Kanye West

With just two weeks left before the drop of one of the most highly anticipated albums in the past five years (but still not Detoxlevel…wtf), Finally Famous, I feel its our job at B&B to get you all hype.  While I initially thought that the material released on Finally Famous, Vol.1 (one of the better mixtapes, I feel, in recent history) was enough to be a legitimate and commercially successful album (especially compared to its successors, Volumes 2+3), I guess Sean wasn’t feelin it; but with major teasers like “Getcha Some” and “What U Doin”, I think people were gettin a little tired of the wait.  Although once “My Last” and “I Do It” (which I am not the biggest fan of but whatever) hit the airwaves, Finally Famous was in full-effect; and with releases like “Marvin Gaye & Chardonnay”, people can look forward to a quality product, much like the material on Volume 1.  Read the rest of this entry »

NOTE: Please read and respect the warning at the beginning, I don’t need any of you to go dying on me.

So yeahhh, this video doesn’t really do it for me and I’m sure I am going to to take some shit for it. The video starts out with what looks like a good video with the small girl walking around the city streets, but then it evolves into Kanye dancing on cop cars with little link back to the opening sequence. A major opportunity was missed in involving that plot of shielding your daughter from the ills of inner city life, however, it was mostly lost by the disjointed nature of the rest of the video. There is one redeeming factor though and it happens to be Rihanna’s boobs, it really is amazing how someone can look so much better when they are half naked lol.

I have never seen artwork get so much love as when this dropped but since I support the music and not the hype here is the actual song. Lex Luger is certainly not even close to a producer who does stuff I like but we should probably be happy that it isn’t the same as “BMF/MC Hammer” since they are almost identical songs. I’m sure the song will grow on me in the future, but if you are going “Ham” on a track shouldn’t you at least go off on some crazy lyrical shit? This song isn’t really doing it for me but I expect my stance to soften the more I listen and also hope the rest of the album picks up the slack. Shouts to GWHH for the link.

Download: Kanye West & Jay-Z – “H.A.M.” (Prod. Lex Luger)

“Welcome to the World” is easily one of the most anticipated songs off of TI’s upcoming album No Mercy, along with the Eminem joint, and it sees him taken in a direction that we haven’t seen much from him on past albums. No ID builds the beat off of simple piano chords with a a banging synth loop added on top to give it some bang. Cudi adds some singing on the chorus and a stuttering style to his verse that Kanye also adapts for some of his verse and they all deliver to make one of the better collaborations of the year (barring all the Kanye shit because that is unfair). No Mercy will be available in stores and online December 7th if you want to help him replace some of his lawyer fees.

Download: T.I. ft. Kanye West & Kid Cudi – “Welcome to the World” (Prod. No ID)

Kanye has claimed in previous interviews that his Watch the Throne collaborative album with Jay-Z is better than My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and if a few more of these singles surface, I just might believe him. I prefer the rapping Kanye and when he spits with Jay it often pushes Kanye lyrically and has been the source of some of his wittiest rhymes. Kanye continues to mingle across genres by tapping La Roux’s Elly Jackson to sing the chorus for him and Jay and despite the title (and my hoping), she never ends up singing “That’s My Bitch”. Some have said this is a reference track leftover from Kanye’s latest album while others claim it is a leak from Watch My Throne, I am assuming the latter due to the audio quality and polished sound often reserved for near finished album cuts but you never know. Shout outs to NahRight for the download link.

Download: Kanye West & Jay-Z ft. Elly Jackson – “That’s My Bitch”

This is the making of a masterpiece, so we broke out the chains and told the masta, “Peace”.

 So this is were it went! It’s a relief to see “Chain Heavy” come to life as a full song, those verses ‘Ye spat at the Facebook HQ were a problem and a half. I would have never expected this beat to accompany these lyrics, but Q-Tip breaks out some Dilla-esque weirdness to make it work on a completely different level. This will be an iTunes bonus track for MBDTF, but you can save yourself the dollar and grab it for free below.

Download: Kanye West – “Chain Heavy”

It’s pretty safe to say it isn’t Friday anymore, but here is the latest installment of Ye’s series anyways. “Looking For Trouble” is the first Kanye track to feature J. Cole which is sure to make more than a few people happy. The drums on this come to life and match the energy in the sample. Cole fits perfectly into this line-up, matching and exceeding the famed arrogance of each rapper here. Big Sean pulls out the double-time flow, but points go to Pusha and J Cole for bookending this song with some truly mean verses.

Download: Kanye West – “Looking For Trouble”

One more G.O.O.D. Friday Saturday, one more track from ‘Ye. Once this series wraps up, this will make for a damn good mixtape. “The Joy” exudes smoothness, and Kanye’s first verse is one of the best he’s spit in a while, as he goes off on the topic of unplanned pregnancies. There’s truly nothing to criticize about “The Joy” because it’s just that solid. Even so, this won’t be on the album, as is shown by what looks like to be the final official tracklist (after the jump).

Download: Kanye West – “The Joy”

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If any of you follow Kanye’s Twitter, you might now how “All Of The Nights” has gone through dozens of mixes. According to the good folks over at The Real Frequency, this is the original version featuring Drake on the hook. Just like with the other released tracks off of Twisted Fantasy, expect the final mix (featuring 11 other guests) to be much more polished and touched up. The synth horns on this sound great and the track in general is presented in a way that will hopefully allow it to resonate in Top 40 radio more than “Power” and “Runaway” have. The supposed full version of “All Of The Lights” is floating around right now, but I’d rather not post it until it’s 100% ready. If you’re just too damn impatient, then head over to The Rap Up.

Download: Kanye West – “All Of The Lights” feat. Drake & Tony Williams (Original Version)

I was just thinking this morning that Big Sean has gotten shafted with these G.O.O.D. Friday tracks. He represented at the BET Cypher and delivered arguably the best verse, and now he does the same on “Don’t Look Down”. This song can be viewed as a prelude to the “Runaway” short film that will drop later today. The beat has a great soundtrack feel to it with its march rhythm and big texture, and the verses from Lupe, Ye, and Big are all as solid as one would expect (Dante stays on the hook for this). “Don’t Look Down” continues to demonstrate Kanye’s ever-growing love for distortion and bitcrusher filters, which might rub some the wrong way, but I believe it would probably sound great on a final, fully mixed track. After the jump, grab the download link and check out the (supposed) tracklist for My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

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