kanye west graduation

Beef is Kanye's job, not mine.

http://www.soulstrut.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/weaksauce.gif

eat doritos and get blog ass.

jeez does EVERY thread have to be about Perpetua?

Since I'm ranting, I think now's a good time as ever to suggest everyone quit the wack Perptua bullying.

Yeah, I'm sure Kanye hears Daft Punk more authentically than the dorks who have been buying their albums for 10 years. Got any fantasies about Swizz Beats hearing DP?

I bet Swizz and Ye go to the same parties!

yeah sorry. you set it up pretty well though! I mean I think that MTV and magazine staffers are as likely to be at clubs and industry parties more than sitting listening to headphones with a snackpack.

(xpost I remember Swizz saying that he'd been a big Daft Punk fan for years when "Touch It" came out, whereas Kanye has just been like "oh that's just something my DJ played for me recently that I liked")

can we derail the thread from whiney's kanye-listening-to-daft-punk fan fiction to talk about the album again

http://whippersnapper.wordpress.com/

While rappers before were mostly using similar soul and funk samples, Kanye sampled Daft Punk. He’s had Adam Levine and Chris Martin on his tracks while having Jon Brion — Fiona Apple’s producer — produce his last album. All of his songs have real hooks, while his singing might not be great, it can carry most of the choruses. It’s also clear that the production and hummability of every song is of near equal importance of the rhymes or the verbal flow, which has been true for very, very few popular hip hop albums. While Gold Digger may have been a cascade of clever rhymes and imagery, it was getting Jamie Foxx to sing as Ray Charles and Jon Brion’s funky electric piano on the third verse that made the song something special.

is that a billy sunday post

aight, let's talk the album: does anyone think that "Homecoming" is better than "Home" (Kanye's mixtape track from 5 years ago with the same lyrics over a different beat)? I can barely listen to this new version, it doesn't sound right at all to me, but maybe that's because I'm attached to the old one.

I didn't see any references to Fiona Apple being "hardbody" (xpost)

way to listen to daft punk... dorito-breath!'

hahaha

Q: what does billy sunday eat for breakfast?

A: eggs over hardbody

mwwwahahahaha

Wack. Anyway, does anyone else feel like the whole album feels like a drunk night out or a weekend day? Between the synth club vibe thing, the obnoxious drunk swagger with lines about how he's so special, I could get any of you girls, etc. to the end where he's all like "jay, you're like my brother, man..." you get the entire timeline of being in a drunk party lifestyle.

I love "Homecoming"! I'd rather hear Chris Martin plinkety-plocketing about fireworks in Lake Michigan than getting wet over clocks and yellow.

Why do people always think that because you've recently discovered an artist, that makes you any less of a fan?

This album is mediocre, with few highlights. And that So Me video pisses me off, but I give him an A+ for being so ambitious.

The show's what Kanye would expect from a band A-Trak likes. Loud and aggressive and playful, and he knows he's going to have bruises in the morning. He wants them.

He feels alive like he hasn't in what feels like months. The music drills into his brain, his heart echoes the thump of the bass, and he raises his hands above his head, loses himself in it, in the people, the press of bodies around him. Every once in awhile he catches a glimpse of A-Trak, eyes drifting to his from where he holds court at the bar - making sure I'm okay, Kanye thinks - and smiles. He can't disappear because no one escapes the watchful gaze of A-Trak. Kanye feels safe - first time in awhile for that, too.

When it's all over, A-Trak drives him home. They're silent, most of the way. A-Trak is like that a lot, when the cameras are off and they're out of the public eye. He chooses his words carefully, Kanye thinks. Knows the value of quiet. Smart guy.

They sit in Kanye's driveway for several long minutes, and Kanye mostly waits, because he senses there's something to say. He's more perceptive than people give him credit for.

A-Trak's fingers tap on the steering wheel. "Rosie O'Donnell wants to buy one of my bikes."

"Huh." Kanye's not sure what to say.

"She's gay."

"Yeah, I kind of already figured that out." There's a ghost of a smile on Kanye's lips.

"I'm gay, too, you know."

Kanye starts to giggle, because yes, yes, it's true. A-Trak is gay. A-Trak told them that years ago, when the whole thing started out, and he's not at all sure why it's funny, but Rosie's gay, and so is A-Trak, and maybe they'll be grand marshals of some Big Gay Parade somewhere. The giggles turn to full-fledged laughter, and before Kanye realizes what's happening he's laughing so hard he's crying. Then he is crying, great big fat tears streaming down his face and A-Trak's arms around him, A-Trak's voice soft in his ear.

It's been a long time since he's let himself cry.

When he's done, he wipes his face and gets out of the car, nodding at A-Trak, who rolls down his window. "Good to see you're still alive in there," he says, and backs out of the driveway. "By the way, you should check out this record by these French robot dudes, Daft Punk. Everyone at the club loves it."

Kanye stands there for a long time, well after his taillights have disappeared into the distance.

you people.

is that fan fic!? I thought A-Trak was dating Flosstradamus's weed carrier chick.

who, deej?

I'd rather hear Chris Martin plinkety-plocketing about fireworks in Lake Michigan than getting wet over clocks and yellow.

Why?

also why compare it to Coldplay in response to my question specifically comparing it to an earlier version of the same song?

He's asleep, passed out on the couch in the booth, when gentle fingers nudge him awake. He opens his eyes, and A-Trak is fidgeting in front of him, bouncing on his toes, all nervous energy.

"What?" he asks.

"It's done, I think. I think maybe it's done," A-Trak says, and hands him a disc.

Kanye swallows, nodding, pulling himself to his feet. "We should take a listen then, huh?"

They go into the den, and Kanye slides the CD into the tray, presses play on the stereo, and sits down on the couch, his head in his hands, already wincing before he's heard the first note.

It's going to be bad. It's going to be awful, he knows. All that work, all Mike Dean and Jon Brion and Timbaland and Toomp have done, wasted, because Kanye doesn't have what it takes.

"Kanye."

He jerks his head up.

"Just. Give it a chance, okay?"

Kanye swallows and nods, and closes his eyes. He listens.

He tips his head and he listens, and before he knows it he's shaking, his face wet, and he's brushing at his eyes fiercely because he's not a fucking woman, okay? He's not.

But those are his words and his music and his voice - his - and it doesn't hurt. Doesn't hurt to hear it like he thought it would.

Something starts to loosen in his chest, and he smiles.

xpost Kid Deejster

wait, is Gavin really DK?

Don Knotts? He's dead, mang.

Why?

-- jaymc,

Dude sounds cuddly for once! Charming! Appropriate!

also why compare it to Coldplay in response to my question specifically comparing it to an earlier version of the same song?

I haven't heard the other song.

gavin is gavin mu3113r i think

sry someone can googleproof that if they want

narcissistic personality disorder is not the same as cock sure attitude.

kanye's "passion" leaves me indifferent

Mods please googleproof thx.

fwiw I was making a joke about gay fan fic about rappers, not implying that "Gavin" wasn't actually someone named Gavin

so now i've outed gavin mu311er's gay rapper fanfic fetish for no reason

Deej, you shoot some dirty pool.

But seriously let's talk about the album.

ok but please no more vivid scenarios about Kanye and A-Trak's idea of "dirty pool"

They didn't even kiss yet.

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h62/freshcrunkjuice/03/01/curtis1.jpg
kanye, a-trak

Throughout the Kon The Louis Vuitton Don mix-tape Kanye West samples the part of “Lucifer” where Jay-Z gushes “Kanyeezy you did it again. You a genius nigga!” in a way that made me think about the Simpsons gag where Smithers turns on his computer to reveal screensaver of an unclothed, lascivious Mr. Burns cooing “You’re. Quite. Good. At.Turning.Me. On”.

Rabin OTM! that mixtape always kinda creeped me out for that reason.

This album is great!!

"Did you realize that you were a champion in their eyes?" "YES I DID."

Awesome!

snrub...ot...m?

As just-OK as this album is, it is still better than pretty much any rap record this year.

The only ones I would say that are arguably better are Hyphy Hits, UGK and Devin.

massive xpost

well i'm sure what Kanye's doing does appeal to some indie kids, but it probably turns off the hipster rap fan sect that REALLY WANTS to believe that the Clipse and Juelz really do deal.

-- Alex in Baltimore, Thursday, 13 September 2007 17:52 (

I was shocked to find out that these hipster rap fans actually exist and aren't just straw men. Had a coworker that hated Kanye/"any and all rap for white people" cause "when I listen to rap I wanna hear about people gettin shot and sellin crack and stuff, you know?"

i think alex might be wrong on the whole, so many of those ridiculous reviews of clipse et al used the "ok so who knows if they REALLY deal cocaine, what is important is..." apologetic zzz. There is a fakeness and distance about the rapping that appeals bcuz its NOT so into authenticity ... it flagrantly disregards 'show don't tell,' the cool is purely surface level and like any good pomo hipsteur i doubt the 'truth' really enters into it for most.

My father is a police officer. I know crime sucks. But in the same way I want to hear him tell me stories about wiretaps and drug busts, I yearn to hear the other side from Raekwon the Chef and Kool G Rap. There’s something stirring and electric about the found sound approach hip-hop uses. It’s an abandonment of tradition in that most songs don’t use instrumentation, and verbal acrobatics are consistently on display. Raekwon may not know Raymond Chandler. He doesn’t have to. He’s already Phillip Marlowe.

as a ray chandler stan (i named my cat marlow ffs), ^ = mad rong