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ENTERTAINMENT

Kanye West makes Nashville scream lyrics about Taylor Swift

Dave Paulson
dnpaulson@tennessean.com

Kanye West had been on stage in Nashville for less than 10 minutes on Saturday night when the conversation turned to Taylor Swift.

Song No. 3 in West's set was "Famous," the notorious song in which he raps, "I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex. Why? I made that b****  famous."

West decided to have the crowd shout the last part of the lyric out. When he heard them, he beamed. Then he instructed his DJ to stop and play the song from the beginning again.

Kanye West performs at the Bridgestone Arena, Saturday, Sept. 24, 2016, in Nashville, Tenn.

"I need to hear that loud in Nashville," he said, and the crowd roared."I need to hear that so loud in Nashville."

"I feel like I'm in a movie right now or something," he added.

West ultimately started "Famous" over three times in Nashville on Saturday, and by the third time, he was shouting the lines with his audience.

"So many people told me, 'You've gotta take that line out of the song. You gotta play it safe.'" West told them from his suspended stage.

"This is what rap music is. This is what art is. Saying how you feel. And this song is how I feel. Run that s*** back."

West's and Swift's association began, of course, when he stole the microphone from her at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. They had reconciled last year and remained on friendly terms until West released "Famous" in February. The two have been at odds throughout the year over whether Swift truly approved its lyrics ahead of release.

It was the first of several moments of unsurprising candor from West, but with his latest "Saint Pablo" tour, he's finally crafted a stage show that's even more sensational than his statements.

While countless pop stars have floated over the crowd in small contraptions for years, West's show marks the first time an entire stage is constantly suspended over the audience. The "flying" stage is his home for the full length of the show, as it surfs from one end of the room to the other, rises, falls and tilts. From the moment the house lights went out and West stepped on the platform, it was pandemonium in the arena, from the floor to the upper deck (all packed, by the way).

That stage system also blasts the audience on the floor with lights, and they were often a more compelling presence than West (though that's likely by design). You could watch the sea of humanity follow West en masse as the platform sailed by. Every song - and there were more than 30 performed on Saturday - had its choruses and quirks shouted out by thousands. Strikingly, West's new songs from "Pablo" inspired as much, if not more passion than decade-old favorites like "Jesus Walks" and "Stronger."

That bodes well for the 39-year-old's future as a pop star. Then again, it doesn't sound like he's questioning his longevity.

"I love making mistakes," he said. "I love (expletive) failing out loud, falling on my (expletive) face. Because look at where we are now. They're gonna play this (performance) back a hundred years from now. After we're all gone, they'll remember this night. They'll remember this time."

West also called out the fashion reporters and editors who criticized his recent fashion show in New York City. During "Runaway" - which for years has been the spot in concert for West to speak his mind - he said he'd thought of a plan to deal with them. It sounded a lot like a vintage Taylor Swift move.

"Tonight I'm gonna research all of their names, (sings) and I'm gonna put you in a song,...You were mean to me, and I don't take that lightly."