iHipHop Admin
If you haven’t watched the video for KanYe West’s ‘Coldest Winter’ off the 808s & Heartbreak album go here…
Okay, you’re back? Good.
First off, let me say that I love the video. It has a creepy kind of ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ vibe where you imagine that the woman was escaping from some ritualistic torture or some freaky orgy with old rich men. It seems like a bad dream. I refrained from calling it a nightmare since there is a song on 808s called ‘C U In My Nightmares’ (at least that’s what it was called on my, er, press copy). I still want to see a gory, bloody video to come from the 808s project.
The second thing I have to give ‘Ye Tudda credit for is producing music videos for an album that is over a year old and gets no more radio play. These videos are being paid for directly out of KanYe’s pocket. No way Def Jam is funding these joints right now, especially since they just allocated seven figures to put Shyne back in the spotlight. Why is KanYe West paying for these videos? Because he is an artist.
Back when the 808s & Heartbreak album dropped I told the esteemed and ageless blogging wonder Combat Jack that album would be a classic. Combat Jack began to worry about my mental health and wondered if I had joined a cult. Apparently we were both right. The 808s & Heartbreak album is a cult classic. The people that fux with the album like myself are passionate about it. While the people that h8 on the album because they don’t understand it stay sniping.
One of the worst arguments against 808s was that it “wasn’t Hip-Hop”. That’s a load of crap if I have ever heard it. Hip-Hop is broad and diverse. Everything from Gnarls Barkley and Andre 3000 to Jay-Z and Lil’ Wayne falls under the flag of Hip-Hop. I think 808s & Heartbreak dealt with loss and pain too terrible for most people to bear without having their own breakdown and still people wonder why KanYe hasn’t hit a wall since the tragic passing of his mother. Again, KanYe West is an artist. And artists make art.
Third and most important is to select a muse that challenges you to create your best art. Amber Rose does that for KanYe. Without her he is simply an evil genius, but with her by his side he becomes a coldly calculating sinister musical madman. Wearing leather shirts and sipping on Hennessy str8 from the bottle and interrupting white princesses awards acceptance speeches. The right muse can make you a manimal. That is what Amber Rose has done for Mr. West.
I’m going to keep enjoying the output [ll] from this man on fire who is the coldest man in the entertainment game today. When his latest album drops and he is rhyming better than the best rappers don’t act all surprised either. Right now no one is colder than KanYe.
I'll do anything for a blonde dike and she'll do anything for the limelight-“Stronger”…….. Ye is a soothsayer, he says then does
lol
808s was a classic. The album may not be what people think hip-hop is, but it is a great piece of work. It just shows how great and dynamic of an artist Ye is. Who else has had an impact on culture as much as Ye in the past 10 years?
As for the video….. not really feeling it for this track. I wish he would have went a different route. I like the visuals, but I just didn't feel the whole cult vibe for this track.
I think you're giving Kanye too much credit. It's not like he's the one who was the cinematographer and camera man. The video is “300” level CGI and an M Knight Shamalan twist ending. Video gets a D+, with an A factored in for effort.
Artists create art and see it through to the furthest ends, producers just OK a product for consumption. Picasso didn't ok someone else to do his painting for him. Kanye didnt do the CGI for the video. He paid someone for that.
Kanye outsources his thoughts to other people who can get it his “vision” done. I contend that anyone given the resources can make a viable product for consumption. Just get the right people with the right skillset and anyone can make something commercial viable. For an example, look at the GI Joe movie. Garbage w/special effects equal people saying “Huh, that was pretty ok”
True artists go for dolo. Calling his audio-visual experience art is a slap in the face to the people who worked on the video(who never, ever, ever get credit, aside from the director).
Movie directors are sometimes considered artists. Movie producers never are. I contend that Kanye is the latter
i agree with 6 100, kanye is faux artist, but good beatmaker. Its like he thinks jus cuz he can make beats, means he can do anything.
I will say it's a breath of fresh air beyond the flossing and drug rap videos. Something to stimulate the thought process beyond the brainwash procedure. Ye is cold with the game. That new project he's doing will be a beast the industry can't tame. Like dP said, he got the pain out of the system w/808's.
it was cool i wouldn't call it classic i can only fuck with like 4 songs on it. from a artistic stand point it is a thumbs up on the worth your money scale not so much.
I disagree with you from the standpoint that you say dude is detached from his product. This guy is so detail oriented that he doesn't release shit for criticism or consumption until it mirrors his vision. So what if he didn't do the pixel rendering? He directed the cats who did.
As much as some of you might hate to hear this but dude is one of the factors that Hip-Hop is still relevant globally
Kanye is only fascinating because the public is scintillated by the combination of “Gay” and “Black Man” that seems so much an affront to the stereotypes presented to the public, and that Kanye does so well.
i love Kanye. I think it's interesting that he's consistently pegged as gay. Maybe it's because his bravado goes beyond grabbing his nuts and bragging about all the bitches he's slain; hip hop fans have never really been keen on anything but alpha males.
pegged as gay that would be a understatement. after i seen that pic with him and his design team they looked like they rape men for fun. kanye he is like dmx times 10 when he is on stage. the problem most people have with kanye is he will do the most gangsta stuff then apologize. also kanye stay talking that before the dough it was no show not since i got put on i'm down with groupie ho's.
this is the pic i am talking about farnsworth look like the only regular one.
http://www.highsnobiety.com/news/wp-content/upl…