Kanye West was rolling deep at the Los Angeles Film Festival tonight, surprising the audience with the premier of a short film by Spike Jonze called We Were Once A Fairytale.
In the film, Kanye plays himself drunk at a club acting belligerent and boastful, telling starstruck club-goers that the song playing in the club is his. He wanders into a side room where he encounters a beautiful woman. They start having sex and then he passes out on her leopard print dress. When he comes to, he finds himself in the VIP room with his pants down – he was hallucinating and fucking the pillow. The realization startles him and he rushes to the bathroom where he vomits what look like rose petals.
Then it gets weird.
Kanye finds a bowie knife in the bathroom and cuts into his stomach, spilling a torrent of more petals. He digs in the knife deeper and then with his hand rips out a small furry rodent, like a demon, only its quite cute. When Kanye realizes it’s connected to him with an umbilical cord, he pulls it hard, ripping it out of him for good. He then puts the demon on the sink and hands him a tiny bowie knife to fit the critter’s scale who then uses it to commit hari kari.
The short, written and directed by Spike Jonze, walks the fine line between self aggrandizement and self mockery that runs through all of Kanye’s endeavors. But the filmmaking is on point, with cinematography and sound design that authentically renders that feeling of being really disoriented in a nightclub. One doesn’t need to love Kanye to love the film, but the Jonze short takes what people love and hate about Kanye’s persona and then pushes it into a new, trippy realm. And in case you’re wondering, the answer is no, Kanye still can’t act. The film features the song “See you in my Nightmares” from 808s and Heartbreaks, remixed and pretty severely tweaked by Spike Jonze’s brother and N.A.S.A.‘s Squeak E. Clean (Sam Spiegel).
MTV News reported back in March:
Last week, news began to trickle out that West and director Jonze — who teamed up last year for the eye-popping (and brain-warping) “Flashing Lights” video — were working together once again, this time on a video for West’s “See You in My Nightmares.” Intrigued, MTV News decided to follow up, reaching out to reps for both parties for comment on the collaboration.
“They’ve teamed up again, but this time, it’s for a short film,” Vincent Landay, Jonze’s producing partner, told MTV News. “It’s not necessarily [a video for ‘Nightmares’], but the song is featured in it. We’re still editing it right now, it’s probably going to run between 10–15 minutes. ... Essentially, we’ve been editing it whenever we had time — it’ll be a couple of weeks on and then a couple of weeks off. ... Nobody’s making any money on it, so it’s sort of like, ‘Hey, let’s get in there and edit on night and weekends.’ ”
Landay — who has produced the majority of Jonze’s ventures, including his upcoming “Where the Wild Things Are” movie — went on to add that the film was shot at the end of January over the course of two days in Los Angeles, and that there’s no set date for its release. And while he wasn’t about to reveal all the details about the project, Landay did say that it’s a decidedly Jonze-ian event.
“I’d rather not say what that plot is, but it’s based on an idea Spike had,” Landay explained. “It came to him, and he called Kanye and said, ‘I think you’d be great in this. We showed Kanye a very early rough cut, and he said, ‘It’s very Spike Jonze.’ ... I don’t know when or where it will debut. We did it for fun, so maybe it would be good if someone would give us an actual deadline for it.”
According to Spike Jonze’s team, the film was completed less than 24 hours before tonight’s screening.
In their debut week, hip-pop act the Black Eyed Peas hijack the top spot on the Billbaord 200 sales charts.Although it is no surprise that the group grabbed the no. 1 spot, BEP was one of the artists this week to surpass sales expectations. According to the Nielsen SoundScan the Peas’s latest album, E.N.D. (Energy Never Dies) managed to sell 304,100 discs this week as opposed to the projected 215-250K by HitsDailyDouble.
Falling one spot to no. 3 is Eminem. The Detroit superstar hit the platinum mark this sale cycle after four weeks on the charts. Fans copped 87, 500 more copies of the disc this week, making the album’s overall sales number stand at 1,049,100.
Just making it into the Top 10 this week is Brooklyn phenom Mos Def. The rapper/actor’s fourth solo studio effort, The Ecstatic, also exceeded projections pushing 39,000 copies out of the stores. Earlier in the week HitsDailyDouble pegged Mos at the 30K mark.
Former Pretty Ricky singer Pleasure P landed one spot below Mos in his debut week. The album, Introduction of Marcus Cooper, sold 38, 800 copies.
Also premiering on the charts this sales cycle is Yonkers crew D-Block’s E1 compilation disc No Security. The CD just made it into the Top 40, selling 11, 900 discs.
Eminem continues to give fans a sneak peek of his new "Beautiful" video. Yesterday Eminem took to his Twitter account to post "Ok... here is another photo from "Beautiful". The old train station... that place is unreal" along with a new picture from the video itself.
As we reported yesterday, Eminem let fans know about the next single from his "Relapse" album posting a picture along with the message "We filmed the "Beautiful" video in The D last week, Look for it soon" on his twitter account.
Eminem’s highly anticipated comeback disc Relapse leaked onto the net today (May 7), two weeks before its official release date.
Earlier today there was a full on onslaught of Eminem material that hit the net including snippets of tracks and a clip from his “Crack A Bottle” music video. On “Insane,” one track that leaked separately this afternoon the reclusive rapper graphically jokes about getting molested by his step dad.
“My step father said that I sucked in the bed,” he spit, “till one night he snuck in and said/ we’re going out back I want my dick sucked in the shed/cant we just play with Teddy Rucksbin instead/ after I fuck you in the butt, get some head/ bust a nut, get some rest/ the next day my mother said I don’t know wassup with this kid/ the bastard wont even eat nothing he’s fed/ he just hung himself in the bedroom, he’s dead/ Debbie don’t let that motherfucker get you upset/ let me go in there put a fucking cigarette to his neck / I bet you he’s faking it/ I bet you he just probably wants to see how upset she could get.” [Listen Here]
On Monday (May 4), a song planned for release on iTunes the following day came out early. “Old Times Sake,” featuring Dr. Dre, has the “dynamic duo” rhyming about smoking weed.
Looks like Eminen, Dr. Dre and 50 Cent have made history once again, as their collaboration “Crack a Bottle” has jumped 78 spots to no. 1 on the Billboard Top 100 charts.
Billboard reports that when the sales figures are posted tomorrow, the song will officially make the history books. According to the Nielsen SoundScan the single has been downloaded a record-breaking 418,000 times in its opening week.
“Crack a Bottle” beats out T.I. and Rihanna’s “Live Your Life” which took the title in October with 335,000 downloads.
During a recent interview, Fif revealed that the track will be included on his upcoming album Before I Self Destruct.
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It’s difficult to tell what type of woman Bobby Valentino lusts after. Maybe it’s the toothsome temptress. Or could it be the wholesome angel? No matter the case, what’s most perplexing is how he intends to keep that woman during a seesaw of weak sentiments strung throughout his third studio album, The Rebirth (EMI).
Even with an early 2008 departure from rap star, Ludacris’ Disturbing tha Peace label, Bobby V. still seems to be making a few late night trips to the red-light district.
On “BEEP,” a song more silly than sexy, the crude crooner speaks of “doing it in the pool or the jeep jeep jeep,” over what resonates as a lazily rehashed Ray-J ditty. Yet, slide down nine slots to “Give Me Your Heart” and Valentino’s serenading his future wife with gospel shrills and family talk. Now climb up seven steps and his new devotion to monogamy sits dubious with “3 Is The New 2,” a ridiculously blunt ode to ménage à trois, that bumps along heavy loops of Chippendale-esque panting. But maybe he just spoke too soon.
Usually autonomy is applauded, but unlike his past DTP albums, Bobby’s first release under his imprint, Blue Kolla Dreams displays a strong lack of creative cohesion. In the past, Valentino’s mild success may have thrived with a never-play-the-prude approach to love. However a sharply lewd formula only weakens the structure of what was an already middling third effort.
The Tracklisting for The Rebirth
1. Make Me Say
2. Beep
3. Butterfly Tattoo
4. Hands on Me
5. Me & You
6. 3 is the New 2
7. Give Me Your Heart
8. You Are Not Alone
9. Your Smile
10. Another Life Time
11. Do You Really Love Me
12. On the Edge
While he didn’t win a Grammy award for his last album – the controversial concept disc originally titled “Nigger” - Nas is currently in the studio with Damian “Junior Gong” Marley cooking up a follow-up project.
In an interview with MTV News the Queens-bred rapper seemed very excited about his collaboration with the son to Reggae legend Bob Marley. “Right now, I’ll tell you first, I’m working on an album with Damian Marley, and
we tryin’ to build some schools in Africa with this one, and trying to build empowerment,” he revealed. “We’re tryin’ to show love and stuff with this album. So, the record’s … all about really the ‘hood and Africa also as well. That’s coming out real soon.”
Esco says the CD may come out sometime in Spring but there is no official release date as of yet.
This isn’t the first time the two have teamed up. Nas appeared on “Road To Zion” off Marley’s 2005 album, Welcome To Jamrock.
In related news the rapper is preparing for the birth of his first child with his wife, singer Kelis. Nas has one daughter, Destiny, with his ex-girlfriend Carmen Bryan
No one at the Grammys had swagger like Lil Wayne. The New Orleans rap giant, who led the 51st Annual awards ceremony with eight nominations, took home four trophies at last night’s event.
Weezy’s Tha Carter III took home the Rap Album of the Year award, which was presented by T-Pain and will.i.am, beating out Jay-Z’s American Gangster, Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool, T.I.’s. Paper Trail and Nas’ self-titled project. His single “Lollipop” won for Rap Song of the Year, “A Milli” won for Rap Solo Performance of the Year and his effort on “Swagga Like Us” earned him a gramaphone for Best Rap Collaboration.
Wanye joined his “S.L.U.” partners in rhyme Kanye West, Jay-Z, T.I. as well as a very pregnant M.I.A. for a blockbuster performance of the hit song. Dressed in black tuxes with white button ups, each lyricist spit his verse while a live band worked the instrumentals. M.I.A., whose baby was due the same day as the ceremony, bounced around the stage and hyped up the crowd.
Each artist, with the exception of M I A, had their own sets. Kanye assisted Estelle’s “American Boy,” Jay-Z teamed up with Coldplay for the remix to “Lost,’ Lil Wayne and Robin Thicke gave a sincere dedication to New Orleans and Katrina victims on “Tie My Hands,” while T. I. and Justin Timberlake tore the stage down with their performance of “Dead and Gone.”
On the R&B side, Ne Yo, Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Hudson all performed at the awards gala. Whitney Houston presented J.Hud with the award for Best R&B album as the tearful songstress thanked both her family in heaven and her family on earth.
In a strange turn of events performances by both Chris Brown and his girlfriend Rihanna were canceled at the last minute, according to Billboard. Brown was charged with a domestic battery charge of an unidentified woman early Sunday morning and later turned himself in to local police.
The Grammys were held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles California.
