andPOP » 808s and Heartbreak

Kanye West Doesn’t Want to Be in Music Videos

Angelina Irinici — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 21:33:43 +0000

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Kanye West is changing his in-your-face ways and has taken a backseat when it comes to his own work. MTV News reports that West did not want to star in his own music videos.

Director Nabil Elderkin and the rap star both agreed to leave the star out of his newest video “Coldest Winter”, which premiered on Monday via iTunes, about over a year after the record 808s & Heartbreak came out. The video shows a struggling woman wearing a white dress running through a gloomy, wintry forest, being followed by creepy hooded characters. West isn’t in the video – not even under one of the hoods.

There was no convincing, twisting of arms or anything; Kanye and Elderkin both agreed with the concept.

You know what, the funny thing is, he didn’t want to be in it,” Elderkin told MTV News. “I wasn’t even gonna put him in it. He didn’t want to be in ‘Paranoid,’ to be honest. There was more Kanye in ‘Paranoid’ [originally], and I took him out. He’s just cool right now with putting out visuals that fit the song without having to be in it. I think he’s in that place in his life where right now he just wants to make art.”

The duo has teemed up before in the past on “Welcome to Heartbreak” and “Paranoid”. Elderkin said he feared overshadowing the song since it one of the most emotional and personal tracks on the record. The song was inspired by the passing of West’s mother in November of 2007, and a failed relationship with his ex-fiance Alexis Phifer last April. Instead of overshadowing this, Elderkin said he wanted the visuals to complement the eerie music with lyrics like “goodbye my friend, will I ever love again?”

“Sometimes I don’t want to get too literal with videos, like, ‘This is what this is suppose to mean, and that’s what that is suppose to mean,’ ” he said. “I wanted to leave it open to interpretation. I want people to get whatever they want out of it.”

Elderkin had a good thing going about West being in a place in his life about making art, perhaps the star is slowly learning his lesson and taking a more subtle approach when it comes to his feelings and thoughts.

Kanye West 7th on Man of the Year List

Stephen Baldwin — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:03:40 +0000

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Kanye West beat out fellow rappers Drake and Eminem to be voted seventh on MTV News’ Man of the Year list, MTV.com reports.

The Taylor Swift incident halted what had been an incredibly eventful year for West. Tracks from late 2008’s 808s and heartbreak have been playing throughout the year, and the electronic-hip hop mix is becoming a popular trend among both urban and mash-up artists. West kicked of 2009 with a performance at President Obama’s youth inauguration ceremony, and then headlined both the Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo music festivals. He also appeared on popular tracks like Run this Town, Drake’s Forever and Keri Hilson’s Knock You Down. West has also contributed to the rising careers of artists like Kid Cudi, 88 keys, Drake and British singer Mr. Hudson. He is currently working on developing young rapper Soulja Boy’s latest album.

He was also a popular tabloid search. Since the death of his mother Donda in 2007, West has been understandably short-tempered. Earlier this year West had a scuffle with paparazzi that ended with punches being thrown, and his heartless interruption of Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech pissed off plenty of fans and celebrities…including President Obama. The incident led to a teary interview on the Jay Leno Show and then increased suspicion among the media of mental illness.

Entertainment Weekly recently named Kanye West’s early album College Dropout the album of the decade. Maybe the announcement will inspire West to stay off the drama for a while, and get back to the music.

Kanye West’s Bizarrely Original Short Film

Stephen Baldwin — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:20:33 +0000

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Kanye West teamed up with Oscar-nominated director Spike Jonze this summer to create a unique, mind-bending and often confusing short film. We Were Once a Fairytale was shown at the LA film festival in August, and was intended for A September 8th iTunes release, but it made its international debut on Monday, Oct.19.

The release comes less than a week after the premier of Spike Jonze’s fantastical big-screen rendition of Where the Wild Things Are. This may alleviate some confusion over the video’s bizarreness.

The short film parallels the tone of West’s 808s and Heartbreak album. It’s strange and even boring at first, but when you understand its direction, you understand its art. It’s dark but ultimately moving…not to mention catchy as hell.

The first half of the video contains a drunken Kanye West in a nightclub, singing and dancing along to his 808s and Heartbreak hit, See You In My Nightmares – which is playing in the background throughout. The video was reportedly intended to be the track’s music video, but instead set the stage for a 10 minute short film.

The second half includes Kanye fooling around with a girl in his drunken haze and then passing out. After waking up in a pile of pillows he then heads to the club’s washroom and projectile vomits a bed of flowers. When there are no more flowers to spew he slashes his stomach open with a blade and pulls out a furry mouse-like creature.

The video may be a reflection of an artist’s loss of self, or it could mean something completely different. Like most of Kanye’s music, there is no absolute definition. Whether you dig this video or not, you have to commend its originality, or at least remember that your dislike won’t even scratch the surface of West’s bulletproof ego.