avril 14 by aphex twin

Backyard Heavies - Expo 83

Watch the Throne

Kanye West and Jay-Z trade boastful bars on the Otis Redding-sampled "Otis" off their anticipated collaborative LP Watch The Thone due out digitally on August 1 and physically, August 5. Sounds so soulful, don't you agree? Watch the Throne drops August 12th (via wikipedia), 2011 and can be pre-order at www.watchthethrone.com.

Listen: Kanye West & Jay-Z f/ Otis Redding "Otis"

Check out this Jay-Z DJ Self demo, another one from the Vaults:
Tags: kanye-west, jay-z Watch the Throne

Kanye West Shares Tribute To His Musical Influences At Essence Music Festival

Kanye West - All Of The Lights [mash-up video]

Kanye West "Monster" Muppet Remix (Explicit Version)

MONSTER (EXPLICIT VERSION) FEATURING: KERMY WEST FAW-Z RIZZ RAT VON COUNT PIGGY MINAJ For the CLEAN version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UAeiN...

Chris Martin performs with Jay-Z and Kanye West

During his New Year's Eve set in Las Vegas last night, Jay-Z brought out Kanye West and a wasted-looking Chris Martin to perform their song "Homecoming." Hov took a backseat and played the role of hype-man during the duo's performance.

Kanye West - Monster music video preview

Kanye West speaks in Bowery Ballroom, New York

I wanna thank everybody for coming out this evening, first of all, and supporting me. Everybody that got in the building tonight.

As you know, it’s been a extremely hard year for me. But it felt so good to give back music, week after week after week, and just get back into the studio doing what we do, with G.O.O.D. Fridays, with new albums. Uh, yeah.

And I wanna thank all of they — I never thought I’d ever say this — I would like to thank the magazines, for perfect scores across the board.

I always felt like I could do anything, but now … I feel so fearless, like, to do an album, right, after the year that I had, and after all the “Your career is over!” and “Die, nigger, die!” and “You’ll never make music again!” And to come back and to do 100,000 the first day, digital alone, to do, to be slated to do 600,000 in the first week — and I, I don’t talk about the numbers, but what that number says is that people want me to keep making music, and for me to not give up. No radio singles. No number-one record, no top-ten record. They had to re-order, they didn’t order enough — We sold out in Chicago! It’s sold out at Best Buy on 14th Street tonight! They sold out! They said, “Oh, you ain’t got no radio singles, so, uh, we estimate 250,000 the first week” or “What about the fact that we just don’t like you?”

But I ain’t here for, to do no motherfuckin’ politics. I’m here to make music. I’m not here to talk in no motherfuckin’ interviews, nobody ask me no stupid-ass questions. We had such a great win. Matt Lauer is not a bad guy, I’m sure. But, if you are a child that’s being abused by your parent, or you’re a girl being abused by your boyfriend, the greatest win that you could ever have is when that person’ll hit you in public! “You see! You see! I told you!” ‘Cause every time I went on stage, there was no way to justify it. There was no way for me to justify it. Play the chords lower, play the chords lower. Play the chords lower.

There was no way for me to justify the way people judge me. When you do things like what happened last year, it’s disrespectful to everyone that’s creative. It’s a smack in the face to everyone who tries to do something real. If I wasn’t drunk, I would’ve been on stage longer. Like, “Am I the only one who’s not crazy here? Are you fucking kidding me? Are you fucking kidding me?” And then they run with it, they run with it, the reason why — and don’t call me tellin’ me about what I should do! I’m my own man! Sometimes you scream on a nigga, sometimes you gotta come back and say, “You know how I screamed on you that time? My bad.”

‘Cause look at this: Everybody wants to use people, and villainize people, even if you take the concept of George Bush. There is no leader in history that has been villainized that way, and didn’t get killed at war or commit suicide. So any man that lives through it deserves one moment of redemption. Any man. Because at the end of the day, we are all … none are without flaw. The thing is people point the fingers, the projections, the shit that people write on blogs, is a projection of what they feel or what they scared about in themselves, that they wanna project through the people who are on TV.

And now we are mere surfaces of the energy that they are projecting on us.

Everybody needs a villain, don’t we? We need to blame someone at all times. And for me, to be a considered, a racist for stating a bla — a blatant truth, an obvious truth! But the nuances of my words, because I am very particular with my words, and the emotion that I felt at that time, wasn’t worded exactly right.

But everybody came and said, “Oh my God!” — I’m talking about five years ago, I’m not talking about a year ago, I’m talking about five years ago, I’m talking about Katrina — and everybody said, “Oh my God, Kanye! I love you so much! I hated you until you said that! Now you’re speaking for me! I always thought you were an asshole, but now you said something that represents me!” — And the whole time, I’m thinking in my mind, “That’s not exactly what I wanted to say.” I was emotional, that was not exactly the way I wanted to word it. But I rode it, I rode it. Just as Taylor never came to my defense in any interview, and rode the wave, and rode it, and rode it, that’s the way I rode the wave of the Bush comment. I rode it.

It’s not about popular opinion, it’s about when you look in your heart and know what’s right and what’s wrong. When you look in your heart, look at what the media did, look at how they exploited him! They said that he said that was his lowest moment, and as a mass, as America, we took that as a fact. If you look at the interview, he said it’s one of his lowest moments, and he said it about ten different things!

But because the popularity of me, they exploited that! To make you watch the interview, and make you feel he was stupider than ever! To think that a rapper’s comment could be his lowest moment! That’s not what he fucking said! That’s not what he said! He said it’s one of his lowest moments!

But it shows you, it showed you what, the way they try to fill a night, the way they try to do that. Everything would’ve been okay if they didn’t play the audio that day. None the wiser! None the wiser! They played the audio, they fucked up in front of everybody. They fucked up big-time.

If you’re a real artist, have no fear. Say what the fuck you want, do what you want, make what you want! And if it’s meant to be, the people will stand up. Like the people stood for me this week. 600,000, comin’ off being the most hated person this time last year. And thank you so much for the energy from the streets, the energy from the blogs, the energy from the reporters, the energy from the actors, from the comedians, from the writers, from the fashion designers, from the models — oh, the energy of the models. From the energy of the subway workers, from the doorman, to the cabdriver, to the schoolteacher, the energy — that’s the energy that you feel right now. That’s what happens when you speak from what people are really, really goin’ through. I can’t be your role model, I can’t be your savior, I can’t be your Antichrist. I don’t know what the fuck Illuminati is. I like clothes and I still like girls, I don’t give a fuck what you think.

And on that note, I love y’all, and all my family that came out that helped me with the album, that came through tonight, flying in, private jets, everything they had to do to get here. Everybody in the audiences, that sat through this whole thing, I know y’all gotta wake up in the morning. Thank you so much, I love you. Good night.

via therockabyereview

Kanye West Runaway Full Length Film

The 2010 BET HIP HOP Awards- G.O.O.D. Music cyper

Runaway Piano version

Smokey Robinson and the Miracles Will you still love me

Such a simple sample but such a dope beat that was done in the new track by Yeezy "Devil in a new dress"

This Is Rosewood: Starring Kanye West & John Legend

.

Check out some footage of a super exclusive performance Kanye West put on earlier this week at The Box in New York City. @JohnLegend joined @KanyeWest on stage while Kid Cudi, Mr. Hudson and Estelle looked on…until she jumped on the stage. Of course Mr. West performed a new song! All suits everything....even dress shoes (no yeezys that night).

The other side of the velvet rope..Kanye West started something called "The Rosewood Movement." This was widely accepted as just an excuse for Kanye and his friends to wear nice suits and to have a name for being all-around classy guys. As it turns out, the "Movement" is more than that. In a "secret" and private party at The Box last night, Kanye West and John Legend performed what they called the first in a series of intimate concerts. The only caveat for the attendees was that they all wear formal attire—specifically, that all the gentlemen in attendance wear suits and "hard bottoms."

The happening of the secret concert seemed to actually be kept a pretty good secret as there were only a few people who tried to crash the door. Presumably if this were not the case, it would have been more of a madhouse, but whether it was the rain or the tight lips of those involved in the Rosewood Movement, the whole thing was not particularly overcrowded. That being said, there were a few people who weren't on the list who tried to make their way inside. One particular social media technology founder and his party were originally denied at the door and then, after business cards were exchanged in a "Do you know who I am? I am this guy!" sort of way, a compromise was reached and two people from the party of five or six were allowed to enter.

Although the party was supposed to start at midnight, Kanye and his friends did not get there until around 1 a.m. Until that point it was unclear as to what was happening, whether it was just a party, whether there would actually be performances, or if a lot of people who weren't used to wearing suits would have to continue standing around awkwardly wearing suits for an indefinite amount of time.

Around 1:30 a.m., Kanye finally took the stage. His labelmate and longtime friend John Legend was on a grand piano as an accompanist, and there was a third person who was behind several keyboards. The show itself started as a series of stripped down hits from Kanye's repertoire, and the first quarter of the set was pretty mellow, as though the fact that everyone was wearing suits meant that things weren't going to get particularly exciting.

After five or six songs, as he brought out Estelle for 'American Boy,' the energy level of the show hit another gear. Kanye started going through his more upbeat numbers including performances of the song he produced for Drake, 'Find Your Love,' and he also used a sample machine on stage to create new interpolations of his own hits like 'Flashing Lights' and a new song that samples the Billy Joel song 'Movin' Out (Anthony's Song),' which is about a boy who doesn't like the new male companions of his newly divorced mother. It was very, very good, but it's also hard to go wrong when using that chorus.

One of the highlights was a performance of 'Say You Will' off "808's and Heartbreak," in which he explained the inspiration for the song; that it was mostly to do with women who were indecisive in committing to sexual endeavors. Examples cited were girls who on a Friday night said they would come over to have sex but changed their mind at the last minute, leaving Kanye in a lurch. He was also not thrilled when girls would not send him sexts (dirty pictures via e-mail or MMS) when he was on the road. It sounds like a stupid complaint, but it was much more reasonable sounding the way he articulated it. It seemed like a very annoying problem to have!

What resonated through the whole show was how much fun Kanye was having. As the crowd was small, probably no bigger than 200 or so people, many of whom were personal friends of his, he was just playing music he was very proud of and enjoying the adoration and positive energy of the small room. Even as the planned set ended, he kept going through the MPC to find new songs he could do—and it should be noted that John Legend and the keyboardist were insanely impressive as they kept up with his ranting, changes to songs and random jamming out with his samples. At one point, Kanye started pounding on the keys so hard that at the end of the song he came out looking hazy, and he said he felt like a drummer who was on the first night of his tour and had just completed his first solo.

There were a few very minor missteps on the night. First was the fact that Mos Def was in the building, but not near the stage when their collaboration 'Two Words' was being performed, and so Kanye was looking around for the rapper to no avail. Next was the fact that the drink of choice, at least by the Rosewood Movement, was the creatively named "Rosewood." It is: sauvignon blanc, cranberry juice and a simple syrup. You can guess how that tasted.

The dress code was pretty heavily enforced, but the only men who seemed to enter sans suit were David Beckham and his hanger-on buddy. Pulling the "It's not really that cold and other people are actually sweating but I'm still going to wear a beanie" move, he was perched up in one of the upper booths with no Victoria Beckham in sight, though he did have some cute-ish British girls with him. To his credit nothing particularly salacious was happening with their party—and the background on his new Blackberry Torch was a picture of his family.

After the performance was over, Kanye and John Legend walked off the stage to join their friends who were there supporting the Rosewood Movement, including Pusha T of the Clipse, Big Sean, Mr. Hudson, longtime manager and friend Don C, Ibn Jasper and Virgil Abloh. After a little more lounging, the venue started to empty out. Kanye started towards the exit, through the crowd, and he went out of his way to thank people individually, friends and strangers alike, for coming to his show. He seemed genuinely very, very happy.

via theawl

POWER

Kanye West POWER by Marco Brambilla (Director's Cut) from ARTJAIL on Vimeo.

Kanye West – Power (prod. Symbolyc One; co-prod. @KanyeWest)

You can view the video also on Yeezy's website

You can download the track here.



In making Kanye West's "Power" music video, Marc Brambilla has evolved the video collage technique he created for his epic 2009 video installation that you see above called Civilization (commissioned by hotelier André Balazs for The Standard, New York). The imagery for Power was shot specifically for the piece and has been layered to create compelling new narratives and stunning visual mosaics. With exquisite technical production and seamless editing, Brambilla’s multi-layered tableaux of interconnecting images and looped video blend into an expansive landscape that forms his hallmark style.

via @Buzzbeast

You can read more about the article here

Kanye as the new face of BAPE

Drake I want this thing "Forever"

This track is part of the “More Than A Game” soundtrack. All in all it’s a decent video… the song of course is super dope. Some of my top 10 favorite rap artists are on it and here’s my run down of my favorite verses. Lil Wayne > Eminem > Drake > Kanye West. Oh big shout out to LBJ.

Stay up (Viagra) video premier on MTV

Check out the official video for “Stay Up! (Viagra)” featuring Kanye West directed by Decon’s own Jason Goldwatch.
Also, peep MTV’s 88-Keys Video Sneak Peek and the MTV News & Photo Gallery.

Kanye West Poetry slam

The Think Movement has begun

THE THINK MOVEMENT HAS BEGUN!!!

Check out this interview when they were on the Today show: