Kanye West Latest News
Kanye West 'Lands Job With Gap'
After a brief spell of working closely with Louis Vuitton on designing his new sneakers range, kanye is now collaborating with gap on some summer styles.
Kanye West Unveils Elaborate Gold Stage Set For European Tour
First we had gold digga, now we have gold stage. Kanye west has just announced his up and coming European tour will be taken place on a gold stage.
Kanye takes diversity up sky high
Kanye west has just announced he will be sending over three helicopters to bring Brittan’s got talent winners’ diversity to perform at one of his shows.
Mr West and Mr Hudson explode together in SUPERNOVA
MR HUDSON [FEAT KANYE WEST] - SUPERNOVA
Kanye West hits tents with fresh picked beauty Amber Rose.
On Tuesday night, Kanye stepped out in style at the Narciso Rodriguez and Alexandre Herchcouithis fashion show with his new love Amber Rose.
Kanye West Almost Walked Away From Latest Protege Big Sean
'I tapped him on the shoulder and was like, 'I'm an aspiring MC ... Can I rap for you?' '' Sean says of meeting West, in Mixtape Daily.
Kanye West can't tell you the complete background of one of his newer artists, Big Sean, but he can see his guy's future. Sean may be the next mainstream hip-hop star coming out of Detroit.
"He put out mixtapes. ... His story for me was I heard him rap, he killed it and he got signed," Kanye said.
You couldn't script Sean's introduction to Kanye any better. Sean took a page right out of fellow Detroit native Eminem's handbook and lost himself in the moment — when he was alerted by a friend that 'Ye would be at a local radio station, Sean came down to try and get on.
"One summer — it was junior year, going into senior year — I had this weak job," the now 21-year-old explained. "No offense to telemarketers, but I was a telemarketer making $100 a week. ... I was cashing my check one Saturday, and it was for $100. One of my best friends called and was like, 'Yo, Kanye is down at the radio station. If you go down there and rap for him, he'll sign you.' "
In a rush, Sean left the check-cashing place before getting his bread and had to borrow $20 from another friend for transportation. When the youngster got to the station, he used his relationship with the staff to get close to Kanye. West originally denied him, then told him he had 16 seconds — that turned into 10 minutes.
"Kanye shook my hand and started walking away," Sean remembered. "My friend was like, 'You gotta go for it.' So I tapped him on the shoulder and was like, 'I'm an aspiring MC. I do this show every Friday. Can I rap for you?' He was like, 'No. I gotta go.' I'm like, 'Man, please — you're my hero. Let me rap for you? Just let me spit for you.' "
Kanye softened up and let Sean rap for him as he walked out of the station. "As we get to the entrance of the radio station ... we stopped in the middle of the doorway. He starts looking at me and bobbing his head," Sean said.
A nervous Sean kept his head down, looking at the ground so he wouldn't mess up. By the time his bars were done, a crowd had formed. He had a moment.
"It was like out of the movies," Kanye remembered. "I could hear his personality and character and style in it. He just walked up to me and said a rap and I said, 'I'mma sign you.' That's what happened.
"No, it's not that easy — I'm not really signing acts," 'Ye added. "I wasn't signing acts at that time. But I was so inspired by what he did. His voice was very compelling. His lyrics were very clever and the melodies and the way he was putting it together and his story. So it's not that easy, but it's a lot of people who rap who aren't as dope."
After losing contact then getting back in touch, 'Ye brought Sean out on the road while he recorded Graduation. Eventually the Louis Vuitton Don signed Sean to G.O.O.D. Music/ Def Jam at the end of 2007. Sean turned down a collegiate career at Michigan State (he graduated high school with a 3.8 GPA) to pursue rap, realizing he couldn't do both.
"He's a perfectionist," Sean says of working with Kanye. "He told me how to perfect my records and get them how you want them. You gotta prepare yourself. He taught me a lot. I get on tracks with him and I think I hold my own. It's great."
The Uknowbigsean mixtape is the precursor to his album Finally Famous, due later this year.
"It's different things I go through, struggling through different situations — love, heartbreak," Sean said about the content of the tape. "I'm not killing anybody. It's how I feel at the time, at the moment. I wanted to make the soundtrack of people's lives. I feel I can really relate to a lot of young people. People who tend to listen to my music have come back and said, 'Yo, this is my anthem. This is what I live by.' "
Drake Says 'Best I Ever Had' Director Kanye West 'Oozes' Creativity
'Kanye's idea was actually the best out of all of them,' the MC said of getting the star to direct.
16.06.2009
Drake recently spoke to MTV News about filming a video for his breakout track, "Best I Ever Had," and the Canadian MC was set on having a strong visual that matched his female fans' passion for the song. "I want women to feel special when they watch the visual and say, 'I wish that was me,' or 'I know that feeling.' " he explained.
But after a late-night recording session with West, things quickly changed.
"At first for this video, I was taking myself way too serious and trying to do some, like, epic sort-of-intimate video ... that would have been cool, but the song is too fun for that," Drake told us on the Brooklyn video set. "So when we were in the studio one night — me, Kanye and Big Sean — we were actually recording a song. And 'Ye ... it oozes out of him, creativity ... he was just being creative Kanye, like, spewing out ideas, and the day after, I texted my manager — we have the same manager — and was like, 'Yo, Kanye's idea was actually the best out of all of them, see if he'll do the video.'
"I don't know if at that point he knew he was gonna be directing the video," he continued. "It was more an idea like, 'It'll be funny if we do this.' Then it turned into 'Let's do this.' "
The Kanye-directed clip is a decidedly lighter take on things.
The video was filmed Sunday at a high school basketball gym where Drake's collection of "bests" manifests as the roster of a basketball team.
"Some of us younger men, we refer to our affiliation with women like a roster," Drake said, explaining the concept. "You have key women in your life when you're single and doing your thing."
But Team Drake faces some stiff competition in the clip — the opposing females aren't so smitten with the rising rap star. Despite the humor in the theme, Drake said the film will be shot to make it have a "Basketball Diaries"-like feel. There's no "Degrassi" hook to the clip, even though a young Drake played a high school basketball player in the teen series.
Cameos for the video will include Trey Songz, Fabolous and Drake's Young Money family: Nicki Minaj, Jae Millz, Lil Twist and Lil Chuckee. Kanye was on set, of course, as was his love interest, Amber Rose, and Common. Rihanna, recently rumored to be dating Drake, was present in New York the night before, but the "Umbrella" singer wasn't on the closed set.
The "Best I Ever Had" clip marks Drake's first "official video," according to the Toronto lyricist. A previous video, "Replacement Girl," was financed by the rapper and featured Trey Songz. The visual briefly aired on BET in the past and has been revived by MTV Jams recently. But Drake said that video was made while he was discovering himself as an artist and that the "Best" clip truly showcases who he is now.
While the buzz for "Best I Ever Had" continues to grow — the song is an airplay gainer on the Billboard Hot 100 — Drake is still ironing out the details on where he'll sign as a recording artist.
He said that for now, being unsigned gives him some much-needed freedom.
"I'm almost there," he laughed. "I'm just taking my time. It's less political and better to do things like today — having a video directed by a man of Kanye's stature and still be unsigned — it just sounds better!"
Jun 16 2009 6:51 AM EDT
Jonas Brothers Want To Mix Their 'Paranoid' With Kanye West's
Have the brothers been converting hip-hop fans by sharing a song title with Kanye?
Although one wouldn't immediately think that the Jonas Brothers and Kanye West have a whole lot in common artistically, they certainly seem to be on the same wavelength when it comes to song titles. 'Ye recently released his Rihanna-starring music video for "Paranoid," which happens to be the name of the JoBros' first single off their new album, Lines, Vines and Trying Times.
"We want to do a mash-up of [both 'Paranoid' songs]," Nick Jonas told MTV News. "So, if [Kanye]'s watching, I think it'd be awesome!"
While the Jonas Brothers' video features all three guys wrestling and driving fast cars, instead of Rihanna, the brothers think they might gain some new fans out of the confusion between West's track and theirs.
"Some guy heard [Kanye] did the song and wanted to download it and heard [our version] and never heard of the Jonas Brothers before," Kevin said. "And now he's bringing his family to the show. ... I made that completely up. That didn't happen!"
Kevin decided not to further elaborate whether this "Paranoid" story is the first or last time you'll see him making up anecdotes for the sake of comedy. "Trust me," he said, jokingly adding the statement that made both Joe and Nick very nervous. "We don't ever tell the truth in interviews."
Jun 16 2009 6:51 AM EDT
