Kanye West: "Never See Me Again" and "Runaway" Preview
I feel like our site, and many other sites are starting to turn into Kanye central. Every time I put my laptop away, finish a post, or get some rest something else pops up from Mr. West. A new song emerges, a news story breaks, a video leaks etc. It really speaks to his position in music and culture right now. Kanye West is the biggest artists of our time, and perhaps the most multi-faceted and talented. And no, that's not anyone being on his nuts... It's a great time to be a student and lover of music history, and I'm taking it all in. Shortly after posting the tracklist of his new LP, as well as latest G.O.O.D. Friday track we have a double dose of new Kanye material.
The first is the opening scene that I was raving about in my review of "Runaway". The first scene also contains the super duper fresh title track co-produced by No ID and The Rza. The full movie will premiere on MTV this evening. The second new piece is "Never See Me Again", a heavy piano driven track that Kanye recorded in the aftermath of the Taylor Swift situation. After the MTV Awards Mos Def visited Kanye and advised him to leave the country. He moved to Japan, then to Rome where he interned for Fendi. When he returned to the United States, he holed up in Hawaii and returned ten-fold to music. This is a sort of goodbye track, and it gives me images of a kind of drunken piano player in a lounge playing as the night closes. I could easily see Randy Newman or Billy Joel killing this. The audio isn't too-too good, and I'm not sure the song is finished considering the sound as well as the mumbling at times. Or, that's how it is supposed to be and adds to the theme of the track. Either way it also speaks to Kanye's place in music and reminds me of when I was a teenager searching for Beastie Boys music. I aimed to track down everything, bootlegs, remixes, b-sides, and live shows. Some of what I found sounded like absolute s**t, and I loved it.
Grab the newness below.
Raekwon at Digital Freshness: Photos and Video
I think I'm still recovering from everything that went down in bringing Raekwon to Beauty Bar, a bar that is barely bigger that the RH office. Strings were pulled, pulled again, and then pulled once more for good measure. We scrambled, jumped, ducked, bobbed and weaved, and in the end, we had a blast. Raekwon is really one of the coolest and most professional artists I've met, making the whole experience unforgettable. In a later post I will tell you guys everything that went down going into and during our weekend with the Chef via another one of my "How We Recorded A Closed Session With..." pieces. For now, I have condensed our photos from the night at Beauty Bar, as well as a quick video from the night into one post. You can see both below. Please watch, enjoy, share etc... And look for the full article and Closed Session coming soon. Thank you to everyone who helped make this happen including Beauty Bar, Sneaker Pimps, Hollywood Holt, Rude 1, Raekwon, Supreme, Ruben, Briahna, and of course everyone with me at RH (Angel, Virgil, Omar, Tony, Juan, and Michael Kolar).
Hit the jump for the visuals.
Kanye West: "Don't Look Down" featuring Mos Def, Lupe Fiasco, Big Sean
"Don't look down, it's an impossible view."
Good Friday, Good Saturday, it's all the Sabbath to me... Kanye continues his promise of weekly free music and continues to bring along his famous and talented friends. "Don't Look Down" features Mos Def, Lupe Fiasco, and Big Sean. Accompanying triumphant drums and pianos, Mos Def kicks this one off singing a hook warning listeners to not look down, before Lupe Fiasco drops a verse and releases a Phoenix into the wind. Kanye vows to teach his daughter ballet as he contemplates a breakup and want could have been in the second verse of the crunchy and grunge soaked song. Big Sean adds a sense of urgency to his verse (I love describing shit as urgent) as he also says goodbye. While it's easy to think that each artist is saying goodbye to a woman, or a lover, it can also be interpreted as saying goodbye (or deciding not to) to fears. "Don't Look Down" in the sense that, by looking down we will realize how crazy our ambitions are, and there is no point in doing. As Mos Def repeats, it's an impossible view. To look down is to accept impossibility, and uh, that's just not the move.
Download the track below.
Jay-Z Decodes "PSA" Verse
Jay-Z talked to MTV about his second verse on "PSA" as part of the promotion for his forthcoming book. I got my pre-order on already and am looking forward to it. See the clip below.
Pharoahe Monch: "Clap (One Day)" Live
This song is dope. You already know the story on Monch... If lyrics sold indeed. Via his camp:
Last month Pharoahe Monch premiered his anti-police brutality anthem "Clap", to a sold out crowd at the Jazz Cafe in London. "Clap (One Day)" is the new single from his upcoming album, W.A.R. (We Are Renegades), to be released through W.A.R. Media and Duck Down in February 2011. This never seen before footage features Pharoahe's passionate and intricate delivery, alongside vocalists Showtyme and Mela Machinko, and DJ Boogie Blind.
Pharoahe explains the inspiration for the song; "Instead of protect and serve, police often escalate situations, as with the cases of Sean Bell, Oscar Grant, or Aiyana Stanley Jones, and hundreds more who fell victim to police violence. I wrote this song to express my frustration, as well as raise the question of how our communities can create safety and prevent violence, with out relying on police."
The release of this footage coincides with the October 22nd- National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality. This year is the 15th annual October 22nd, organized by communities around the country who commit to participating in local actions and events against police brutality, and work towards building community safety alternatives. People who want to stand in solidarity with October 22nd can wear all black, in memory of thousands of lives stolen by law enforcement killings.
Despite the song title's multiple meanings, "Clap (One Day)" does not advocate violence against police. Pharoahe adds a personal perspective; "My brother is a police officer so I know there are some well intentioned people wearing blue uniforms. But the issue of police violence is much bigger than good cops and bad cops, it comes down to a broken system which criminalizes our communities, and must be completely transformed."
See it below.
Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy Tracklist
Kanye West's new studio LP, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, is now available for pre-order on iTunes, and comes with a sleek 12-song tracklist. The tracks include the title song produced by Rza and No ID that captured everyone's attention during the "Runaway" premiere, as well as previously leaked songs "Monster", "Power", "Runaway", and "Devil In a New Dress". I'm really interested to hear "Goregeous" featuring Kid Cudi and Raekwon. I also know that there are a few songs that were recorded for this album, but are not featured in the tracklist, such as a song featuring GLC.
See the full list below.
Big Homie D.O.E.: "Waiting On Me" Video
Chicago's Big Homie D.O.E. is one of our most promising young artists. He's been a little quiet since the release of his Chicago Bull project, but today I got a link to his newest video for "Waiting On Me", which is exactly what some of Chicago's Hip Hop community has been doing... Is the wait over? See below.
Mac Miller: "Senior Skip Day" Video
Mac Miller returns with a new video for "Senior Skip Day", the day when seniors load up water bottles with vodka and head to Great America, or some s**t like that... Mac is going very strong right now, and I think he's an early lock for the XXL Freshmen cover. See the new video below, and our interview with Mac right here.