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Kanye West!


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Triple J Music Director Richard Kingsmill on Kanye

 

Looking back over the year in music, one figure has loomed large and omnipotent. He is still much derided for his past and present rantings; openly ridiculed for his extreme public behaviour at more often than not award ceremonies; but when all is said and done, Kanye West is still proving to be music's most enigmatic and bravest mind.

 

Kanye has just appeared at #1 in a poll of the world's most influential men beating Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. He has also just had nude photos of himself appear across the web; photos he's supposedly taken of himself and sent to female fans from his MySpace account. This is just an ordinary day in the life of Kanye.

 

The extremes of his life are played out daily for the masses to either sneer at or celebrate. But all of it may well seem meaningless if he didn't have some fairly hefty talent to back it up.

 

This year has seen his fifth album released. The lead up to it was orchestrated beautifully. Songs appeared early on like "Power". Once again it showed Kanye's broad palette of influences as it mined King Crimson's prog-rock prototype anthem "21st Century Schizoid Man" for its main sample.

 

Then came a string of releases each and every Friday - the G.O.O.D Friday series ("Getting Out Our Dreams") - where songs as disparate as the special guests Kanye was drawing on would appear without any huge announcement. The line-up of stars alongside Kanye included Jay-Z, Bon Iver, Nicki Minaj, Swizz Beatz, Kid Cudi, Common, Pusha T, Justin Bieber, Rick Ross, John Legend and Mos Def. A dozen singles in all and a handful eventually to be included on his album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

 

I know some of you will be thinking that this is all just clever marketing by an extravagant rich kid with a serious contact list. But have you heard "Runaway" - and I mean really heard it? The album's main single arrived as simply as the few piano notes which West plonked out to open it. But when those notes give way to that shuffling beat and cinematic soundscape, you are now in the presence of greatness. The song's character appears forlorn and rejected, but has the bravado to still toast all the douche bags, scumbags and assholes that he's known and that have seemingly torn his love from him. Whether Kanye is channelling himself or not in the song, it's still a wonderful finger he's pointed skyward to his detractors.

 

For me, "Runaway" has echoes of Prince's "When Doves Cry"; a song that appeared on that artist's 6th album and was later judged a milestone for the Minneapolis musician. As with that song's accompanying "Purple Rain" film, Kanye himself released a 35-minute film based around what may well be his landmark song of 2010.

 

As good and rounded a talent as he is, Kanye still has a way to go before reaching Prince's league. But as this year comes to a close, I can't help but hope that the surprises the man has dealt us during 2010 will continue for a while longer. Love him or loathe him, there are few characters in the music world today as active and fascinating as Kanye.

 

couldn't agree more.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Someone wouldn't know of his official fan mail address would they? I just wrote a four page letter to him and I don't even know his physical mailing address. I goggled it but something out in L.A. came up with a studio address and that is the address he gets thousands of letters a day.

 

Any help would be amazing ;)

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I'm surprised people still send fan mail, but that LA one is probably your only answer :( (unless you happen to know a friend of Kanye's or something :P)

 

So, Watch The Throne is coming soon. I'm interested but I don't see it being anything amazing. Jay-Z is a boring rapper. I like his early stuff but his new material has been pretty middle of the road.

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Someone wouldn't know of his official fan mail address would they? I just wrote a four page letter to him and I don't even know his physical mailing address. I goggled it but something out in L.A. came up with a studio address and that is the address he gets thousands of letters a day.

 

Any help would be amazing ;)

 

im curious to know what you wrote to him about? if its not too personal

 

I'm surprised people still send fan mail, but that LA one is probably your only answer :( (unless you happen to know a friend of Kanye's or something :P)

 

So, Watch The Throne is coming soon. I'm interested but I don't see it being anything amazing. Jay-Z is a boring rapper. I like his early stuff but his new material has been pretty middle of the road.

 

jay-z was an absolute legend back in the day but it has been downhill since Blueprint 2 with the exception of American Gangsta which had some awesome tunes on it. now that i think about i really wish they had stuck with the EP instead of going for a full length release. in the past it has always been really exciting whenever jayz and kanye have collaborated but too much of a good thing can sometimes be bad, this new release might just be that.

 

i found this great vid on youtube the other night. listen to the crowd when kanye walks on, its his first live performance after Swiftgate (bar his appearance on the letterman show doing the same song)

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnCNWl1DFoA]YouTube - Jay-Z brings out Kanye West for Run This Town, Isle of Wight Festival '10[/ame]

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  • 2 weeks later...
Graduation > MBDTF

 

you're entitled to your own opinion but i think you would find most people would argue that Graduation is his worst (or second worst) effort to date. it has some very very weak songs like Drunk Hot Girls, Barry Bonds, I Wonder and Good Life. of course i'm saying it is weak by Kanye standards as the album also has some of his better work. imo Kanye is yet to bomb out on any record. not bad for a hip hop producer, most struggle to create more than 2 decent albums.

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