On 18 September, residents in Haikou saw a famous family shopping in the city. It was, in fact, Ye (formerly Kanye West), his wife Bianca Censori and his four children. From Goodme tea to a MINISO haul, wearing flip-flops and holding a biodegradable plastic bag with a coconut tree printed on it, the rapper and his family blended in perfectly into the daily life of the provincial capital of Hainan. The topics “Kanye and family shops and have mil tea in China” (#侃爷一家在中国逛街喝奶茶#) and “Kanye’s MINISO receipt leaked” (#侃爷名创优品购物小票遭泄露#) both made it to number 7 on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform, with 52.85 million and 77.95 million views respectively.
This comes three days after the “Vultures Listening Experience” event by Kanye West in Haikou. The three-hour event included the “listening experience” of his music, live performance of many of the tracks, an exclusive debut of the rapper’s new song, as well as a “vulture” flyby. Many viewers and fans feel it was much more worthwhile compared to the previous livestreamed South Korea event. His children also made appearances at the show. West even announced a second event on 21 September midway through the event. However, the next day, it was reported that the second “listening experience” would be postponed a week, from 21 to 28 September because West wanted to present an even better stage than the first. Kanye West later confirmed the second Haikou event on Instagram (in Chinese). Tickets will be on sale from 22 September.
When the tickets for the first event went on sale last month, 40,000 tickets were snatched up within minutes, while 230,000 people were on the waiting list. On the day of the event, 90% of hotel rooms were occupied in Haikou. The sales of tickets earned West 51 million RMB (7.22 million USD). The local tourism authorities also announced that the event had brought in 373 million RMB in total (52.79 million USD).
Despite the rapper’s controversies, having an international A-list performer in China, and in one of the less coveted cities by touring artists tends to be met with a huge welcome. The fact the rapper’s work went past the censors for the event to go ahead is also intriguing for many. With Hainan continuing to build its status as a duty-free region, having star artists, albeit controversial like Ye, can raise much-needed awareness and interest in the province, on top of the direct revenue from the tourism of concertgoers.
