kanye west
07/26/2007
Kanye West - Can't Tell Me Nothin' (Zach Galifianakis version)
There’s a little bar in LA called Largo that I’m willing to bet is directly responsible for the existence of this video. What’s my evidence, you ask? Try to keep up:
Let’s start with the fact that Jon Brion produced Fiona Apple’s 1999 album that begins with “When the Pawn.” The two became friends, so she was a sometime guest performer at Brion’s legendary Friday night shows at Largo. Okay, fast forward to 2005: Kanye West, in search of some new sounds for his follow-up to “College Dropout,” happened upon Apple’s album and decided he wanted to bring Brion in to expand his palette for what became “Late Registration.” As a result, Kanye has also been an occasional guest at Largo. Still with me? Good.
Zach Galifianakis, the bearded gentleman in this video, is a comedian who’s done a whole bunch of random stuff so it’s hard to say what he’s best known for. I do know, though, when he comes through LA, he plays at Largo, because I saw him there. I’m willing to bet that this is why he got in with the whole Apple-Brion crowd, because last year he appeared in Apple’s music video for “Not About Love,” doing a version of what he’s doing here.
Sooo, I bet Kanye saw that video, decided it was hilarious, called up his old friends Apple and Brion, and said, “I need this guy to do this for one of my songs!” And here you have it.
Elementary, my dear Watson.
06/28/2007
Kanye West - "Stronger"
In 2006, I was lucky enough to attend two of the best concerts of my life: Kanye West at the Gibson Amphitheater in LA and Daft Punk at Coachella. You’d think this song, therefore, would make me crap my pants, but unfortunately (or fortunately, I guess), I remain firmly in control of my bodily functions. It just seems a little soon to be sampling Daft Punk songs— “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” still stands alone as an amazing (better?) song in its own right. At least this isn’t as bad as Busta Rhymes, who sampled “Technologic” after it had only been out for a year.
The more I listen to this, the more it’s growing on me, though, and I think I may eventually come to love it once I’ve shaken off the shock of hearing a beloved song sampled. To this end, the video definitely helps: you’ve got your Daft Punk guys, fully decked out in their awesome robot outfits, and your Kanye, looking sharp as always with some especially great venetian-blind-inspired sunglasses. I have no idea what the plot is, but it involves a futuristic hospital, a SWAT team, dancing girls, and some perplexing Asian writing flashing up onscreen. I just hope the Asian writing doesn’t include the symbol for “stronger,” because that’s just a little too cheesy-lower-back-tattoo for my taste. Any translators out there?
