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Tenn. Taking on the role of a preacher in the cult of personality, West talked to the crowd about following a dream, creativity and culture, alluding to the media and corporations who he feels have tried to keep him from expressing himself fully.
• The 36-year-old rapper then started to leave the stage, but in a feint returned to launch into a long discussion that was alternately esoteric, comic and emotional.
• "Do you know who the head of Nike is?" West asked the crowd as he prowled back on forth on an arrowhead-shaped stage in a white mask. "No, well let me tell you who he is: His name is Mark Parker, and he just lost culture. Everyone at Nike, everyone at Nike, Mark Parker just let go of culture."
• West has said in interviews recently that he's now partnering with Adidas. He first released his Air Yeezy shoe in 2009. He's chafed recently during interviews at being categorized as just a musician, and told the crowd he has the Internet and the stage from which he can speak directly to his fans.
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• SAO PAULO (AP) -- With one thunderous crash, Brazil's troubled preparations for the World Cup are thrown in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, just as soccer gears up for the high-profile setting of the schedule for next year's big event.
• Part of the stadium that will host the tournament's opening match collapsed Wednesday, killing two workers and aggravating already urgent worries that Brazil won't be ready.
• "It was a huge explosion," said 32-year-old stonemason Evandro Pereira, who was off at a cafeteria at the time of the lunchtime accident. "It was really very scary. We all ran out and we were shocked to see the crane had collapsed on top of the stands."
• The accident at the Arena Corinthians, known locally as the Itaquerao, could hardly have come at a worse time -- just a week before the top names in soccer arrive for the draw that will determine where and when all 32 teams will play in the World Cup's opening round.
• "The sound was as loud as a thunderclap or a huge explosion," said Rodrigo Vessoni, a reporter with the sports newspaper Lance who witnessed the accident. "There was a lot of running around, a lot of shouting. It was frightening. Chills ran through my entire body."
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