Artificial Paradise

Found this on Kanye’s blog this morning. This is an experimental shot all done in CGI by JP Frenay, a director from Belgium. The vibe is really good in the video and you feel the strong sci-fi futuristic ambiance throughout. The quality of the 3D rendering is really impressive and the animation is fluid and believable.

Eminem just crushes everyone else on “Forever”

When I saw this track this morning on iTunes Store, I was so excited even before hearing the song. Are you kidding me !? Em, Lil Wayne, Kanye and Drake on the same track. This had the potential to be one of the greatest hip-hop tracks of all times. I listened to the 30-second preview on iTunes, and honestly, I was disappointed. Maybe I was expecting too much, but really, with a line-up like this, who wouldn’t !

Then I listened to the entire track, anxious to hear Em’s verse. Everyone is pretty good on the track, especially Kanye, but it is nothing exceptional. Then, last but not least, here he came ! Man, it was like a tsunami just hit this track. Call me crazy and call out every other number 1 hit Shady has done, but his verse in “Forever” is definitely one of his top 3 best ever. The lyrics are strong, the rhymes are clever and his flow is insane ! Why wasn’t this track on Relapse ? This was the missing piece to make Relapse the historic comeback-album it failed at being. Much respect to Wayne, Kanye and Drake, but Em owns this track…

Jay-Z for Rhapsody

Even after saying in 2003 that he would retire from the stage, Jay-Z is soon releasing his third album since he made that statement. Blueprint 3 is probably one of the most awaited album of the rap industry in the last 5 years. Rhapsody took advantage of this and created this super clever spot directed by Anthony Mandler. Of course, if you haven’t followed Jay-Z’s career much, it may not seem like anything special to you, so take a look at this.

While you’re there, check out his new video with Kanye West and the always lovely Rihanna, “Run this town“.

Asher Roth still riding the super-stardom highway with “Be By Myself”

By far my best discovery in music so far in 2009 is rapper Asher Roth. He’s one of the very few white rappers since Eminem to achieve success like this. His debut album entitled Asleep in the Bread Aisle launched on April 20th and is now already number 5 on the Billboard 200 chart.
His music gives a really new perspective to today’s hip-hop, with laid-back beats and lyrics that don’t contain the words “million, nigga, maybach, bitches” every 2 sentences.
Asher launched yesterday his new video for his single Be By Myself. John Christopher Pina, who’s no stranger to hip-hop videos with a portfolio including Kanye’s Champion and Common’s The Game, directed this original video. The art direction is very cool with body-painted girls overlaying clips of Asher rapping. The colors are vibrant and really give a nice contrast on the all-white background.
While I’m throwing roses at Asher, take the time to check out his Myspace page and listen to his parody of Lil Wayne’s A Milli song. It’s very engaged and gives a pretty good reality check to fortune-claiming rappers. And also, Asher gave an interview to Billboard recently. Worth checking out.

Kanye’s new video with Young Jeezy

Kanye West just launched his new video for his single Amazing, featuring Young Jeezy, on BET last night. Though I’m not a huge fan of the video, I must say I respect Kanye so much for trying different stuff in his music videos. Every single hip-hop clip in the last 5 years (even more) has been about bling, boats, cars, hoes and money. Even though they’re mostly well-directed, it gets old pretty fast. Kanye brings us a video with good cinematography and stunning scenery. The editing also is slow-paced, compared to the one-cut-a-second formula in other videos. Take a look at his Welcome to Heartbreak video with Kid Cudi also to see how Kanye’s pushing the boundaries in terms of music videos.

Hype Williams directed this video. For those who don’t know Mr. Williams, he’s the guy behind probably 50% of the hip-hop R&B videos you’ve seen. His work includes California Love from Tupac and Dre, Kanye’s Gold Digger, Jay-Z’s Big Pimpin’, pretty much every Busta Rhymes video, and many more.

Bottom line, props to Kanye who doesn’t fear to try new things and seems to do what he likes, not caring about what people are thinking.