Chicago is a land of many music festivals (including Pitchfork's gig), so Common knew that he had to bring it for AAHH! Fest to make sure that the event could continue for another year. He brought it in the form of a *surprise* musical guest that everyone saw coming: Kanye West.
Common was the main musical name behind the planning of the event at Union Park, but another major organizer was Donda's House, a charitable organization founded by West in his mother's name. So no kidding he turned up for the event. The emcee performed the track "Get 'Em High" along with Common before playing his own hits, including "Jesus Walks," "Can't Tell Me Nothing," "Power" and "All of the Lights."
Common had a full stash full of guest performers to make sure his set didn't go sour. Jay Electronica and Vince Staples came out to help the performer through "Kingdom," a track off of Common's new LP Nobody's Smiling. Staples appeared on the album version of the track as well.
There were plenty of names on the lineup that encouraged fans to come out even without the promise of West's guest appearance. De La Soul, Lupe Fiasco and Jennifer Hudson performed as well (the latter two are Chicago natives as well). Even non-music fans could have been tempted to come out just because Dave Chappelle served as the master of ceremonies.
All told, we'd have to say that AAHH! Fest 2014 was a rousing success. Hopefully Common realizes that he's set himself for failure in 2015...who do you bring in to one-up that? We're just throwing this out there...knowing it's kind of an urban music event and all: Led Zeppelin.
