The 1,500 tickets put up for sale for the American artist’s concert sold out in a handful of minutes. CHRIS DELMAS / AFP
The rapper will perform at the Louis Vuitton Foundation, on the occasion of the exhibition devoted to artists Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol.
Blockbuster event, exceptional concert: Jay-Z, rap megastar, gives a surprise show on Friday evening at the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris, in connection with the exhibition Basquiat x Warhol, four hands the artist’s turner announced on Wednesday. The 1,500 seats in the auditorium of the Louis-Vuitton Foundation were sold out immediately after this announcement on the social networks of Live Nation, a world-class concert production structure. The American will play at 9 p.m.
Basquiat, a painter who died of an overdose at the age of 27 on August 12, 1988, has influenced many contemporary artists such as Jay-Z, Kanye West or ASAP Rocky. Jay-Z is also known as an art collector.
Two exhibitions dedicated to Basquiat
Paris is currently hosting two exhibitions around Basquiat. The one at the Fondation Louis Vuitton and Basquiat Soundtracks, at the Philharmonie de Paris, which exhibits paintings and drawings by the artist related to the music of his life. Because the music often resonates with the work of Basquiat. References to Charlie Parker, jazz genius, are thus found in several of his works.
Basquiat listened to music in his workshop loft (collection of nearly 3,000 vinyl records), in clubs, but he also practiced it, as an occasional DJ or clarinetist in an experimental group. In addition to an figuration in the clip of Rapture of the group Blondie, he even produced for his friend the New York rapper Rammellzee a title, Beat Bopin 1983, for which he also designed the cover.
A cycle of concert events is scheduled at the Philharmonie alongside the exhibition, with, among others, Mos Def, an American rapper who now calls himself Yasiin Bey. On the evening of his death, Basquiat was to attend the concerts of the rap groups Run-DMC and Public Enemy.