F

Flavorwire

Kanye West

Art

Awesome Street Signs Commemorating Iconic Rap Lyrics

By Tom Hawking on

The little plaques you see all over cities like NYC that commemorate where famous people used to live… well, they tend to be rather biased in favor of long-dead white guys, don’t they? This is why we’re rather enamored of these hip hop-centric street signs, which commemorate a whole heap of New York locations mentioned in iconic rap lyrics, encompassing Jay-Z’s early days in the Marcy projects, the corner where Redman’s associates used to “sling rocks,” and a Smooth B lyric referencing “125 and St. Nick” (where your correspondent used to live!), amongst many others. They’re the work of artist Jay Shells, who posted over 30 of the signs all over the city — our friends at ANIMAL went and photographed them all in situ. We’ve chosen some of our favorites after the jump, and you can see the rest right here. … Read More

Music

The Musicians That Make the Best Music Videos

By Tom Hawking on

As we noted last week, we were both intrigued and disconcerted by the arrival of the new Beach House video for “Wishes,” which features the ever-terrifying Ray “Leland Palmer” Wise lip-synching to the song as he directs some sort of weird gymanstic-centric cult meeting in a sports stadium. It’s the latest in a series of pretty awesome videos from Beach House, and it got us thinking about other bands who’ve really embraced the medium as an art form, making consistently great videos over the years. Here are some of our favorites! … Read More

Music

A Selection of Exercise-Themed Music Videos to Whip You Into Shape

By Tom Hawking on

The well of music video ideas is somewhat limited, and three decades after the advent of MTV, it’s interesting to see the themes that have recurred again and again over the years. One of the more enduring conceits, curiously enough, has been the workout video, either rendered in parodic style or played completely straight. We’re not entirely sure why this is — perhaps because, stereotypically, musicians aren’t generally the ones who enjoy gym class, or perhaps the curiously sexualized imagery of the fitness video provides rich material for satire and also for commentary on our society. In any case, the arrival of the latest addition to the genre — Dan Deacon’s “Crash Jam” — has gotten us thinking about gym-centric videos past and present. … Read More

Celebrity

In Defense of Lip-Synching: 5 Artists Who Could Have Used the Help

By Caroline Stanley on

Everyone is freaking out because Beyoncé lip-synched “The Star-Spangled Banner” at yesterday’s inauguration; you can even compare a clip of her rehearsing with the final version. As Kristin DuBois, a representative for the United States Marine Band, explained, “All music is pre-recorded for the ceremony because there are so many eventualities and conditions that day. We performed, live, the band. But we received last-minute word that Beyoncé was going to use the pre-recorded vocal track. Those were the instructions we were given. We don’t know what the reason why.”

Interesting. But if history has shown us anything, it’s that when you’re performing at a major public event, sometimes erring on the side of pre-recorded caution can be a good thing. Don’t believe us? Here’s all the proof you need. … Read More

Art

Idiosyncratic Illustrations of Memorable Musical Collaborations

By Tom Hawking on

We’ve written a bit about unexpectedly awesome musical collaborations here on Flavorwire over the years, and as such, we were rather taken by these illustrations of some such collaborations. They’re by artistic duo Pol and Sakiroo Choi, and we spotted them via Thaeger, whose write-up of the pieces may or may not be interesting reading, depending on how good your German is. Anyway, click through and check out some of our favorites — there’s Run-DMC and Aerosmith, Kanye West and Daft Punk, and various others (but not, sadly, David Bowie and Mick Jagger, although maybe some things are better left un-illustrated. … Read More

Pop Culture

Wes Anderson and Kanye West Are Perfect Together

By Emily Temple on

When you think about it, Kanye West and Wes Anderson have a lot in common — and no, we’re not talking about a certain string of letters, though it does make for some nice assonance/consonance. Both men have a double whammy of cult and mainstream appeal, both take great care with their visual presentation, and both rock the hipster nerd thing like nobody’s business. So when Juxtapoz pointed us to this amazing Tumblr mashing up Kanye lyrics with Anderson films (and sometimes Anderson dialogue with images of Kanye), all we could think was: of course. And then we started laughing. Click through to see a few of our favorite mashups, and then be sure to head over to Kanye Wes for many more ironic gems. … Read More

Music

Hear Kanye West Reference Kurt Cobain on "White Dress"

By Judy Berman on

Other outlets will surely bury the lead, so here is what you need to know about the one-minute preview of Kanye West’s “White Dress” that’s surfaced online: There’s a Nirvana reference. In one of hip hop’s most random lyrical juxtapositions, he raps, “You like piña coladas, gettin’ caught in the rain/ Or rockin’ flannels all… Read More

Music

10 Notoriously Disastrous Musical Performances

By Matthew Bower on

Musicians make mistakes, too. They’re only human, after all. But that doesn’t stop us from delighting in a bit of good-natured Schadenfreude when a performance devolves into a total train wreck. This week has seen its share of disappointment when it comes to live music, including an abrupt end to Jack White’s concert at Radio City Music Hall and the Biebs losing his lunch in the middle of a 105-minute-long set. In light of such mishaps, we’ve put together a list of some of the most notoriously awful, embarrassing, or otherwise disastrous live performances in recent history. … Read More

Music

Hear Kanye West, Pusha T, and Ghostface Killah’s “New God Flow”

By Judy Berman on

Here’s an end-of-week gift for those of you who haven’t already heard Kanye West-led collective G.O.O.D. Music’s Cruel Summer compilation, which comes out next week but recently leaked: a new version of “New God Flow,” a West/Pusha T collaboration that originally surfaced in July. The update features a fresh verse by Ghostface Killah,… Read More

Music

Hear Jay-Z and Kanye West Collaborate on “Clique”

By Judy Berman on

We’re not going to pretend we watched last night’s MTV Video Music Awards, but from what we’ve read this morning, we still feel pretty confident saying that the latest G.O.O.D. Music track is more exciting than anything that show had to offer. The song made news earlier this week when a 30-second excerpt surfaced that included Kanye West rapping, “Eat breakfast at Gucci/ My girl a superstar all from a home movie.” For those of us who aren’t into gossiping about Kim Kardashian’s sex life, though, the big news is that “Clique” features the first collaboration between West and Jay-Z since Watch the Throne — and, yes, that means the brand-name boasts and baroque production are out in full force. Oh, and Big Sean’s on the track, too. Stream it below, and look for G.O.O.D. Music’s Cruel Summer September 18th. … Read More