A very short while ago Kanye West released a short film called "Runaway". It was first played on three major cable networks simultaneously, MTV, MTV2 and BET. It is also available on his website/blog, http://kanyewest.com/, where I actually watched it, uninterrupted by commercials. To be honest I have always been a Kanye fan ever since "Through the Wire" so I was very interested to see this short movie because it solely used his music from his upcoming cd, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and his latest genius idea, G.O.O.D. Friday music. I also heard that the new album was suppose to be much harder than the last album - less auto-tune and love song, more rapping and rhythmic beats - so I was interested to see if this was all true. The film ended up using nine songs, featuring artists such as Kid Cudi, Pusha T from Clipse, Common, and John Legend (all signed to Kanye's label, G.O.O.D. Music). It was definitely more of a rap album than the last and I was definitely impressed with pretty much every song I heard. As for the movie itself, I really enjoyed the visuals. I did think using a phoenix to symbolize himself and his downfall was kind of weak though. Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly says that we are to take the phoenix as," A metaphor for how West feels about the acceptance of not necessarily his music, but his public behavior (epitomized by the West-Taylor Swift VMA moment)." Tucker feels as though the heavily symbolism in the film really means, "Roughly speaking, people aren’t open-minded; they don’t accept what they don’t immediately understand. The main reasoning behind this idea stems from the phoenix saying, “You know what I hate about your world? Anything that is different you try to change, you try to tear it down" right before she takes off into flight, with West chasing after her in the final scenes.
I for one am definitely a fan of this work. I feel that it is just another expression of himself, this time it is much more pleasant though because it definitely much more calm and artistic than in previous times. I do believe he is much more than just some hip-hop rapper; After seeing him in early '08, I knew he was an actual artist. This film, along with his business, fashion, and other endeavors, just seem to affirm my idea even more. I cannot wait until his album comes out on November 22nd. It will hopefully be another classic he can add to the wall along with his another great hits, like College Dropout and Graduation.
Watch the video below (embedded from West's website):
EW article:
http://watching-tv.ew.com/2010/10/23/kanye-west-runaway-mtv-bet/
*Photo found on Google Image Search.
I haven't watched this movie yet, but I heard about it and plan on watching it soon.
ReplyDeleteI was an early Kanye fan as well, but I really think over the years he's shown his truly colors...and they're not pretty.
It's hard for me to take anything he does seriously anymore. He just seems so incredibly self-absorbed that it's almost impossible to enjoy his music.
I'm curious to know what you think of all of his racist and hypocritical statements. I'm not attacking you or your interests, but I'm just wondering what Kanye's true fans think of his outlandish actions.
I never knew about all that the phoenix stood for in terms of symbology. It's very interesting and actually makes sense. I do love Kanye but I think he believes "I'm always right and everyone else is always wrong." I am glad that he got knocked down after he stole Taylor Swift's spotlight. Even though I find Swift annoying and immature, I do think that Kanye was in the wrong in that situation. I haven't seen the video yet, but I am definitely going to now.
ReplyDeleteI mean he is human. He is in the wrong sometimes for sure but who isn't? His artistic talent is undeniable and as a musician, he is top-notch. Like in sports stars, I try not to mix the other politics in too much.
ReplyDeleteAnd I thought he was totally wrong with the Taylor Swift incident, but I mean he was totally wasted so I am not totally surprised it happened, coming from a cocky guy who thinks he should undoubtedly win every award he is nominated for. Plus, Beyonce is his a really close friend of his, indirectly through Jay-Z, who is like an older brother to him.
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