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LRB || Music, Fashion, Culture...

Kanye Talks About The Beanie Diss



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Graduation Cover

Above is some artwork from Ye’s new album ‘Graduation’. I’m not sure if its suppose to be for the album cover or not but its designed by Takashi Murakami. Including this design his work is pretty fresh 2 def, you probably know his work best from the Louis Vuitton Monogram ‘Eye Secret’.

Below are the links from the Common & Kanye Interview where Kanye talks about Beanie’s Homo comment about him and Pharrell. And they both speak about their up-coming albums.

Kanye Speaks About Beanie’s Diss Common Speaks About His Album Common And Kanye Speaks About Their Favorites Kanye Freestyles

New Music…A Long Time Coming!!!



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THIS IS WHY IT’S HOT!!! vol. 1



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This past Sunday marked the end of Mercedes Benz’s Spring/Summer 2008 Fashion week.  This means two things:  1) Less fashion breaks at work and 2) Time to pick my faves.  From Berlin, there were two standouts.  The first a nude dress contrasted with a thick black belt by Sisi Wasabi.  This is hot for the following reasons:  Nude or skin tones are hot!!  There’s nothing sexier than the illusion of looking like your wearing next to nothing (as opposed to actually wearing next to nothing).  Also hot is wearing almost one color head to toe as seen by the nude dress complimented with the nude shoes.  Please note that this idea is not the same as matching everything one wears – prints DO NOT APPLY to this trend.  Head to toe leopard print is NOT HOT!   Also to be noted is the lack of accessories.  Besides the belt, the dress is left to hold its own.  This shows an effortless confidence – which is extremely sexy.  What doesn’t seem to fit this ultra feminine look is the boxy black bag.  This outfit would have been much more complimented with a small ivory canvas or wool textured clutch to add a small soft touch to the ensemble.
The next featured item is by the designer Michael Michalsky and highlights a 3-piece suit.  This suit exemplifies one of the falls hottest trends – baggy trousers.  Although they may not seem feminine, there is nothing sexier than a pair of baggy trousers hanging off a woman’s hips.  When paired with a fitted (not tight) top, such as the white tee and  pinstripe vest shown, the pants only further compliment a woman’s curves in a non-obvious way (which in my opinion, is the best way to compliment one’s self).  This suit could just as easily be rocked in a boardroom as it could be at a bar at the W hotel.  The baggy trousers could also be paired with a fun, colorful tee to turn it into a casual look.  And the hat…if it was a little wider, it’d be hot too!
And we can’t forget Miami’s display of beachwear!!  Now I’m not much of a beach girl, but I know one thing – white bikinis are hot!!  A light colored bikini can compliment almost anyone’s skin tone, from olive to dark chocolate.  This design by Shay Todd shows how a classic light colored bikini can be updated by just adding a new shape to the bottoms.  In a white (or in this case, pale pink) colored bikini, you can do no wrong.  And if that braided ponytail transformed into a braided bun, it would be perfection!

New Video:: Stronger by Kanye West



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NEW YORK — With his determination to spare no expense in making his videos, chances are good that Kanye West is already a six-million-dollar man when it comes to spending money on his mini movies. But in his latest video endeavor, "Stronger," West conjures visions of Steve Austin, Lee Majors’ "Six Million Dollar Man" character: The Louis Vuitton Don appears to be getting a few enhancements to his body.

On Tuesday night (technically Wednesday morning, as he was running a little late due to some last-minute edits), Kanye debuted the special-effects-filled video for "Stronger" at the Tribeca Cinemas. Legendary production duo and record label execs L.A. Reid and Babyface attended, as well as ‘Ye’s good friend Swizz Beatz.

"How you just gonna come up creepin’?" Swizz joked of Kanye’s very low-profile entrance into his own affair. Swizz was standing outside, chatting with Hot 97’s Miss Info, when Reid and Babyface pulled up to the red carpet in a black SUV. While attention was diverted to the legendary hitmaking duo, Kanye and his usual entourage (including longtime friend Don C) simply strolled to the door.

Inside, West thanked everyone for coming on such short notice. Make that almost no notice: E-mails about the gathering were sent out about five hours before the 9 p.m. "doors open" time, and warned people not to expect a night of dancing like at his recent birthday bash (which some say was the extravaganza of the year).

"This is not really a party, I just wanted y’all to see the video" before he left for Los Angeles a few hours later, ‘Ye told the audience with a smile, noting "this is a rough [cut]" before the lights went low.

When it comes to "Stronger" — directed by Hype Williams, who also did West’s recent "Can’t Tell Me Nothing" clip — think longer. It took the pair some three months to make the video, from start to finish, and Kanye even had to convince Williams to stay on board because it was taking so long.

"Hype almost bailed three times," he divulged.

But Kanye also was proud of the fact that he had time to craft "Stronger" to his liking. "This is one of the first times we got to make a video like how we make music — we got to go back to it," he explained (see "Kanye, Cam’ron, More MCs Skip Million-Dollar Videos, Go Straight To The Web").

(Peep scorching pics from Kanye’s "Stronger," video and see Cassie and L.A. Reid at its premiere.)

The MC also described the making of the video as part intricate planning, part run-and-gun, guerrilla-style shooting. They originally shot for nine days in Japan; the video’s leading lady, singer Cassie, was called out on two days’ notice and a genuine Japanese motorcycle gang was used in the video. For some scenes they knew exactly where they wanted to shoot, other shots were "stolen" in the streets — and they even had to ask friends for favors to film in locations such as the BAPE store and the BBC shop.

Among other challenges, Kanye had designs on specific Jeremy Scott shades to wear in one of his performance scenes — and it took him three months to find them, finally spying a pair in Paris. ("I wanted something you can’t get in stores," he explained.)

Perhaps most challenging of all, when they started filming, Kanye hadn’t even written the second verse of the song.

Later, there were five days of re-shoots because ‘Ye said the neon colors in the video reminded him too much of the colors used in recent 50 Cent and Maroon 5 clips.

As he tells it, Kanye knew "Stronger" would be a hit after he played Williams the song’s sampled loop, which is from Daft Punk’s "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" (West’s DJ, A-Trak, played him the original Daft Punk record on tour last year).

"There were no drums or anything yet," Kanye said. Hype got hyped and started giving ‘Ye inspiration to go futuristic — not just for the video, but for his entire Graduation LP. ‘Ye said that’s when the album started taking shape, whereas earlier he’d been "aimlessly making songs" (see " Kanye West Says He’s ‘Ready To Take Over The World Once Again’ ").

"It inspired a whole movement," West said. He went back to some of the songs he had recorded and redid parts of them, and also watched films like "Total Recall" for more ideas. He recalled that when he was writing "Stronger," he started thinking about what he considers some of his recent mistakes.

"I made so many mistakes the past year, I started swimming in wack juice I needed to get out of," he said. "I would read blogs and they would be like, ‘His shoelaces are untied, he’s a b—h." He added that Late Registration co-producer Jon Brion even hinted that West should try to make music that made people see him as less annoying.

But instead of apologizing, Kanye uses the song’s first verse to vent frustration: "Bow in the presence of greatness/ ‘Cause right now thou has forsakenness this/ You should be honored by my lateness/ That I would even show up to this fake sh–."

"Instead of coming with, ‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ that song is an emancipation," Kanye explained.

As for the video itself … Well, there’s no way we’re going to make Kanye abruptly end his West Coast trip, pack his Louis Vuitton bags, get back aboard a private jet and come straight to the MTV offices because we gave away the whole thing. But we can tell you this: There is an emphasis on performance and looking fly. There is a huge special-effects segment where Daft Punk, dressed as helmet-clad scientists or doctors, are pushing buttons in a control room while a machine big enough to fit a truck inside is working on Kanye as he lays on a table with wires attached to him — wearing nothing but a pair of boxers.

When the clip was finished, one person in the theater yelled out, "Cassie! I think I love you!" But most of the praise and applause were directed at Mr. West and the video. "I’mma talk sh– and play it again," he said.

No one left the theater.


Kanye’s 30th Birthday, Last Night at LV in NYC…PARTAKE!!!




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Last Night Kanye Celebrated his 30th Birthday at The Louis Vuitton Store in NYC. Everybody and they momma was there. Below is video of John Legend singing Happy Birthday too Kanye.

Mariah Carey

Mariah came out hiding for this big day.
Fall Out Boy Rihanna
Fall Out Boy, Ashlee Simpson, & Rihanna
Fabolous
Fab was there and he also performed.
Chad Hugo, Pharrell, & Common
N*E*R*D (Chad Hugo, Pharrell) & Common
John Legend
John Legend
Jay-Z
Jay-Z
N*E*R*D & Ye Performing
Kanye Q-Tip Pharrell
Kanye, Q-Tip (On the 1s and 2s for the night) Pharrell
Kanye Rihanna
Kanye and Rihanna
Diddy Jay-Z JD
I wonder what these niggas be talking about: ‘Nigga I’m rich’ ‘No, Nigga I’m rich’ and JD like ‘both yall niggaz rich, now be quiet!!’
Kanye Parents
Kanye, His Mother Donda West, His Stepfather, and Alexis
Kanye Alexis
Kanye and Alexis
Heeeeeaaa, Itz My BDAY!!!
 

American Gangster…Starring Denzel Washington…Classic!!!




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This my friends is going to be the movie of the year. I heard about this movie about a year ago, but I never thought….after seeing the trailer I’m a believer. American Gangster is Starring Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Josh Brolin, Armand Assante, Ted Levine, Common, and T.I.

New Puma x Alife




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Puma ‘First Round NY’ created two colorways – black and the white. The sneaker features an all-over design of the Alife logo. It looks like it’s a special print, slightly elevated – definitely looks nice. Also the multicolor lace holes are a nice touch.

Puma New Limited Edition Bag




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Looks like Puma is trying their luck on the upscale lifestyle market, with this Urban Mobility Limited Edition bag. It’s made of white nappa leather, and features a cherry wood base, that rests on four silver metal stubs and carries a silver plate that displays individual number. The bag also comes with two smaller bags. One for cosmetics, the other one large enough to hold documents. A total of 600 were made, and were released last month exclusively at Selfridges for €650. They will release worldwide next month.

Exclusive: ‘The Groove Theory’ by BornSwift




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BornSwift
I don’t know if you all get down with Soulful House but if you do this is one to the hottest Soulful House Mixtapes’ I’ve held in years. Not since DJ Shaun T. has anybody done it as good, If you don’t know who that is Google him.

Pharrell & ?uestlove ‘Out Of My Mind (In My Mind Redux)’




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