My personal favorite track off of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. My review for this video can be summed up in two words: “Rihanna…wow.”
“All of the Lights” by Kanye West, Rihanna, Kid Cudi:
If the embedded video won’t play for whatever reason, click here:
A Love Supreme Dreaming supports progressive asians, not superficial “Azn’s”. Far East Movement this is not, kids.
Talking about the beginnings of Staple, getting hustled on the streets of NY and where Darrin Hudson is at now:
On street wear trends and its eventual evolution away from “mens wear” and why so many asians are into street wear:
On Hip Hop’s influence, not knowing the names of Roots songs and being a backpacker for life:
On not drinking since 1993, touring with Nas and how “image” is part of the “business”:
N.E.R.D., then Ye and now Lupe? In such close proximity of one another? Nice. As much as I herald and praise Kanye’s latest effort, I need something that packs a little more punch lyrically and I think Lasers will be just what I need. I can’t believe I didn’t notice it before but the hook on this is taken from Modest Mouse’s hook on “Float On”. I felt stupid for not catching that sooner. Old age will do that to you.
Both of the official singles from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy “Power” and “Runaway” are as far from anything on Hip Hop radio stations as you can get. Kanye is the biggest rap artist in the world right now and so he’ll get on the radio by default, but from what I understand stations aren’t spinning his latest offering as much as previous Yeezy hits. This is the most critically acclaimed album he’s released. One where it’s a near unanimous opinion that this is his masterpiece and mainstream radio is rejecting it. But who cares? This sort of thing seems to matter less and less these days anyway. The least radio play Kanye has ever gotten in his career, and you know what? I couldn’t be happier.
Oh and “Monster” even with it’s inclusion of Hov, Rick Ross and Nicki Minaj(all of whom aren’t unfamiliar with radio play) won’t change things either. Have you seen the damn teaser for the video? It’s the most disturbing, unsettling looking rap video I’ve ever seen. Yes, even more disturbing than “Summer Girls” by LFO. I know, it’s hard to believe right?
Of course if Kanye releases “All Of The Lights”, just strike this blog post from the record. Forget I ever wrote it if you haven’t already.
Oh and while I’m at it, I might as well get all Kanye posting out right now instead of multiple Yeezy posts which focus basically on the same subject. I don’t troll message boards anymore but I was searching and came across a post that went like this(Unedited for your pleasure):
“Yeezy on the other hand will make sure the beat is dope, he changes the pattern of the beats, picks artists to bring out the song NOT cuz their hot & will make him hotter, alters the mood for artists (raekwon, beiber, cyhi da prince, nicki minaj, beyonce, rza, charlie wilson, jay-z), he’s not out to “out-do” niggas on his shit & wont give u an entire album about how much coke, jewels or guns he shot. lets be real here, most artists who use MAD collabos dont do it like Kanye does (even wen Jay tried it w/ the Blueprint 2 creatively that shit was a dud). Hell even wen yeezy did the autotune that shit was hotter than most niggas albums.
Its one thing to have collabos but got dayum do it & be creative w/ it atleast. switch it up, play w/ the beats, select good artists for the song NOT for ur career. These days niggas just throw on a beat, get wayne on it or his whole posse & package it as a “street song” while some ass of a DJ is shouting out 100 shit on there n u cant even hear the track or feel it. No thanks. When Ye do it he does it w/ class & finesse. Nigga is like a conductor or Maestro. How many ppl bought a DJ Khaled album & could play it till their tape popped ? how many niggas bought a Luda or Diddy album & had 10+ pages in a thread on how hot that shit was production-wise, lyrically, breaking down what niggas said in the song & having arguments over who had the best verse ? How many niggas did that & brought u something new ? bridging the gaps w/ Justin Beiber, G-Unit or had u searching Youtube for Cyhi Da Prince & Pusha T tracks….
ok then…. I REST MY CASE SMH.”
-sionb55
Now that’s a quote! I agree with this guy 100% and would make the exact same argument. Okay, I would’ve changed a few words here and there. Cleaned up my punctuation and grammer a tad but I’m with this dude completely.
Starting some weeks ago, Kanye announced G.O.O.D. Fridays in which he released a new song available for download every friday until Christmas. I loved the cover art for the singles so much I’ve compiled them here. I’ll continue to add upcoming artwork to this post as they come out. I know it isn’t New Years yet but I’m gonna make an early resolution for 2011 and that is try to go five posts without having one be about Kanye West.(Right now it’s tough as his album is coming out in two weeks you see)
It seems that with Kanye, not only does the song have to be interesting but so does everything around it. Especially the cover art that serves as the visual compliment to the music. First he hired the talents of Murakami for Graduation, then KAWS for 808’s & Heartbreak and now you can add George Condo to the list of famous artists who Kanye has commissioned to provide artwork to accompany his latest project. This is Condo’s art for Ye’s latest single, “Power” off his upcoming album Good Ass Job.
As much as I love Kanye branching off to do something different(808’s & Heartbreak), I’m ready for him to bring it back to what got him here in the first place.
The thing I find interesting is that his production style is such a far cry from his College Dropout days. His beats have a certain sound and quality that is exclusive only to him. If I’m on my game, I can pick out a Neptune, Primo or RZA track without batting an eye but certain Kanye tracks I wouldn’t believe they were his if you showed me actual video of him in the studio producing it live and in person. He makes songs that are grand in scale but they don’t seem like songs that can be radio singles. Yet they are. I don’t know, it’s hard for me to articulate. Think about it, what songs on the radio sound like “Can’t Tell Me Nothing”, “Diamonds From Sierra Leone” or “Love Lockdown” for that matter? Nothing. And what makes my mind explode is that he released these as his first singles! I honestly believe if it were anyone else in the world, no record company would release these songs as singles, let alone the lead off single to promote an upcoming album! I don’t know if that’s a combination of arrogance, dillusion with dash of retardation or if it’s simply genius.
It becomes apparent to me by the drums, the continuous clap track, the chanting, He’s once again going for the stadium anthem. I wouldn’t be surprised if this new album is filled with songs that will translate very well when performed live.
On a somewhat related note, and I have absolutely nothing to base this on but for some reason I feel Jon Brion had a hand in making this song. Which is very welcomed, by me at least. Single becomes available June 8th. I figure the new album becomes available sometime after that.
“Power” by Kanye West:
Edit: Long time commenter of this site(back when I allowed commenting) and all around cool cat @capntightpants informed me that this song is co-produced by @symbolycone and not Jon Brion who I thought maybe co-produced this with Kanye. Good look by @capntightpants who also has a Tumblelog, check it: …and now you become me.
The more a rapper strays from typical “hip hop” video cliches, the more I like it. I’ve seen the same radio rap formula for nearly 15 years now. So anytime I see a video WITHOUT bottles poppin’, ghost riding and thug posturing and displays even a hint of originality or creative direction, it will always score well with me. But then again it’s Kid Cudi, one of Kanye’s inner circle and fellow G.O.O.D. Music artist were talking about here and anyone from Kanye West’s camp almost always tend to have interesting videos.
I also want to point out the significance of this song having scratching in it. Nowadays, trying to find a rap song on the radio that has an actual DJ scratching on it is like trying to locate Bigfoot riding a Unicorn with a Leprechaun carrying a pot of gold standing on its shoulder.
If I were a musician and had to be in music videos, my number one rule would be: NO SPECIAL EFFECTS. Anything with special effects doesn’t really age well. In fact the more time that passes, the worse it looks. You figure that 200 years from now, people will look back at our current CGI and it will be like if we watched a movie where spaceships were just miniature toys hanging on a string with someone in the background making flying sounds with his mouth. Apparently in the future(2085 to be exact), people will dress like bikers with studded black leather vests and wear glasses with dozens of mini solar panels on them. What depresses me most about this video is that even this far into the future, people will still be wearing fitted caps with that goddamn 5150 sticker on them.
Make no mistake, I love this song. The chorus is dope, the beat is nice and Kanye’s verse is cool, but this damn video, ugh. Horrible. This is one of those videos where in 20 years, The Dream is gonna look back and shake his head in shame. All the spaceships, futuristic clothing, the outdated effects will make him wonder what the fuck was he was thinking.
Oh yeah, The Dream looks like Just Blaze.
Watch the video here.
My favorite song off of 808’s & Heartbreak finally gets the video treatment. This, along with “Amazing” was shot in Hawaii. Interesting choice to cast Rihanna of all girls for the video considering the content of the song and all of the Chris Brown drama. Here’s hoping “Robocop” is the next and final video.
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