Rapper West plays two secret jail concerts
Rapper Kanye West spit it through the razor wire on Friday with two secret performances at the Harris County Jail.
Spotted quietly unloading trucks of sound equipment at the San Jacinto Street lockup a little before noon, the “Golddigger” singer’s entourage stirred buzz and drew spectators as they prepped for the unannounced jailhouse shows.
After kicking off with a performance for more than 200 men at the 701 San Jacinto building, West ducked into the underground tunnel and turned up in the main Baker Street jail to do a second show for a smaller crowd of women.
“This is a mission, not a show,” he told the jailhouse crowd repeatedly.
Men in orange put their hands up and smiled as they watched the singer and his gaggle of dancers, wearing navy jail-like scrubs for the show. Looking down from the second tier, men pressed up against the glass as they listened to hits from his gospel-themed “Jesus is King” album, according to video released by the Harris County Sheriff ’s Office.
West is slated to speak Sunday at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church, where he’ll have a morning conversation about faith followed by an evening performance with his choir.
Though the Lakewood visit has been in the works, the jailhouse concerts came together after West’s people reached out to Sheriff Ed Gonzalez on Wednesday to ask whether he was down for a secret show. The sheriff agreed, promising to keep it secret.
The show was first offered to one of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s 104 prisons. They declined.
“We don’t do that,” said spokesman Jeremy Desel, adding, “There’s a process.”
But last month, former football quarterback Tim Tebow visited the Hughes Unit in Gatesville, where he talked about his
faith and got down on the ground for a push-up contest.
“We had fun, but I got smoked!” he wrote on Instagram afterward. “So encouraged by what God is doing at Alfred Hughes prison and grateful for the time spent with my new brothers in Christ today!”
Tebow’s talk came as part of a religious-affiliated group event, Desel said.
The same day West stopped by the local lockup, his wife, Kim Kardashian, visited death row in Livingston to see Rodney Reed, a Bastrop County man whose claims of innocence garnered bipartisan support and sparked national outcry. Friday — less than a week before he was to be executed — the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted him a stay.