Monday Morning Kanye

Good morning, peoples.
Taking a quick look around, I get the feeling that I'm gonna have a ton of posts today, so lets get rolling...

This week's GOOD Friday jam is "Don't Look Down" (The Phoenix Story).  It might sound odd on it's own, but it makes alot more sense when you consider the tie-in to the Runaway film.  Lupe was a perfect choice for this song, too.  No one can personify a semi-abstract concept in a song better than he does.
   Kanye West - Don't Look Down (ft. Mos Def, Lupe Fiasco & Big Sean) [G.O.O.D Friday] by We Are S.M.E

Speaking of which,
Do yourself a favor, set aside some time, and watch this in full (34min):


I don't want to get into a predictable Kanye praise rant . . .but this is EXACTLY why Hip-Hop needs him.  I've deliberately avoided reading reactions to this.  Fans seem to be alergic to anything that isn't meant to be taken literally, so I imagine a short film full of symbolic imagery where a rapper falls in love with a flaming bird from another world might be hard for alot to digest.  Ironic considering how much of the imagery in commercial rap is completely fabricated.  To be honest it's embarrassing.  Then again, Kanye is the living symbol of the new divide in Hip-Hop and Black pop culture as a whole*.

::stopping before I get into rock-snob territory::

I will say that Runaway made me appreciate some songs more than I did before, especially "Lost in the World".  If Kanye's goal was to tell a good auto-biographical story and build anticipation for the album, then he's got a huge victory here.

* If we ever meet in person, give me a drink or 3, and start up a comvo about the whole Kanye v. 50 thing, and listen to me ramble for an hour about how that was the single biggest moment in Black pop culture (that didn't involve Obama) of the last 20yrs.