After threatening for a week plus, Yeezy finally dropped the new kanyewest.com this morning. The new format features a plain white background, and a full-screen approach for videos and pics. The shot of Amber isn’t a bad way to lead off either. So far, Ye’s blog has given fans a chance to connect to the man behind the artist, and hear opinions and ideas directly from him, without the filter of the mass media. Which is cool. The interpersonal connection and the sharing of ideas between individuals is the future of this internet shit, and it’s what we’re trying to build our foundation on with you. And him and her too. For now, peep the site here. As always, we’ll keep an eye on what Yeezy’s got up his sleeve next. Expect big things.
I often times feel conflicted about throwing up the Kanye. I always ask myself, is throwing up the Kanye a reflex? Or is it simply the belief that each time I press the play button on a Kanye video I know I’m in for something. To answer my own question, it’s the latter. I usually skip this song when I slap 808’s and I probably still will, but I’m always pleased when Nabil and Ye get together. It’s just the fact that Kanye’s videos are so different, that it makes these other videos irrelevant, and I appreciate that. Very much.
“When it’s all said and done, remember the fearless, remember the dreamers, remember those who represent the ghetto… The fairy tale of nothing to something. I’m briefly saddened by negative comments, but I have to remember those people are scared, incapable or just plain idiots. We are the fucking rock stars baby. No cocaine, just life my niggaz. No cocaine, just life! It’s funny, to me when fashion bloggers down our outfits and then super jock outlandish shit on the runway but then they dress mad prude and don’t live fashion. We live it man. Fuck that, we live it!!! We live it so hard people live through us! We represent your inner spirit!!
They say a great player is only as good as his team. If the saying applies to music, Mr. West in still in pretty good shape. For the blockbuster remix of “Whatever U Want”, he and Cons enlisted a team of heavy hitters to rep under the G.O.O.D. Music banner, with a pair of four-bar verses each from Kid Cudi, Common, and Big Sean, respectively, plus the John Legend-laced hook. Same beat, but the track was bananas to start with, so I can’t really complain. Cons TV in stores soon.
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This might just be the strangest piece of art Kanye has ever put together. Keep watching until the end and you’ll see what I mean. The last time these two linked up, it was for the “Flashing Lights” video, another brilliant piece of oddball film that left folks scratching their heads. Spike Jonze of course, is the director behind this fall’s blockbuster Where the Wild Things Are, as well as Adaptation, Being John Malkovich and a handful of the dopest music videos ever. To me, this is amazing. To others, it might just be weird. Either way, it’s worth the watch (EDIT: The video keeps getting taken down, but we’ll re-up it as different versions become available).
Love him or hate him, Ye is the most inescapable influence in pop culture today. Personally, I think its creativity that keeps him so relevant. The music is dope, of course, but just as important is the attention to detail he puts into every piece of work his name is attached to. The dude is just flawless with the visual presentation. The Glow in the Dark book features shots from the tour, documented by Nabil Elderkin, who has built up a pretty ridiculous resume of late as both a director and photographer. He killed it, as expected. Coming soon to a coffee table near you.
So Gaga and Kanye are going on tour together. And it’s interesting, simply because there is such a wide spectrum of sentiments regarding the two. “Kanye’s an asshole,” “Gaga has a dick,” “Kanye’s a genius,” “Gaga is true art.” In my humble, they’re both icons in their own right, simply off their influence on popular culture. Trend setters is close, but maybe trail blazers is more appropriate. It’s like they allow themselves to become sacrificial lambs in their pursuit of artistry. So it’s only appropriate for the stars to align. The Fame Kills tour kicks off on November 10th in Phoenix, Arizona, and finishes up in Dallas, Texas on January 24th. This will be an experience.
If you consider yourself a Jay fan, I recommend seeing him live. His performances are some seriously iconic shit. For the folks who were lucky enough to catch Friday night’s show at the Garden, I’m legitimately jealous. The show was a sellout within minutes. Thanks to Fuse TV though, we got the footage to capture yet another historic moment in Hovi history. Watch this all the way through and try to tell me one of your favorite artists didn’t show up. Justin, Pharrell, Mary J., John Mayer, Santi, Kanye, Rihanna, Beyonce, Diddy, Cudi…fuck a VMA’s. In any case, you know if we got it, it’s yours. Here’s the show in its entirety.
Pretty humorous to say the least. Hip hop’s biggest stars immortalized as Simpsons characters. Designed by Moxy Creative, each picture is available in hi-res for printing. The choices they make to define each character are amusing. Biggie’s Coogi sweater to Wayne’s moccasins. This is jokes.
No album is safe from leakage. If it’s finished, it’s only a matter of time before it seeps out track by track to the masses. As usual, everybody took their chance to be professional Facebook music critics and let me know exactly how to feel about BP3 10 days prior to its release date. I won’t bore you with my opinion beyond saying it’s dope, and it’s still growing on me. But this track is something every hip-hop head should hear. A statement of Jay’s longevity and a salute to the hip-hop stars many of us grew up on in the post golden-age era. Honestly, I wasn’t really checking for J. Cole too often, but this looks like his Lupe on “Touch the Sky” moment. Ye and No I.D. killed it on the track too. Don’t forget to click MORE for the iciest commercial you’ve seen in a while.
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This one’s relevant to a lot of us. Nic Nac, Hyphen, Bundy & Ben for the beats. Lan for the creative process. D.S. for the track itself. In this video, DJ Khalil breaks down the process behind the creation of The Clipse first single off their upcoming album, “Kinda Like A Big Deal”. Each part is clean by itself. The guitar riffs. The bassline. 5 gum came correct with this one. This is just so clean. A walk through of how a track can blow up. Props to The Clipse for coming with this. Cleanest beat of ‘09?
This is how you do it. Swagga Like Us on steroids. This track is exciting. Off first listen you’re like, “Damn ok Drake, I see you, who’s next…” and it continues. It’s exciting. I hope there are more mega tracks like this in the future. So then the question becomes, who came the hardest?
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So they dropped it. After two teasers and a preview, the official video for Jay’s second single has been released. A solid effort all around, the video successfully captures the magnitude of the track while featuring three of the biggest acts in the world. While, Jay and Kanye come correct, Rihanna’s star shines the brightest. She just comes so epic with it. Style and grace. Style and grace. With BP3 right around the corner, I wonder if this is the precursor to the main event? Most of us are anticipating a classic album, and with ample time Jay has been given the opportunity to create a masterpiece. I guess only time will tell.
Another visual offering from the G.O.O.D music coalition. Dope off top because of the departure from the images of girls, money, and jewelery that we’ve seen for the last decade. There’s a natural air to this video which is refreshing, further related through the complimentary colors used throughout the video. Attention to the aesthetic was a primary focus according to Cudi, “We wanted to go for a real abstract and iconic-looking video, something real artsy. It’s really dope,” he said. “It’s almost like there’s still shots and there’s movement going on in them. It’s really trippy.” Gaga cameo would’ve been nice but a settled video all around. Appreciated.
A bittersweet one for me. A song by Drake about the B&B’s. boobies&basketball (in stores soon). Yeah, that’s cool. On the flipside it’s some pretty played topics covered in a semi-unique way. Although altering the plot, we’ve seen the hoop music video too many times. Here’s an example, and another and another . Cut scenes are nice to have but not if they’re boring. Drake looks tired. Maybe I’m hating. Nahright said it’s getting 5000 views every 20min. 50’s thoughts on Drakes buzz were interesting, simply because it questions a level of hype we don’t encounter often. And I think we’re all excited too. Most hyped person after Obama and Lebron? Laugh out loud. Can’t even deny it though, our friend Drake is doing it.
