Big Sean has released the official music video for his latest album Dark Sky Paradise‘s most emotion record, titled ‘One Man Can Change The World’ with Kanye West and John Legend. The black and white video paints a emotional picture of Big Sean’s childhood, closed with a touching phone conversation between Sean and his late grandmother.
Watch the official music video for ‘One Man Can Change The World’ below.
Bonnaroo, more than any other festival of its kind, blends the music and comedy world through its bookings of some of biggest names in both areas. Sometimes the acts are 100% musical, as you don’t hear Billy Joel cracking many jokes in the middle of ‘Piano Man’. Sometimes the acts are nothing but comedy. While Jeff Ross has roasted comedians before, you won’t be hearing him drop any mixtapes in the future (at least I don’t think so). Then finally, sometimes the acts are more in the middle of the two worlds. Childish Gambino’s appearance at Bonnaroo was just about the music, but he still has a successful stand up comedy and television career. Ed Helms is best known for his work on “The Office” and the Hangover series, but he was killing it on the banjo Sunday night. Then you have Jack Antonoff, who isn’t as overtly comical as Ed and Gambino, but who is no stranger to comedy in both his personal and professional life. We met with Jack at Bonnaroo, shortly before he rocked the Tennessee crowd with his indie pop act “Bleachers”, to ask the leading guitarist of “fun.” about the comedy and music worlds, new music, and his forthcoming music festival.
Roc Nation’s newest member, Chicago’s Vic Mensa, dropped his new music video today. The record, ‘U Mad’, features none other than Kanye West, and the two star together in the official music video. Make sure to buy the collaboration now oniTunes, as the track itself is as dope as its visuals.
Recently stricken by city budget constraints, the Chicago community organization Donda’s House has received a record donation from its co-founder, Kanye West. Donating a portion of his proceeds from his recent Louis Vuitton Foundation concert series, Kanye gave over $133,000 to the organization named after his late mother. This marks the highest donation since Donda’s House‘s inception. Speaking on the donation, Donnie Smith (Executive Director of Donda’s House) told press, “Kanye’s generosity is greatly appreciated and will improve our capacity with new staff as we deliver the high-quality arts programming that our participants deserve.”
Leaked by the Kanye West fan forum YeezyTalk, a new snippet from a Young Thug song has hit the web. The track, titled ‘Freaky’, is produced by Thugger’s good friend and “Rodeo Tour” partner, G.O.O.D. Music’s Travis Scott. It’s also rumored to feature Kanye West, so stay tuned as we get more information on this amazing collaboration.
Earlier today, Kanye West received his honorary doctorate from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Honored for his vast contributions to the arts, through both his musical accolades and his role and influence in fashion, The College Dropout spoke to his fellow SAIC graduating class for his Graduation day. While Kanye dropped out of Chicago State University (just 13 miles south of today’s ceremony) over a decade ago, as he felt that a college education wasn’t the best ticket for his success in the music industry, his late mother, Dr. Donda West (who was a professor at Chicago State University) would have been more than proud to see her son finally walk for his graduation.
Check out our photos below, as we sent our photographer Dan Garciato capture some of the ceremony’s best moments.
It’s graduation day. Finally his big day is here. I’ve seen him work his ass off for over a decade and today everything that he is done is being recognized by way of a doctoral degree. Years ago, he promised his mother (an educator who earned her doctorate decades ago) that he was going back to school. While she left this world far too soon, she is certainly looking down to watch her son, a college dropout, finally receive his degree. To be there in person and to share such a special moment was an honor. I could not be any more proud.
Now you would probably assume I know this college dropout personally. Instead the college dropout I am talking about isn’t just any college dropout, he is “THE College Dropout,” Mr. Kanye West. It was a weird feeling. In many ways I felt a sense of pride for Kanye. I felt like I was at a graduation for a family member. While I do not know Kanye personally, it seems like I have been with him since the moment he dropped out of college until today, when he received his honorary doctorate from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Music will do that to you, as long as you love it that much. People will spend every ounce of energy they have to defend an artist’s every questionable move. Fans will put up their last penny to get tickets for an artist’s summer tour. When your favorite singer wins their first Grammy, you feel like you won your first Grammy. Music turns a relationship you have with someone you have never met into a close personal relationship.
Luckily pride is not exclusive to personal relationships. Given the amount of detail that Kanye West has shared with his fans throughout his career, from the death of his mother to his darkest moments and heartbreaks, a Kanye fan can easily imagine what Kanye was feeling today. His graduation day was a day removed from Mother’s Day, Kanye West would not only receive a great honor for his contributions to the arts (whether it be music or fashion) but he would also share a degree with his mother, the late Dr. Donda West, which she earned over three decades ago. As expected from a college professor, Dr. West originally disapproved of Kanye’s dropout from college, believing that a college education was the only ticket to your goals. While she eventually came to accept and understand Kanye’s decision (and later managed Kanye’s career), you can only imagine how proud she would be to see her son on his graduation day.
This is why I had to find a way into the graduation ceremony to watch Kanye receive his honorary degree. Personally I have been a big Kanye fan since his 2004 debut with The College Dropout, so to witness a big moment of his career in person was my only option. While at times I contemplated finding and buying a ticket from a SAIC graduation student, The Early Registration was fortunate enough to receive an invitation to the ceremony to see Kanye receive his honorary doctorate in person. Before I knew it, it was just seconds before The College Dropout’s Graduation.
“I guess this is my dissertation. Homie, this shit is basic. Welcome to Graduation.” – Kanye West (‘Good Morning’)
For today’s dissertation, Kanye opened by labeling himself as a pop artist. “I’m a pop artist, so my medium is public opinion, and the world is my canvas. ‘I’m sorry’ is something you can use a lot, it gives you the opportunity to give your opinion, apologize for it, and give your opinion again,” said Kanye. While Kanye can come off as cocky and arrogant to many, Kanye humbled himself by admitting that today made him feel nerves that he isn’t used to feeling. Receiving over 20 Grammys, having your albums given perfect scores by the most respected publications, having your shoes sell out in seconds and then resold for thousands on eBay, it is hard to imagine that anything could make Kanye West nervous. But today did.
This achievement isn’t an end of a chapter for Kanye West, it is still just the beginning. Like his fellow graduates, who received their degrees in a more conventional way, today marks a moment where everything can become easier. Now the College Dropout is rebranded as Dr. West. Now his art has yet another huge co-sign. Now he can tell his late mother that he did finally get that college degree. Like Kanye told the SAIC crowd today, things will be easier now that he can say he has a degree from the Art Institute of Chicago. And I was more than glad I could be there to witness it all in person.
Check out our photos from the ceremony here and watch Kanye’s speech below.
During his sold-out Chicago performance with Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def), G.O.O.D. Music‘s Malik Yusef previewed a remix to Kanye West’s ‘All Day’, a track which he is one of the many credited writers. While we don’t know too many details about the upcoming remix (for example whether Malik himself is on the track or if it’s an official version of the Kendrick Lamar remix that leaked last month), Malik told fans that the remix was coming within a week! He also had fans put away their camera phones, as he would “get in trouble” if anyone shared the performance online.
A little sample…
“How long they praying that we fall? All Day n*gga.”
After the successful launch of Kanye West’s and adidas‘ Yeezy Boosts, we now have some detailed images from Kanye’s next adidas shoe, the “Yeezy 350 Boost Low” sneakers. The 360 Boost Lows have a similar sole from the original Kanye x adidas high tops, a “YZY” logo on its side, as well as a grey/white pattern around the shoe and its laces. These shoes have an expected price of $210, but expect them to go very fast and to resell for much more than $210. No word yet on an exact release date, but stay tuned!
Check out the new photos of the Yeezy 350 Boost Lows below.
[UPDATE:Since our original post, Chance has posted another (different) photo of him and Kanye (shown below) on his Instagram with the caption: “When I dream of Heaven I don’t see sharp edges.” A potential song lyric?]
[UPDATE 2:Chance has also announced that his new album with The Social Experiment, Surf, is coming this week.]
Last year, Chance The Rapper finally met Kanye West. While fans of both Chicago artists were excited, no one was more excited than Chance himself, as he has never hesitated to let people know that he is a huge Kanye fan. The silver lining of the two meeting each other last year is that it wasn’t at the studio, it was at the Made In America music festival, where artists cross paths and pose for pictures all the time, and there was no reason to suggest that the two would collaborate in the near future.
Today though, we have a new photo of Chance and Kanye. And while we can’t be certain this picture is from today, you will notice that you can see Kanye’s new So Help Me God tattoo, that he got in March. Are they working on new music? Did Kanye’s ‘Wolves’ collaborator and Chance’s longtime friend Vic Mensa get the two together? Have the two possibly been working together for awhile now? We have heard rumors for awhile that Kanye is working with another big Chicago artist. We won’t speculate too much but we will keep our fingers crossed!
Check out the new photo of Chance and Mr. West below!
The Early Registration 