Kanye West and Jay-Z Crash MoMA’s Garden Party
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One of the bigger sing-alongs of Kanye West’s performance at the Museum of Modern Art on Tuesday night came about 20 minutes into his hour-plus set. Dressed in light blue jeans, a gray hoodie and black skytops, West bent into the mic to sing the first four notes of his 2007 single, “Can’t Tell Me Nothing.”
Jay-Z and Kanye West
Photo By Nicholas Hunt/PatrickMcMullan.com
“Laaaaa. Laa. La-la,” several hundred party goers chanted right along, “Wait ‘til I get my money right!”
Among those who turned out for the party, sponsored this year by Cartier, were Henry Kravis and Marie-Josée Kravis, Larry Gagosian, Michael Douglas, Jerry Speyer and David Rockefeller. James Frey, standing near one of the garden’s pools, explained that a non-disclosure agreement would keep him from discussing his upcoming interview with Oprah. He talked art instead.
“At MoMA, my favorite [work] to see is the Pollocks,” the author said. “The ferocity of it and the recklessness of it, and the abandon of it and the beauty of it. I wish I could do with words what he did with paint.”
Would he be sticking around for Kanye?
“F–k yeah I am,” Frey said.
A few of Frey’s fellow attendees, including Leelee Sobieski and Richard Phillips, echoed the endorsement of West. As cocktail hour ended, and the garden began to clear, Mayor Michael Bloomberg was chatting among a circle of guests that included Jamie Dimon. On his way into dinner, the mayor talked up the museum.
“This is one of the great jewels in the cultural crown of New York,” he said, surveying his surroundings.
So would he be sticking around for Mr. West?
The mayor paused.