Kanye West live at Pace University
Photo: Walik Goshorn

NEW YORK — Kanye West brought his School Spirit Tour to Pace University's tiny Schimmel Center for the Arts on Thursday night and performed with the dynamism of a stadium headliner.

Even though he's exceeded the platinum plateau and has hits on the radio and television, West is still not satisfied. He feels his debut, College Dropout, should have been permanently marked with a magazine's classic certification, namely The Source's five-mic rating, when it was reviewed earlier this year. West has it all wrong, though. If you ask the people who have been packing his shows the past couple of months, they'll tell you College Dropout is a classic — one of those rare albums that can be appreciated live, and any of its songs will move you no matter where they're played in the set.

	Click for photos from the show

As always, West used up-and-coming singer John Legend — look out for him, you'll be talking about him before you know it — to act as a point man and warm the Pace University crowd up. Sitting at the piano, Legend played the keys and sang an original tune called "Used to Love You." "I'm good, I really am," Legend said. "May-be, I should rob somebody," he sang. "So we can live like Whitney and Bob-beeee!"

After Legend's selection, the instrumental for Jay-Z's "Takeover" consumed the theater and fans started throwing up the Roc-A-Fella Dynasty sign. West came out in a green polo shirt and blue blazer and did some grandstanding — he was applauded loudly simply for walking to the front of the stage and posing.

The rapping producer started his set with "Get Em High" and "Two Words." "Yo, two words, Chi-town, South Side, worldwide, 'cause I rep, 'til I f---in' die," he rapped on the latter cut, keeping most of the crowd bouncing.

The Schimmel Center, which held only 400 fans, made for a setting so intimate that Kanye could touch people in the audience if he walked a runway that was connected to the stage, and he could certainly see the entire crowd from anywhere he was standing. He took exception after peeping a crew of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority members in the front row who had the audacity to sit down while he was ripping. He half-jokingly asked security to replace them with the people in the balcony who were on their feet if the women did not do likewise.

He did not have to wait long. Violinist Miri Ben-Ari came out and started playing her part on "The New Workout Plan." That record, a favorite especially with females, made the lethargic spectators rise to their feet and join everyone else in the festivities. Ben-Ari continued to show her grace with the strings as she performed a medley of cuts such as Kurtis Blow's "The Breaks," Jay-Z's "Dirt Off Your Shoulder," Jadakiss' "We Gon' Make It" and Michael Jackson's "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'."

West then took the floor again, telling everyone he was going to play a song and if they didn’t like it, "Don't say sh--." The fans were very vocal, however, after they heard a few notes of "All Falls Down." Syleena Johnson came onstage to help with the chorus while everyone sang along: "I'm telling you all, it all faaalls dow-owww-owwwn."

The Pace students kept their vocal cords pulsating during "Slow Jamz" — so much so, Kanye threw the mic cord over his shoulder and let his followers do the work for him. "I'mma bring the Cool Whip, then I want you to strip/ See you is my new chick, so we get our grind on," they yelled. West came back in and gave an extra verse that's not featured on the album: "Said she had friend looking like Janet Jackson/ Came over, she was looking like Freddie Jackson," he rapped.

Later West brought out GLC and Consequence for "Spaceships," and all three did a synchronized dance involving a move similar to the A-Town Stomp that included spinning. The most personal cameo, at least for the Pace students, came via "School Spirit." He brought up all those girls who were acting too cute to stand up earlier in the show to perform their sorority's line-dance. "AKAs step, AKAs step, AKAs step."

The energy level stayed high as the tempo was turned up on "Jesus Walks." West introduced a new dance of the same name that looked like cross between a drunkard stumbling out of a club and the Elvis Presley shuffle dance that the King used to do. At the beginning of "Last Call," fans started singing the "La, la, la, la" intro too fast and West had to tell them to take it easy. "Slow down, y'all," he said, laughing. "Y'all going 'Lalalalalalalala!' "

In between raps, while John Legend played at the keys, West mixed music and message like some tenured singers do. "People come up to me and say, 'You got robbed,' " West told the crowd. " 'You should have got five mics.' I tell them, 'Yeah.' "

Well, Kan, all you really need is one mic — the one that allows the fans to hear you.

For more sights and stories from concerts around the country, check out MTV News Tour Reports.

• Kanye West
• Miri Ben-Ari
• Syleena Johnson
• Consequence

Carl Thomas
Photo: Bad Boy

Plans have been announced for another benefit concert to aid the families of the 21 victims killed almost one month ago during a stampede at Chicago's E2 nightclub. A local coalition of hip-hop promoters and urban entrepreneurs will hold the Triumph Over Tragedy Memorial Benefit Concert at Chicago's Isaac Hayes Restaurant on March 26.

The event will feature performances by a number of Chicago acts, ranging from R&B singers such as Carl Thomas and Syleena Johnson to rappers such as Mikkey from the Cash Money Millionaires, to spoken word artists including Def Poetry Jam performer Malik Yusef.

According to an event spokesperson, the Triumph Over Tragedy committee hopes to continue public service works for the Chicago inner city community long after March 26, but the immediate goal of the benefit is to raise funds, both via donation and ticket sale proceeds (see "Talib Kweli To Host Benefit Concert For Families Of Chicago Club Victims").

All funds raised at Triumph Over Tragedy will be handed over to the E2 Fund for the 21, a charity set up in Chicago by Jesse Jackson's Operation PUSH coalition, the Salem Baptist Church and Seaway National Bank. This fund, which aims to help the families of the 21 victims, was organized in the days following the February 17 disaster, and has since raised over $90,000, including a $63,000 donation from R. Kelly and a $15,000 donation from producer Kanye West. Denise Rogers of the Salem Baptist Church said that $4,000 from the fund has already been handed out to each of the 21 families, and that the fund would continue collecting donations until the end of the month.

Last week, the Chicago Public School System announced that it had created its own charity, the E2 College Fund, to establish long-term scholarships for the approximately 35 children who lost parents in the tragedy. The college fund has already raised $60,000 and is being overseen by Chicago's Harris Bank and the Community Bank of Lawndale.

Look out for your own safety, and check out "How To Keep Yourself Safe If There's A Crowd Crush Or Fire At A Club."

• Carl Thomas
• Syleena Johnson

R. Kelly
Photo: Jive

R. Kelly has tapped new R&B stars Sunshine Anderson and Syleena Johnson for a summer theater tour that kicks off July 1 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The singer's "Fiesta" remix featuring Jay-Z is #1 on the Billboard Hot R&B Singles & Tracks chart. The original version appears on Kelly's TP-2.com, which came out in November. On June 12 the singer will release TP-2.com — The Videos, a collection of music videos, interviews and other footage.

Fellow Chicagoan Johnson's "I Am Your Woman," from her debut Chapter 1: Love, Pain & Forgiveness, was penned and produced by Kelly. Anderson's "Heard It All Before," from her first album, Your Woman, is #8 on the Hot R&B Singles & Tracks chart.

R. Kelly/Sunshine Anderson/Syleena Johnson tour dates, according to Jive Records:

• 7/1 - Fort Lauderdale, FL @ Broward Center
• 7/6 - Hampton, VA @ Hampton Coliseum
• 7/7 - Camden, NJ @ Tweeter Center at the Waterfront
• 7/8 - Richmond, VA @ Landmark Theatre
• 7/11 - Minneapolis, MN @ Orpheum Theatre
• 7/12 - Milwaukee, WI @ Riverside Theatre
• 7/13 - St. Louis, MO @ Fox Theatre
• 7/14 - Detroit, MI @ Fox Theatre
• 7/18 - Boston, MA @ FleetBoston Pavilion
• 7/19 - Baltimore, MD @ Baltimore Arena
• 7/20 - Newark, NJ @ New Jersey Performing Arts Center
• 7/21 - New York, NY @ Theater at Madison Square Garden
• 7/27 - Los Angeles, CA @ Greek Theatre
• 7/28 - Anaheim, CA @ Arrowhead Pond
• 7/29 - Concord, CA @ Chronicle Pavilion
• 8/1 - Dallas, TX @ Smirnoff Music Centre
• 8/2 - Houston, TX @ Jones Hall for Performing Arts
• 8/4 - New Orleans, LA @ Municipal Auditorium
• 8/5 - Birmingham, AL @ Boutwell Auditorium
• 8/9 - Cincinnati, OH @ Aronoff Center
• 8/10 - Columbus, OH @ Veterans Memorial Auditorium
• 8/11 - Tinley Park, IL @ Tweeter Center
• 8/13 - Kansas City, MO @ Starlight Theatre
• 8/15 - Cleveland, OH @ State Theatre
• 8/17 - Atlantic City, NJ @ Mark G. Etess Arena
• 8/18 - Washington, DC @ DAR Constitution Hall

• R. Kelly
• Sunshine Anderson
• Syleena Johnson

Syleena Johnson
Photo: Marc Baptiste

Chapter 1: Love, Pain & Forgiveness may be Syleena Johnson's major-label debut, but you wouldn't know it from the album's deep soul sound and hard-hitting tales of, well, love, pain and forgiveness.

"I never thought of it as particularly hard-hitting until people started saying, 'Wow, this is really bold'," Johnson said. "I'm an emotional person and the only way I know to write is from my own experiences." The album, due May 15, is a song cycle about the kind of love so intense it includes the highest highs and lowest lows, the kind that's destined to go down in flames. But what doesn't kill us makes us stronger, right? "That relationship was like the road to my pot of gold," said Johnson, who's now happily married. "It was a rocky experience, and it wasn't a real good one. But I learned a lot about myself, and that's one of the biggest points of the album for me." Alongside songs such as "I'd Rather Be Wrong," about the thrill of forbidden fruit, "Baby I'm So Confused," about the strange mix of joy and pain that comes with love and "You Ain't Right," in which she finds out her man's cheating, are such slices of self-discovery as "All of Me" and "And Then ..." Chapter 1: Love, Pain & Forgiveness is a more fully developed version of her first album, Love Hangover, which was released early last year on the independent Twinight label. "I was still working my way through the emotions when I made that album," Johnson said. "I needed more time to turn those emotions into better songs." Johnson, 24, said she hopes that by sharing her experience listeners who might be going through a tough relationship will realize they're not alone. She found similar solace in such songs as Lauryn Hill's "Ex-Factor" and Al Green's "Love and Happiness." "I love the Backstreet Boys and Destiny's Child, they're my favorite girl group of all time, but it makes me feel better that I can put out an album that tells a story, that really means something," Johnson said.

Johnson said she also wanted to avoid what she called the "overproduction" of most current R&B. Syleena is the daughter of Syl Johnson, who sang with Al Green at Hi Records in Memphis during the 1960s and '70s and had his own R&B hit with a 1975 version of "Take Me to the River." She grew up listening to everything from classic soul to Chicago blues.

She wanted to bring all those sounds into play on Chapter 1, from the percolating funk of "You Ain't Right," to the mournful, Ann Peebles-style moaning of "Ain't No Love," to the bluesy "He's Gonna Do You In," which features guitar work by Chicago blues legend Buddy Guy.

Johnson credited producer Bob Power, who's worked with D'Angelo and Erykah Badu, with helping her realize the sound she wanted. The album was originally set for a July 2000 release, but Johnson and her label felt something was missing. So she hooked up with fellow Jive artist R. Kelly, who wrote and produced the lead single, a ballad titled "I Am Your Woman." "He writes really emotional songs, too, so it was a perfect combination," she said of Kelly's single, which is slowly climbing the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop singles chart.

• Syleena Johnson