but her performance is something I could have skipped. Omarion on the other hand, that was something to catch. His performance didn’t have as many dance routines as I expected, there were a lot of freestyles here and there but I wasn’t amazed. This wasn’t the Omarion I had envied during the You Got Served days. I also realised that he doesn’t have as many hit songs as his US counterparts but nonetheless, he did rock besides the fact that he didn’t perform the biggest song in his career, Ice Box. Those of us who had high expectations weren’t impressed but his hard-core fans, were really blown away. Omarion made sure to also include an outfit change.
"Baby Turn Around And Let Me See That Sexy Body Of Yours Go…" #artiifacttour pic.twitter.com/UrlyszOXfj
— Yule (@YuleD) September 30, 2016
Anatii would save the show though. See Anatii thought of everything for his performance. Visually, the smoke and lighting were so well timed, that he would appear enchanting on every picture you took of him. The screen behind didn’t only include random visualizations but also images that matched the songs, sometimes parts of the lyrics would appear mid-performance and then at times, it would show loops of videos that made sense if you were there. He also had dancers come on during some of his songs – the only other artist I have witnessed do this with perfection was Maxwell. A bonus was all the other artists who came to support him on stage, even those he was known to have beef with, he squashed that beef to make this night, his night. Another thing I learned recently about Kanye West, that Anatii did was raising the volume, it was really high up but the sound wasn’t good because of the venue, it wasn’t balancing. He performed song after song without fail, the only part I could fault him on, is the fact that he didn’t engage with the audience and his lyrics lacked content at times plus Anatii doesn’t have the best delivery but does have good hooks.
This was a busy week in terms of events but people sure did miss out, this tour has set new levels in terms of performances. If Anatii could do all this, what is stopping everyone else?
So I ask again, is Anatii 1 of the top graduates from the school Kanye West?
#ARTIIFACTTour pic.twitter.com/nBSZ8q8CWj
— Yule (@YuleD) September 30, 2016