Last summer I had the pleasure of seeing Kanye West at the Festival d’été de Québec. His show was unbelievable, as he played old and new tracks, and gave the crowd more than their monies worth. The addition of a live orchestra was an added bonus. A few weeks later, I was listening to his newest album titled Graduation. Now I’m not writing today to tell you to listen to Kanye, because you either love or hate his music, but I am here to talk about his music videos. Time and time again, this guys pairs himself with the best producers and creative minds in the business, and the result is truly amazing. Visually speaking in case you don’t appreciate his brand.
The first single off of the Graduation album was Stronger, a mix of a popular Daft Punk song, which was creatively portrayed in video format via Akira’s anime flare. Aside from kicking off the album, the video popularized white shudder shades, which flew off of store shelves almost as fast as his CD. The portrayal of Flashing Light was a disturbing video where a scantily clad model torches her outfit, and proceeds to bludgeon Kanye with a shovel, as he’s bound an gaged in the trunk of a luxury sedan. How do you top that? The newest addition to the Graduation video arsenal is Champion, whereby a Kanye West puppet is seen preparing and participating in a running event for the Olympics. Yet again, a solid example of his ability to partner with the right minds in Hollywood to create unreal visuals.
