cause amazing moments deserve an amazing theme song!

Kanye's Blog
New NBA Campaign featuring Kanye West's Amazing which is the official song of the playoffs! I smell royalties!!

It'll Knock You Down

Keri Hilson's new album In A Perfect World drops today! Here is her new video Knock You Down featuring Kanye (again!) and Ne-Yo.

Yezzy's a painter?!?! Told you he was Manet! Haha

It's a Kanye West World

Kanye West in this month's Complex magazine. These pictures are ridiculous!

"Did you realize that you were a champion?"

Seeing as summer is just around the corner...

Carrera Champion Aviators

Comes in both plastic and metal to suit your
preference as well as a variey of colours to choose from.

Price: $200
As seen on: T.I., Kanye West, and other hip hop superstars

Love em. Want em. Need em.

a little satin never hurt anyone

Left to right: Kanye West, John Flora in Maison Martin Margiela, Dior Homme (Inmyparadigm)

Adding a little satin to the lapels or having a satin necktie drape down, à la John Flora in Maison Martin Margiela updates the classic black blazer and gives it that certain je ne sais quoi. Gentlemen, perhaps something to consider for your next grand soiree?

America's Most Stylish Men

Por Homme

GQ names Justin Timberlake, Kanye West, and my love T.I. amongst the 10 most stylish men in America. No arguments there. Yum-o!

Artist as Subject

When I should have been reading about Manet and an article by James Rubin entitled The Artist as Subject: the Paris of Édouard Manet. I actually went on a blog break and came across this wicked Kanye West video for his song Heartless. It’s not his next single, Amazing will be. He is dropping the idea since there’s another video out there that’s doing the same technique.

I had this idea to relate Kanye West to Impressionist painter Édouard Manet in order to relieve my guilt for procrastination. In my research I found that both approach the expression of art in a similar fashion. Manet took his own world as subject matter for painting, declaring a social position and artistic attitude much like Courbet. Manet’s art had captured something of a modern consciousness where his visual and social experiences were coextensive. He referred to his hometown and always put his origins and loyalties on display. Manet’s name was associated with radical, avant-garde destruction to tradition and throughout the decade received lots of criticism for his painting style, particularly for his paintings Déjeuner sur l’herbe and Olympia. Manet painted with Monet and Renoir at Argenteuil where they influenced each other a lot and shared an interest in modern subject. A critic named Louis Gonse considered Manet to be the "father of modernism."

Édouard Manet - Déjeuner sur l’herbe and Olympia (1863)

If you really think about it Kanye West is not so different in producing music and clothing instead of paintings. His lyrics are similar in Manet’s subject matter in that he rhymes about what he’s about and his experiences and loyalties. His recent album 808s & Heartbreak pushes the boundaries of what is considered to be acceptable in rap music. On the subject of criticism, Kanye has been dubbed “Mr. Controversial” and has received a plethora of criticism during his career about his political lyrics and his memorable Bush line during the Hurricane Katrina fundraiser.

Kanye West’s music videos are an art form of their own. They are iconoclastic and innovative going above and beyond to produce an effective visual to illustrate what he raps (or sings) about. Like any artist they become influenced by their peers and their environment this is not any different in the hip-hop world. Kanye has been influenced by producer RZA from Wu-Tang Clan, Daft Punk, Michael Jackson, and Jay Z just to name a few. He has worked with numerous artists throughout his career who have shared his creative vision and have integrated it into their works of art. Kanye West has been considered to be one of the most commercially successful "back-pack" rappers. (Back-pack rapper: Person who raps about real life stuff that matters and his experiences. He is true to himself while rapping and uses his head and heart to write not simply with a pen and producing meaningless words). Perhaps Kanye West is our modern day Manet?

So there you have it: Art history meets Hip-hop. I wonder if Professor Carney would appreciate my juxtaposition? McCleary would for sure!

Images
1. en.wikipedia.org
2 & 3. fadis.com
4. prettymuchamazing.com
5. youtube.com (Screenshot of a fanmade typographic video for Amazing)

Swagger Like Us

Source: www.grammy.com

Source: www.mtv.com

This was the only reason why I actually watched the 51st Grammy awards on Sunday to see Kanye West, T.I. (whom I'm kind of sort of obsessed with right now!) Jay Z, Lil Wayne and (a very preggers) M.I.A perform Swagger Like Us. They also won the Grammy for best rap performance by a duo or group. To see these hip-hop moguls on stage together is something that probably won't happen again. It wasn't amazing but it was good and I was a fan of their outfits. They were very well put together except for M.I.A but she's M.I.A so she can get away with anything. Kanye was sporting some crazy back in the day hair which we decided only he could pull off.

Kicks by Kanye or "Martin Louis The King, Jr?!?"

Images: http://icedotcom.blogspot.com

Kanye West can now add shoe designer to his ever growing resume. He introduced his recent collaboration in Paris this week. Kanye West has 5 different styles of sneakers, one of which is pictured below. His inspiration for this shoe came from a movie called “Dune” where he was inspired by a jacket collar in the movie. The focus is placed on the back of this shoe making it easier to tuck pants into. Interesting.

Image: http://stylenews.peoplestylewatch.com

Marc Jacobs seems to be impressed. The full collection will be available at Louis Vuitton stores in June 2009.