Tickets go on sale at noon March 1 for Kanye West, performing at 7 p.m. April 29 at the Ford Center, 100 W Reno. The rapper, who won a Grammy award for best hip-hop album earlier this month for his latest compact disc, Graduation, will perform with special guests Rihanna, N.E.R.D. and Lupe Fiasco.
West, who has several family members living in Oklahoma City, is a platinum-selling rapper and producer who first rose to prominence producing much of Jay-Z’s 2001 disc, The Blueprint. He went on to release his debut CD, The College Dropout, in 2004 and its 2005 follow-up, Late Registration. His latest release, Graduation, debuted at No.1 last year with first-week sales of 957,000 copies. In November 2007, West attended the funeral for his mother, Donda West, in Oklahoma City.
A native of Barbados, 20-year-old Rihanna first hit the charts in 2005 with “Pon de Replay,” and has continued as a major chart presence since with hits such as “S.O.S.” and her Grammy-winning single, “Umbrella.”
N.E.R.D. is a side project for Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, the production team known as Neptunes. The band releases its third disc, N.3.R.D., this spring.
Chicago rapper Fiasco’s two discs, 2006’s Food and Liquor and 2008’s The Cool, have been critically acclaimed for their inventive production values and subject matter.
Tickets are $44.50 to $94.50 and are available at the U.S. Army Box Office at the Ford Center, Ticketmaster.com, or by calling 235-8288.



February 26th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
This may be the first Hip-Hop/R&B concert I ever go to. $94.50? geez.
February 26th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
This may be the first hip-hop concert I really want to go to that I won’t.
Damn children.
February 26th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
This may be the first hip-hop concert that I ever knew was going on.
It’s a step!
February 27th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
This show is going to be amazing. GLOW IN THE DARK!!!!
February 29th, 2008 at 10:22 am
Rihanna is - dare I say? - extremely marketable.