Kanye West

Kanye West on Saturday Night Live: Five Reasons I Will Stay Home and Watch

I don't think we have really gotten in the weeds about my feelings for Kanye West, but know this about me: My name is Deb and I am a West apologist. He is temperamental and sensitive in ways that feel vintage rock star in today's cookie cutter world of celebrity people pleasing. He is arrogant in wa ... More >>

There's a Special Place in Dallas' Hip-Hop Heart for Snoop Dogg

Justin Timberlake and Kanye West's Feud And Avoiding Famous-Guy Backlash

The foundation of Justin Timberlake's fame--broad-based and consistent and weirdly resistant to automatic internet backlash--is that it came, originally, from looking this ridiculous, and he seems to accept that. That's the only thing I can come up with to explain just how many people I heard talkin ... More >>

Kanye West's "Theraflu," Explained

America loves hip-hop music, but we don't always understand the meaning behind the message. We love to dance awkwardly to "Rack City" in the comfort of our homes while throwing imaginary ones in the air, but seldom take the time to break down a song line by line to derive its true meaning. That's ... More >>

Big Sean, Now Really Big

Taylor Swift

Saturday, October 8, at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington

No, Kanye West Wasn't Joking When He Eulogized The Black Eyed Peas at ACL.

Pete FreedmanKanye West at his ACL '11 performance. Swag?​ Gotta admit it: We just thought he was being confident and awesome when he said it. Turns out, though, there may have been something of merit behind Kanye West's out-of-nowhere banter about the Black Eyed Peas from Friday night at the ... More >>

Last Night at ACL (With Pics!): Kanye West Is The Best Performer You'll See, Just Ask Him.

Kanye WestBud Light Stage -- Austin City LimitsSeptember 16, 2011Better than: what you probably heard about the show, unless you heard it from Kanye.Pete FreedmanKanye West​It didn't take long for Kanye West to buy into his own hype last night, as he headlined the first night of the 2011 Austin Ci ... More >>

Welcome to ACL '11: Zilker Warms Up For A Big First Night; It's Already Buzz-Thirty, Dudes.

Pete FreedmanCold War Kids tear down that first-day ACL wall.​Off in the distance, the song of the summer, Foster the People's can't-stop-won't-stop "Pumped Up Kicks," is blasting away over Zilker Park, blaring from the P.A. over at the Google (nee Dell) Stage. There's a marvelous tag-team effort ... More >>

Symbolyc One Explains How He Came Up With Kanye West and Jay-Z's "Excellence" Joint

Symbolyc One's on fire.​In this week's paper, you'll find a heads up of sorts about what's really going on in Dallas hip-hop these days -- essentially it's no longer the rappers making waves so much as it's the producers. And that's not just fluff. As noted in the article, in the past couple of ye ... More >>

Stream: Symbolyc One Adds Some "Excellence" to Jay-Z and Kanye West's Watch The Throne

​It's finally here: Watch The Throne, the much-anticipated, album-long collaboration between hip-hop luminaries and best friends forever Jay-Z and Kanye West, earned its iTunes release today after having been revealed to a handful of people during a listening party at the American Museum of Natura ... More >>

Kanye West, Stevie Wonder, Arcade Fire and Coldplay Highlight 2011 Austin City Limits Bill

​We had some fun yesterday trying to guess the bill for the 2011 Austin City Limits Musical Festival -- and, hey, we were right about Kanye West, if nothing else. Early this morning, the folks behind the festival announced for full lineup for their end-of-summer offering. And, as expected, the 10t ... More >>

Q&A: DJ A-Trak On The Importance Of Bringing DJ Culture Out of Clubs and Into Live Venues

A-Trak​For over a decade now, Alain Macklovitch has been a prominent name in the DJ world. But winning the Disco Mix Club's Wold DJ Championship in 1997 as a 15-year-old prodigy was just the start of what was to come from the guy who performs under the name of A-Trak. In 2004, Kanye West, after ha ... More >>

Symbolyc One Goes Platinum with Kanye, Collaborates with Jay-Z, Beyonce and 50 Cent.

Symbolyc One's platinum display for his work on Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Family.​There was no doubting that it would happen eventually, but late last month, it finally did: Kanye West's brilliant 2010 release, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, went platinum.And, OK, while that's may ... More >>

Our Final SXSW 2011 Buzz Power Rankings: So, Who Do You Think Came Out on Top?

To infinity... and beyond!​Gossip, gossip -- if you've been following our daily power rankings of buzz at SXSW 2011 over the past few days, then you know that, yes, indeed, Kanye West has had it all week long at this year's annual festival in Austin.And, after briefly losing the top slot in our ra ... More >>

SXSW 2011 Buzz Power Rankings: Odd Future Slips Just Past Kanye, Mostly Because People Are Sick of Talking About Kanye.

Swag!​Well, mercifully, the last night of SXSW 2011 is finally upon us. And, on this final day, in which luminaries such as Kanye West, Perez Hilton and Rachel Ray are finally letting their presence be known, we finally have a new act sitting atop our buzz power rankings.That's right: Later Kanye; ... More >>

SXSW 2011 Buzz Power Rankings: Kanye West Stays On Top, But His Lead Is Shrinking...

Everybody knows he's a motherfucking monster.​Thursday at SXSW 2011 has come and gone -- but Kanye remains solidly in his spot atop our buzz power rankings, as determined by chatter we're hearing on the street. His lead is shrinking, though -- Odd Future is hot on his tail, proving once again that ... More >>

The Problem With... Katy Perry's "E.T. (Futuristic Lover) feat. Kanye West"

​ Here's the thing about Katy Perry: She tries write songs that are thematically diverse, which is nice. Unfortunately, very few of these themes pay off into complete ideas. Take, for instance, her latest single, "E.T. (Futuristic Lover)," which features one Kanye West and tries for a dark, myster ... More >>

Listomania: The Top Music Videos of 2010

This dude knew a thing or two about music videos.​The death of Michael Jackson in 2009 seemed to prompt a lot of artists to rediscover the art of music videos in 2010. Some, like Lady Gaga and Kanye West, took the artistic merit behind mainstream music videos from acts like Michael Jackson and Pri ... More >>

Watch: Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks Get The Kanye West "Power" Treatment

​We spent a good chunk of time this summer talking up Dallas' own Symbolyc One and his production credits on Kanye West's song "Power" off the rapper's so-good-it's-sickening My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy album. For good reason, too: The song was everywhere -- all over the Internet, on Saturda ... More >>

The Daily Fail: Kanye West's Investment Choices

Apparently no one, NO ONE, cares about their health these days. Including Kanye West.

The Daily Fail: Kanye West

It seemed like the biggest hindrance to Kanye West -- or "Conway" as Dubya calls him -- earning a wide-ranging pop music acceptance was his ego. Turns out a persecution complex may have trumped the producer/rapper/auto-tune aficionado's legendary ego, though.

Today In Music News: Kanye Wanted To Kill Himself, Bon Jovi Goes Global And Caleb Followill Hates Hipsters

Your daily dose of national music news for Wednesday, October 20, 2010...Kanye West apparently felt so bad from the backlash he received from one-upping Taylor Swift he thought about killing himself. Bon Jovi will receive the global icon prize at the European VMA's. Caleb Followill hates you.

Watch: Kanye West Performs His Symbolyc One-Produced "Power" For SNL.

Hate Kanye West all you want. But we here at DC9 think he's the biggest rock star around. Everything about him--from the narcissism to the award show interruptions to the free downloads to the fashion obsessions and the online Twitter rants--just makes him all the more polarizing in the eyes of the ... More >>

Today In Music News: Kanye Cancels GOOD Friday And Feist Documentary Coming

Your daily dose of national music news for Friday, October 1, 2010...If you were looking forward to a new Kanye song today via his "GOOD Friday" series... sorry, he's scrapped it.Fans of Feist will be glad to know there is a documentary about the singer coming out.

Today In Music News: Kanye Gets Collegiate Tips, Phoenix Want You To Remix And Justin Townes Earle Gets Popped

Your daily dose of national music news for Tuesday, September 21, 2010...Kanye West is apparently getting his life and style advise from a Yale sophomore.Fancy yourself a bit of a bedroom remix producer? Well, Phoenix is gonna scratch your itch to remix, it are making stems from Wolfgang Amadeus P ... More >>

The Symbolyc One Powers The New The Social Network Spot--But He's Not The Only Area Musician Involved in the Facebook Film.

If you've been paying attention, then you've long known that Dallas' own Symbolyc One is the man behind the beat of Kanye West's inescapable hit of the moment, the King Crimson-sampling "Power." And, sure enough, the hits keep coming for that track--it's currently being used in the as-seen-above-and ... More >>

Listen: Kanye West's "Power" Remix Featuring Jay-Z and Swizz Beatz

​We here at DC9 have been salivating over Kanye West's new single, "Power," pretty much all summer long. Why? Well, for a few reasons--namely, because the song is a beast, one of the best hip-hop tracks we've heard all year, but also because, yessir, it was produced by Dallas' own Symbolyc One, a ... More >>

Today In Music News: Kanye Goes Back To VMAs, Parody Is Now Infringing And Nelly Hits The Radio

Your daily dose of national music news for Thursday, August 12, 2010...Apparently MTV has forgiven Kanye West. The rapper/producer/twitterer will perform at this years VMA's.So, now parody songs are violate copyright infringement? The former rap star known as Nelly has gotten a part-time job as a ... More >>

Dallas' Symbolyc One Tells Us What It's Like Working With Kanye West and Shares Some Info On The Next Strange Fruit Project Release

Symbolyc One​2010's been a banner year for Dallas' Symbolyc One, known best around these parts for his work with both Erykah Badu's Cannabinoids and his own long-running Waco-based hip-hop collective, Strange Fruit Project. "I've been doing work," the producer says over the phone this week. "I've ... More >>

Watch: Kanye West -- "Power"

The above 102-second clip from Kanye West, touting the sometimes-controversial, but generally all-kinds-of-awesome rapper's new Symbolyc One-produced single made its debut on MTV last night--to massive results, blowing up all over the Internet within moments of its airing and spilling over quite nic ... More >>

Watch: Kanye West Performs The Symbolyc One-Produced Power To Open Last Night's 2010 BET Awards

Last night's 2010 BET Awards kicked off with a band, featuring Kanye West standing atop a mountain set on stage, performing "Power," the lead, already-leaked single off his much-anticipated fifth release, Good Ass Job, which is currently set for a September release. Not a bad performance either. Whi ... More >>

Today In Music News: Drake Love Him Some Kanye, Johnny Marr Gets His Ax Back And Xiu Xiu Love You In That Special Way

Your daily dose of national music news for Tuesday, February 23, 2010...Drake says the new Kanye West album will be "the best hip-hop album of the last 10 years."  Sounds like someone has been drankin' the Kool-Aid!Johnny Marr got his prized guitar back after it was stolen 10 years ago.Xiu Xiu ... More >>

Year in Review: The Best Hip-Hop of 2009: Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love da Bomb

While year-end, catch-all wrap-ups are common to every musical genre, in no other style of music do they turn into the hand-wringing, "state of the game" examinations that hip-hop seems to provoke. (I've certainly written a few.) We worry because we care, of course. But at some point, like a thirty- ... More >>

Today In Music News: Kanye and Lady Gaga Tour Gets Canceled, Flava Flav Wants Back On TV And Amy Winehouse Raps

Your daily dose of national music news for Friday, October 1, 2009... How sad: The Kanye West/Lady Gaga tour has been canceled. I hear someone tried to tell 'Ye the tour was canceled, but was interrupted by Taylor Swift. Flava Flav is shopping a series where he goes back to high school to rec ... More >>

Today In Music News: Kanye Gets A Small Movie, The Verve Quit Each Other Again and Them Crooked Vultures Release Clip

Your daily dose of national music news for Wednesday, August 13, 2009...Kanye West is slowly becoming the king of all media... sorry Howard. He blogs, sings, raps, produces and now he has his own short movie out this fall.Britpop one-hit-wonders The Verve have split for the third time.  Those ... More >>

Today In Music News: Pink Thinks Kanye Is A Waste, Pearl Jam Hooks Up With Target, And Jimi's Manager Did It... Allegedly

Your daily dose of national music news for Tuesday, June 2, 2009... Pink thinks Kanye West is a "waste of skin" because he likes fur. Along with independent music retailers, Pearl Jam is going to let Target be the official point-of-purchase for its upcoming release. Way to fight the man, boys ... More >>

Today in Music News: Jeff Ament Is Still Alive, Kanye Blogs Against Twimposters, Stringer Bell Gets Musical

Your daily dose of national music news for Thursday, May 14, 2009... Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament and another employee of the band were attacked outside of a recording studio in Atlanta. I guess this ruins their chances of ever recording in Detroit. When Kanye blogs, people listen. After railing ag ... More >>

Today In Music News: Eminem Loves Detroit, Kanye Loves Marty and Simon and Garfunkel Love Touring

Your daily dose of national music news for Tuesday, April 7, 2009... Eminem stars in a video pick-me-up for his beloved Detroit. Kanye West has his own Nike shoe: Air Yeezy I shit you not, that is what they are called. It's the first time a major musical artist has a shoe that is completely their ... More >>

Today In Music News: Spike Jonze and Kanye Team Up, Andre Goes 3000 (almost) and Snow Patrol Is Kinda Like The Village People

Your daily dose of national music news for Wednesday, April 1, 2009...Director Spike Jonze and Kanye West are reportedly filming a 10- to 15-minute mini-movie featuring Ye's song "See You In My Nightmares."Outkast's Andre 3000 was detained for speeding in suburban Atlanta. He was only going 109 mph ... More >>

Today In Music News: Jane's Addiction's Legit Reunion, Kanye West's Legit Fashion Sense

Your daily dose of national music news for Wednesday, February 18, 2009... It's starting to look like the recently announced Jane's Addiction reunion tour will turn out to be a full-on reunion: Founding bassist Eric Avery hasn't played with the band since 1991, nixing all "reunion" tours, and onl ... More >>

Today In Music News: Kanye's Upset, Katy Perry's Undressed and DMX Is Sentenced.

 Your daily dose of national music news for the last day of 2008... It seems that all it takes to ruin Kanye West's vacation is to write something untrue about him. There was talk of him chanting to "improve his singing voice" and he read it...and it ruined his va-cay. Usually ... More >>

Pop Quiz, Music Snobs!

What the hell happened with music in 2008? Well, let's see if you know.

Top Ten Hip-Hop Albums Of 2008

A couple of weeks ago, an expert on the Harry Potter series told an audience of high school kids how lucky they were to have this Big Shared Experience--these seven books and 41,000 words in common. What does Harry Potter have to do with hip-hop in 2008? In an age when many year-end lists should ... More >>

MTV Names New Amerykah The 9th Best Disc Of '08`

Considering that I've only seen eight of the 25 artists mentioned in MTV's year-end best albums list (Kanye West, Lil Wayne, No Age, Death Cab, Vampire Weekend, Panic At The Disco, MGMT, Coldplay) actually have their viddeos played on MTV or sister network VH1, you've gotta imagine that, for 17 of t ... More >>

Common

Universal Mind Control(Geffen)

Giveaway: Tickets To Tonight's Glow In The Dark Tour

Trying to Understand Justice's Gaspard Augé

Augé does his best to grant us an interview. We try out best to understand him.

Making a List, Checking It Twice

Kanye West

Graduation (Island Def Jam/Roc-A-Fella Records)