Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Kanye's "Stronger" Video
Apparently the clip premiered on MTV recently. The Daft Punk robots are featured throughout. Who knows if the actual Frenchmen are beneath the masks? I dig the thumbs up that one of the robots throws midway through the video. And was that Danger Mouse strutting across the street for a split second?
To me this video is significant as a sign of an ongoing shift in contemporary culture. Setting a music video in Japan is no longer the domain of the "kooky" Beastie Boys any more. Tokyo cool is mainstream after 20-years of Blade Runner, manga and anime. I see the influence of Tron, Kill Bill, Akira (dig them tail lights) and Jin-Roh on this promo as well as the lingering influence of Chris Cunningham.
And Tim, this version is a radio edit so it's suitable for sensitive ears.
Edit: Fixed the broken video link.
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4 comments:
Yeah, yeah, yeah thanks for the sincere language concern, Gus. :) (I may even say that this edit is proof that the song is better without the cussin'.)
I do like this version and video. However I will not yet say it is a sign of a shift yet. I would give credit for this video to the director and not Kanye. Remember, hip-hop is based on doing cool and sometimes great things with borrowed music. So it's geek culture source is not far away or hard to find or borrow from in video form as well.
Many videos have tended to be more 'artistic' than the music because of the directors influence and not that of the artist. (for exapmle the great and linked Bjork video) I think the medium of music videos (or just video) gives an artist more room to work with than just the medium of music.
Do I hope that geek culture is making that shift to contemporary culture? I don't know. I don't like too much change. I don't like people messing with stuff too much. But I also don't want to be the person that stops liking things when they "sell out".
Anyway, I saw all of those influences too. I have no idea if that was really DP or not. I think this may have just been a "shout out" or whatev the vernacular should be. Akira tail lights were cool way to long ago.
Kanye gets the credit for dragging Daft Punk kicking and screaming onto pop music radio. Not that the guys haven't been growing in popularity, but using the sample really pushes their sound out there in a way that radio DJs just don't have the guts to do any more.
Here is something that bothers me. Daft Punk is quite famous in Europe.
Along with David Hasselhoff.
Toby Keith is popular here, so I'm willing to give those Europeans the benefit of the doubt.
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