Five of the Most Iconic Livestreams Ever

Frank Ocean Endless (2016)
As enigmatic as the man himself, Frank Ocean’s industrial-angelic Endless livestream was an antidote to a hip hop industry obsessed with fleeting fame. A slow, enthralling visual album, Ocean tapped artist Tom Sachs for the installation, the livestream broadcasting a staircase being slowly constructed in a vast white space – Sachs referred to the object as the ‘stairway to heaven’. 

Livestreamed intermittently over the course of 19 days, the project fulfilled Ocean’s contract obligations with Def Jam Recordings, allowing him to finally release Blonde under his own label, Boys Don’t Cry. 

Now, where’s our new music, Frank! 

Drake and Ninja Play Fortnite (2018)
Another cross-cultural pollination that nobody was expecting at the time, Drake’s arrival in Epic’s Fortnite universe was, well, epic. Teaming up with streaming megastar Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins, Drake effectively nuked Twitch by reeling in over 600,000 viewers. 

Playing under the pseudonym ‘TheBoyDuddus’ on the PS4, Drake pledged $5,000 to Ninja’s Twitch stream if they could secure a W, which Ninja promptly did, racking up a lazy 16 kills in the match. 

Unfortunately, we’re still waiting on the ‘Hotline Bling’ dance emoji.

Beychella (2018)
The first African American woman to headline Coachella, Beyonce’s performance at the Californian festival is already the stuff of legend. 

A mind-altering celebration of historically black colleges and universities, Beyonce’s thumping marching band provided the perfect backdrop to an extraordinary creative vision, The New York Times declaring Queen Bey to be ‘bigger than Coachella’. A crescendo of black history, politics and expression, we rate Beyonce’s Coachella performance as one of the best performances – let alone livestreams – of all time.  

Thankfully, we can revisit the performance via the Netflix documentary, Homecoming. 

Travis Scott Invades Fortnite (2020)
Champagne Papi isn’t the only hip hop megastar to invade the battle royal game, Fortnite. Back in 2020, Travis Scott wreaked havoc with his ‘Astronomical’ in-game concert, the psychedelic 15-minute performance literally blowing up the Fortnite island. More than 12 million Fortnite players logged in to rage, the Houston rapper manifesting as a Godzilla-sized avatar in the aptly named ‘Sweaty Sands’ beach.

Rocking his own pair of Air Jordan 1s, the virtual event was a watershed moment for Travis Scott, and the entertainment industry more broadly, the collaboration serving as a digital beacon for more traditional ‘live’ performances that had been thwarted by the pandemic. 

The Life of Pablo (2016)
Let’s face it: The Life of Pablo was Kanye West’s last true masterpiece (sorry, Donda fans). Hosted at Madison Square Garden, the listening party was beamed live to theatres around the world, with fans also able to access the event online via TIDAL – remember when that was a thing? 

Coinciding with the launch of Yeezy Season 3, the event also featured Italian contemporary artist Vanessa Beecroft, the director of Kanye’s ‘Runaway’ music video.