Kanye

Chicken Wings, Ya’ll Looks Back On Kanye’s Year of Dominance

Rey’s Pick for Album of the Year: Graduation. (Oh yes it was.)

Rey’s Pick for Song of the Year: “Stronger” (Sorry Fuxito & Greenita)

It’s almost 12:30am on Sunday, December 30th, 2007.

It’s cold in my office.

Let’s go to work.

First and foremost, let me address the haters: Kanye is awesome. The man wouldn’t be the biggest musician on the planet right now without talent. He wouldn’t have the respect from his peers across all different forms of music from John “Lame Ass” Mayer/Meyer to Common to Jay-Z to Lil’ Wayne to The Police to the Rolling Stones.

“But Kanye don’t write his own rhymes!” Yes he does, shitheads. Listening to the man freestyle and then following his rhyme structures over the years, it’s obvious he has his own style (that is actually pretty simple, but also delivered with great wit and passion) that is consistant with his studio-records and “off-the-top” rappin’ moments.

“But Kanye don’t make his own beats!” Yes he does, shitheads. When he doesn’t, he lists his Co-D’s: DJ Toomp, Brian “All Day” Miller, Timbaland, etc.

 However, in the event that he does have assistance with his rhymes’n'beats, it’s probably way more of a collaborative effort than say, a Diddy record, where he just adds some garnish here and there, but for the most part just has other people do all the work before he arrives.

(that really hurt admitting because I was a Diddy stan from like 1996-2005)

So there ya go. Suck it, haters.

***

Kanye’s Run Begins With His Old Ass Cousin & 2 R’n'B Singers [||]

Kanye came into 2007 fresh off the heels of standout tracks on Late 2006 releases from Nas (”Still Dreaming” and “Let there be light” on Hip-Hop Is Dead), The Game (”Wouldn’t Get Far” off of Doctor’s Advocate), & Jay-Z (”Do U Wanna Ride” off of Kingdom Come). His first salvo was an unofficial remix of Rich Boy’s hit song, “Throw Some D’s”. However, whereas Rich Boy’s version dealt with “D’s” in the car wheel sense (fascinating subject matter!), Kanye’s dealt with a different type of D’s: Boobie D’s. The song was fun and catchy, and I do believe that it got just as many spins on NY radio as Rich Boy’s original version did, if not more. Plus, the video was wickedly clever–with Kanye portraying his own “Old Ass Cousin”.

The next time we heard from Kanye West was on a semi-official remix to T-Pain’s catchier’n'Ebola, “Buy U A Drank”. Lemme tell you, I hated the whole “Snap Music” fad, but I loved this song. It was above-average R’n'Booty, and Kanye’s rap was the perfect icing–even tho’ I didn’t mind Yung Joc’s appearance on the original version.

Shortly after the remix to Teddy Pain’s song, Kanye did a remix to another R’n'B song, this time Ne-Yo’s “Because of You“. Kanye’s verse was a nice addition, as his Ma$e impression was amusing, and his lyrics were cutesy. Me personally, I liked Joe Budden’s remix better.

Springtime & SingleTime for The Louis Vuitton Don 

In late May, Kanye put both of those songs–as well as songs from Common, Consequence, CRS, and other GOOD Music artists–on a critically acclaimed mixtape called “Can’t Tell Me Nothing”, which was named after the first single off of Graduation.

“Can’t Tell Me Nothing” wasn’t just a song, it was a motherfucking anthem. As a life-long “check to check” kinda guy, the refrain of “Wait ’til I get my money right! Then you can’t tell me nothin’, right?” was a battle-cry. The triumphant, majestic DJ Toomp-produced horns sets the tone, and they accompany the blue-collar drums perfectly. The two vocal samples, Young Jeezy and, um, some chick, helped round out the beat. Kanye’s vocals were vintage ‘Ye: insightful, boastful, unapologetic, and passionate. Kanye’s bravado might rub people the wrong way, but say this for Mr. West: He never backs down from a statement, and he’s always willing to admit fault when he’s actually been wrong. “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” was a risky, daring move in today’s landscape of horribly dumbed-down singles, but it managed to grab hold of the rap audience’s attention–from the streets to the blogs–and give them a universal rallying cry all could relate to. The video was dope, too. ‘Ye, a car, a girl, the desert, and him just talking to the audience.

The next single off of Graduation was the world-conquering “Stronger”. I’ve been listening to this for about 7 months now, and I still get that little rush when the “N-N-Now that that don’t kill me…” and drums kick in. This song is hip-hop’s “Eye of the Tiger“. This song is to 2007 what “Victory” was to 1997-1998. This is the best song any artist has put out in the year Two Thousand and Seven.

The Daft Punk sample was a stroke of genius–especially since their original song was kind of, um, robotic & boring. Timbaland helped beef up the drums for that “DanjaHandz” thump, and the synths are soaring & assert themselves with intensity.

The first verse is Kanye unapologetically staking his claim to “Best Artist Alive”. The man is not backing down from anything–not the industry, not the critics, not the fans, not even that chick that could be his “…Black Kate Moss tonite”. When he says “Do anybody make real shit anymore?/Bow in the presence of greatness…You should be honored by my lateness/That I would even show up to this fake shit”, it’s him saying, “Ya know what? I’m tired of people telling me to be humble. I talk shit, I back it up, and I keep doing it. I am greatness and I’m not gonna pretend God made me as anything less”. Tell you fuckers what, I’m with ‘Ye on that one.

The second verse is him kicking it to a girl, and my favorite line has to be “There’s a thousand Yous, there’s only one of me.” Following the second verse, Kanye launches into this frantic “Chant along” almost techno blend of beat and “…since OJ had Isotoners…” celebration that never fails to get me amped. Combine allll that, plus an Akira-esque video, and you have a (say it with me now) Classic song.

‘Ye’s Career Mimics the Summer: Hot to Hotter to Hottest.

In between putting the finishing touches down for his September release of Graduation, Kanye manned the boards and hopped into the booth for two releases from compatriots of his. ‘Ye executive produced Common’s most recent album, Finding Forever–an album that not only earned Gold-Certification by the RIAA, but was also lauded as one of the year’s best efforts. Kanye produced Common’s hit song, “The People“, and appeared on a full-length version of a song that was used in SuperBowl  called “Southside“. Not only that, but he reunited with Brooklyn MC Talib Kweli for the song “In The Mood” from Talib’s return to greatness and August 2007 release, Eardrum.

As the weather turned from warm to Scarlett Johansson Hot, Kanye was an in-demand performer at two Stadium shows, The Concert for Princess Diana and Live Earth. Tell you what, I know I’m biased and all, but Kanye repping for rap at 2 Globally-Broadcast events was awesome to see. As was Kanye rocking out with the motherfucking Police.

The Summer also found Kanye jockeying for position with one Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, a Jamaica Queens rapper who got shot 9 times, put out a “Dr. Dre’s Greatest Beats” CD called Get Rich or Die Trying (50 ruined all those beats by rapping over them!), and then became Hip-Hop’s Big Bad “Aggressive Content” Wolf due to his status as panty-wetter of White Girls, and Thug Role Model Du Jour to white boys (and Two Times’ favorite rapper ever!). See, 50 and Kanye were both scheduled to release each of their 3rd albums on the 11th of September. Kanye tossed a couple verbal jabs towards 50 strictly regarding his album outselling 50’s album. Curtis, of course, talked various amounts of shit about ‘Ye–and ultimately threatened/promised to retire if his album, Curtis, sold less copies than Graduation.

Finally, Graduation was released on 9/11/2007. Rey rejoiced’n'reviewed. Kanye not only released another incredible album, he managed to do it with a cohesive theme, an excellent lyrical showing, and a brand new sound that was both boundary-stretching and totally Hip-Hop at the same time. Oh, and When the numbers came in on 9/19/2007, Kanye West had sold 900,000+ copies of his album, with 50 Boo-Boo selling 600.000 copies of his own album. Kanye didn’t gloat, but I can say that a large group of people were happy that 50-Mania was finally over–with substance taking the crown away from c-r-a-p.

Early Autumn = Awesome For Mr. West

Somewhere in between the 50 Cent war and the actual release of Graduation, Kanye found himself pissed off at MTV. You know the story by now: ‘Ye wanted the main stage, MTV suits talked him into performing in a hotel suite, Kanye acquiesced, then found himself pissed off because Justin Timberlake got to close the show as part of a fucking lame Timbaland set–in addition to performing in a suite. Thing was, Kanye had the #1 song in the country–yet was shut out of the awards for the 3rd time, as well as having to see Train-Wreck-Ass Britney open the show and Justin close out the show despite that his own album, FutureSex/LoveSounds had been out for over a year. Kanye cried “Fuckery of the highest order!”, and I agreed with him.

Kanye’s roll continued with terriffic sales of Graduation and the release of the 3rd single, The Good Life, which featured T-Pain. Not only was the song an undeniably feel-good tune, but the video was very creative, an avant-garde, black’n'white, graffiti’d clip that extended Kanye’s streak of remarkable, original videos. His surprise appearance at the Screamfest Concert at NY’s Madison Square Garden was the highlight of the whole dang show, with the audience losing their shit once ’Ye bounded onto the stage. He also did television interviews, appeared on the cover of XXL by himself and Rolling Stone with the aforementioned 50 Cent, as well as various radio spots.

The End of Kanye’s Best Year Ever Comes 7 Weeks Too Early

Kanye’s mother, Dr. Donda West, passed away on November 11th, 2007 from complications from a cosmetic surgery procedure. I was saddened deeply for Mr. West. As someone who uses music as fuel for his everyday life, I’ve converted Kanye’s music to energy from the very second I heard “Through The Wire”. I felt terrible for the guy, because a man whose music has helped change my life for the better whenever I’ve needed it was in great pain.

Songs like “Stronger”, “Never Let Me Down”, “Bring Me Down”, “Jesus Walks”, “Can’t Tell Me Nothing”, “Touch The Sky” and literally dozens of others from him powered so many people through their own hardships and adversities. I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve shed my own tears watching this man trying to be brave during the most trying time of his life. It’s almost like I wish I could write a song that’d help him, ya know?

In Conclusion

You see, that’s the difference between the bond some of you might have with your favorite artists, and the bond I have with mine. Music is entertainment, yes. But Music is also extremely powerful. Somebody can put on a song and get hyped to take a life. Some people can put on a pretty song and create a life. Still, people like Kanye West make music that can change lives.

Mine is a life changed by Kanye West–changed for the better. His music has brought me out from the depths of pain, torture, misery, self-defeat, depression, and worst of all: Hopelessness. The College Dropout, Late Registration, and now Graduation have all arrived at times when I needed guidance, inspiration, and hope. All 3 albums have given me strength to keep on going for just one more song, one more hour, one more day. I needed, God delivered…via a Chicago MC that might just be a fucking Genius.

It is in the spirit of that, that I humbly submit my pick for Artist of the Year for 2007: Kanye Omari West. A fellow dreamer who’s not afraid to believe in himself. Disagree with me if you want, but you should really know by now:

You can’t tell me nothin’.

–Rey

PS- We can get into the Album of the Year debate & the Song of the Year debate in the Dr. Donda West Memorial Comments Section. It’s 3:09 in the morning right now, and I’m too tired to go add my reasons why into the body of this post.