Kanye West | The Music Ninja

[Festival Review + Playlist] Take Us Back: Outside Lands 2014 Highlights through Photos & Songs

Posted by Ash El Gamal - August 26, 2014

During the Gold Rush, the area where Golden Gate Park currently resides was referred to as the “Outside Lands,” a sprawling seemingly uninhabitable expanse, before being adopted by the city of San Francisco and developed into what is now the gorgeous western portion of the city. Today, Outside Lands carries a whole new meaning as the the premiere music festival of the Bay Area located in the heart of the park. Every event has a unique charm and, for OSL, the magic of San Francisco’s physical and cultural beauty is truly at its core. With breathtaking scenery, quality food/wine and the lingering remnants of the hippie movement, Outside Lands 2014 served as yet another reminder of why the area has become, and has for so long been, such a desirable destination even with its famously cold summer weather.

Just over two weeks have passed since we took our final steps out of what was the most popular OSL in the event’s history. In the days following a festival, the mundanity of everyday life can become particularly evident. Luckily, with concerts, there’s always an artist’s music to revive the excitement of your most memorable, albeit sometimes least remembered, moments. This year’s Outside Lands lineup featured an incredible diversity in artistic styles making for a broad range of experiences to look back on. Join us as we take revisit a dozen of our top highlights from the weekend through photos and songs. Continue reading →

[Mashup] Flume – Insane (Feat. Kanye West) (White Panda Vocal Edit)

Posted by Baseer Ahmad - July 21, 2014

Flume
Insane (White Panda Vocal Edit)

Download

Mashups can be a tricky art to master, and while we’ve become much more open to the idea of them in recent months, we still tend to approach them with a certain amount of skepticism. However, when you come across a song that features two of the most brilliant musicians in the world, it’s impossible to ignore. Geniuses that they are, The White Panda have taken it upon themselves to blend together the insanity of Kanye West with Flume‘s hit single, “Insane.” Utilizing verses from “Can’t Tell Me Nothing,” Kanye’s defiant boasts operate well over the elaborate, pulsating synthwork, while Moon Holiday‘s yearning background vocals seem to add a heightened sense of wistfulness and provide even more weight behind the lyrics. After listening to the track, we started to wonder what a true collaboration between these two gifted artists would actually sound like. Can someone get them in the studio together ASAP?

Download the single above, and stay tuned for more from The White Panda, as they plan to drop a new song every day this week.

[NEW] Future – I Won (Feat. Kanye West)

Posted by Baseer Ahmad - April 8, 2014

Future
I Won (Feat. Kanye West)

Stream Only

Judging by the title, you’d think this song would be the anthem for Shabazz Napier to rock in the UConn locker room tonight. However, this song is referring to whole different type of winning, as Future and Kanye West detail how they landed first place in the wifey contest (knotting Ciara and Kim Kardashian respectively). While we would never personally recommend referring to your significant others as trophies, we’re pretty certain guys like Yeezy and Future can get away with it fairly easily. While we would have appreciated a banger from these two, we can’t hate on them for wanting to get in touch with their romantic sides.

Stream the sentimental single above, and look out for Future’s upcoming album, Honest, set to drop later this month on April 22nd.

Hip/Hop
Soul

[NEW] Kanye West – Bound 1 (Remake)

Posted by Baseer Ahmad - February 26, 2014

Kanye West
Bound 1 (Remake)

Soundcloud

When the tracklist for Yeezus first surfaced, many fans were puzzled by the numbering of the album’s final song, “Bound 2,” since none of us had ever heard any version prior to that. After finally giving it a listen, I thought maybe it was just a lame play on the phrase “Bound 2 Fall In Love” repeated throughout the chorus, but as it turns out, there really was a “Bound 1” after all. By now I’m sure many of you have already seen the live footage of Hudson Mohawke debuting the original version during a set in the UK on Valentine’s weekend.

Now it appears as if someone’s decided to reconstruct the entire song, allowing the world to finally hear what “Bound 1” would’ve really sounded like. As it stands, “Bound 2” was already quite a departure from the deeply dark, grungy minimalism heard throughout the rest of Yeezus. “Bound 1” carries an even lighter tone, resulting in a sweet melody that heavily contrasts with the album’s material, which may be why Rick Rubin decided to step in and alter the sonic direction with one fell stroke of his epic beard. With “Bound 1” you get a sense of what Kanye was initially trying to achieve with this tune, and it almost adds some context to the sentimental nature of its oft-criticized music video.

Take a listen to the single above, and also make sure to check out Kanye’s epic performance from Late Night with Seth Meyers that includes a medley of some of the greatest hits from the past decade of his decorated career, including: “Jesus Walks,” “Touch The Sky,” “Stronger,” “Heartless,” “All of the Lights,” “Mercy,” and “Black Skinhead.”

Hip/Hop

[NEW] Rick Ross – Sanctified (Feat. Kanye West & Rick Ross)

Posted by Baseer Ahmad - February 26, 2014

Rick Ross
Sanctified (Feat. Kanye West & Big Sean)

Buy

It’s already been a busy week for hip-hop so far, but it only seems to be looking up from here. With Rick Ross‘ sixth studio album, Mastermind, set to drop next week, we’re getting an early listen of the most anticipated track from the project, “Sanctified.” Featuring G.O.O.D. Music’s Kanye West and Big Sean, “Sanctified” is a soulful banger, crafted through a combined effort between Yeezy and DJ Mustard. All three emcees trade bars interchangeably over an instrumental that features a few trademarks from both talented producers. While this is probably the first single to really move the needle for us on Ross’ latest album, there’s still some interesting collaborations yet to be heard featuring The Weeknd, Lil Wayne, Mavado, Scott Storch, and more. Check out the single above, and make sure to get your pre-orders in for Mastermind before it drops on March 4th.

Hip/Hop

[NEW] Beyoncé – Drunk In Love (Remix) (Feat. Kanye West & Jay Z)

Posted by Baseer Ahmad - February 15, 2014

Beyoncé
Drunk In Love (Feat. Kanye West & Jay Z)

Stream Only

If you’re a Beyoncé fan, Valentine’s day was either a blessing or a curse for you, as it seems like everybody and their mother put out a remix to the diva’s hit single, “Drunk In Love.” Arguably enough though, it doesn’t get much bigger than this. Premiered late last night by Hot 97’s Angie Martinez, this revision features a raunchy verse from the one and only Kanye West, along with some fine tuning courtesy of Mike Dean. It always make for an interesting dynamic when Yeezy hops on a single with his big brother. We’d like to think Kanye steals the show this time around, but we’ll leave the judgment up to you.

[Mashup] Treezus – Love Lockdown x Electric Feel (Kanye West x SeventhWonder)

Posted by Baseer Ahmad - January 15, 2014

’Treezus
Kanye West X SevnthWonder’

Download

Mashups are a difficult art to master. The idea of blending two ostensibly compatible songs together seems simple enough in theory, but rarely does it ever work in execution. Often times they can sound forced or lazily mixed, leading to something that ends up being less than the sum of its parts. A truly great mashup should feel like a completely original composition on its own, something that sounds exceptional independently from its source material. There are very few producers who can accomplish this, but we may have to consider adding Treezus to that short list. While not much is known about the young producer, this mashup between TMN mainstays Kanye West and SevnthWonder certainly caught my attention rather easily. “Love Lockdown” has never been one of my favorite entries in Kanye’s vast library, but once mixed with “Electric Feel” it transforms from a sparse, melancholic love song, into a wondrous electronic joyride. After you stream/download the track above, feel free to checkout out some of Treezus’ other mashups as well, which you can listen to below or find on his official SoundCloud page.

’Treezus
Day N’ Night X Seperate’

Download

’Treezus – Aaliyah X 12th Planet’

Download

’Treezus
JT X SW’

Download