When I first learned that Lil Wayne would be appearing live on ESPN, I cringed a little. He may be the wildly popular king of album sales and a hip hop music savant, but he's also notorious for being high out of his mind in public places. For every time Jay-Z has appeared on Charlie Rose or 60 minutes with an eloquent interview showing a mature side of hip hop, Lil Wayne has been zoned out sipping lean while speaking to Rolling Stone, or Blender magazine.

The visions I had of Wayne embarrassing himself as a representative of hip hop were proved wrong yesterday, when (a sober) Wayne showed up on his best behavior. There were no crazy declarations, there was no wifebeater T-shirt, and there was no Styrofoam cup full of prescription drugs (which used to be virtually inseparable with Wayne).

While this one appearance alone doesn't earn him anything, it's definitely a step in the right direction for a man who once seemed to be spiraling into a cliched abyss of drug addicted musicians.



Video courtesy of Sportaphile

Probably the funniest thing ive seen all week.

SEMTEX TV - KANYE WEST UK INTERVIEW [FULL LENGTH] from DJ SEMTEX on Vimeo.

Kanye says:

The full length interview, definitely worth taking the time out to watch in full, there's also exclusive footage from the G.O.O.D music after party.

'I Don't listen to rap in my apartment', yeah he did say that, but this is in the exact context that he said it in. The press took that line and tried to turn it into something else.

Kanye talks on:

*The album 808s & Heartbreak.
*Kid Cudi, Mr Hudson, Consequence, and the Shape of G.O.O.D. music in 09'.
*Working with Jay-z on the Blueprint 3.

Busta Rhymes' song for "Arab Money" has been one of my favorite tracks to come out this winter. When I learned Rik Cordero was shooting a video for the song it only increased my excitement because Rik has churned out awesome material in the past. He's done Nas' "Sly Fox", Snoop Dogg's "Neva Have 2 Worry", and Joell Ortiz' "Brooklyn Bullshit".

So you can just imagine the disappointment I experienced after watching this:




This song is literally about bragging how much money you have, so why not shoot it over in Dubai instead of using a green screen? I'm not against using green screen in general, but in this instance it looks very cheesy and amateurish.

P.S. - Did anyone else notice how Ron Brows changed his pronounciation of "Arab"? In the original version it was Ay-Rab, but in the video version he using the traditional (correct) way.

Yeezy stopped by Conan last night to promote his new album and talk about his fashion line. Things were cut short just a little bit when Kanye stopped mid-sentence to declare he had to use the restroom... check it.

"If I sing off-key it really points that out. It points out the bad notes. So I actually have to sing more perfect. But I use it because I like the electronic feel. I like the sound. I want to juxtapose Taiko drums and monk choirs with Auto-Tune. I deliver music like it's art. I feel like I'm a Pop Artist. Sidebar: I have to use the bathroom really, really bad, and they didn't give me enough time, I just wanted to tell you that."

I wanted to reach through the TV and slap this kid in the back of the head. Instead... I just uploaded the video to YouTube in order to make fun of him, enjoy.

Young Jeezy's "Crazy World".

I can relate to this song so much, which is why it's my favorite cut off of The Recession.

I know I'm in the minority on this, but I L-O-V-E Busta Rhyme's new single "Arab Money". It seems as if half of the people don't like it because of the way it references folks of middle eastern descent, and the other half don't like it because it's a lighthearted party track.

I view the entire thing as a celebratory song, and it's something you can throw on at a party and just wild out to. The dance is easy to pick up and it's high energy. I'm also glad Rik Cordero is directing the video.. he has some great ones under his belt already.




Snatched from NahRight

In just a few short years, Kanye West has unquestionably produced the most creative videos in hip hop music. His active approach to not doing the same thing over and over and over has resulted in a wide range of clips for our enjoyment. Everything from gritty street traditional hip hop videos, avant-garde artsy fartsy clips, and multiple types of animation have been employed. Lets take a look at his best work:

**Honerable Mention** Good Morning

I believe this was Kanye's very first fully animated video (based on the drawings of Takashi Murakami), and for some reason, was not released to the public until many many months after being completed.



10. The New Workout Plan
This video plays like an elaborate informercial targeting gold diggers seeking to find a man with money. Plenty of bright colors and women with breast implants, how can you go wrong? There are cameos from Traci Ellis-Ross, Anna Nicole Smith, and video ho-fessional Vida Guerra.



9. Champion

Champion was released right in the middle of the Beijing Olympic games and featured a puppet version of Kanye competing against humans in a track & field competition. The timeliness of the video as well the puppet being adorable makes this video memorable.



8. Stronger
This video contains liberal inspiration from Akira, Daft Punk, and uses Cassie as the requisite hot chick. I'm not a fan of any of the three things I just mentioned but I have to bow down to the overpowering eye candy Hype Williams and Yeezy threw together.






7. Throw Some D's
Everyone knows how serious Kanye takes himself most of the time, so what makes this video so great is how unbelievably silly it is. Kanye made an un-official remix to Rich Boy's "Throw Some D's".... only Yeezy's version was about buying implants for your lady friend.





6. Two Words
Both the video and the song were gritty and creative... you can tell Kanye had to be more resourceful with his video projects in the "College Dropout" days. This is also one of the more underrated tracks Kanye has done.


Kanye West w/ Mos Def Freeway - Two Words


5. Diamonds From Sierra Leonne
Bling is a staple of hip hop attire, but not everyone knew the story of how *some* diamonds make it onto our necks and wrists. Although the original version of 'Diamonds' was a song about Roc-A-Fella and not the conflicts in Africa... he decided to educate the masses (with the first single off his album...risky bidness).

I believe the video was shot in Prague, and the visuals of blood shooting out of a woman's ring while slave children watched on was a little chilling.




4. Jesus Walks

Kanye ended up shooting 3 different videos for this song because the first two didn't live up to what he envisioned. The third time was a charm because the final version was super dope.



3. All Falls Down

This video is shot entirely first person mode, which means Kanye only appears on-screen when his character is looking in the mirror. This is a good thing because Kanye is looking at his girlfrind (super-MILF Stacey Dash) the entire time... The X-ray and reflection scenes were dope.





2. Through The Wire
I love this one because five years later it still holds up as one of Kanye's most creative and entertaining clips and it didn't have a huge budget like his newer stuff. I think this video had a lot to do with launching his career because the home videos integrated within it gave us an intimate look at who he is.



1. Flashing Lights
This video had the 'innanet goin' nutz' when it first dropped, on every hip hop site in existence you had mini arguments on whether or not it was "the full copy" or if "part 2 was going to come out" later on. And then there were fans who simply didn't understand what was going on and why the main character did what she did. We as fans like everything to be explained to us, but Kanye chose to go to the left and simply let viewers decide what was going on.

I thought both the song and video were brilliant, Rita G and her oh-so-delicious assets brutally bludgeoned Kanye to death with a shovel at the end.... loved it.

Kanye continues his streak of bucking the trends...




Singapore conference.

T.I. dropped by The Jimmy Kimmel Show to talk about his album and upcoming prison sentence. Despite the sad subject matter, the interview is actually really funny.

After their chat, T.I. performs "Whatever You Like".

I previously stated that I didn't really like "Delilah", but I do understand his direction more after watching this vid.

This is an absolute MESS... I can't even describe how horrible this video is. I'm literally trying to write my opinion ... and I just don't know where to begin.

The most interesting part is DJ Khaled proving how manly he is by terrorizing defenseless old people.

Is Mike Epps following in the footsteps of Katt Williams and coming out with a new album? I have absolutely no idea, but this video for "Big Girls" is kinda funny. Mike can't rap to save his life, he should have gotten a real emcee to drop a verse so the song could have a little replay value. Redman is known for loving fat girls, so he would have been absolutely perfect.

"I likes to hit it from the side and pat that pouch" - Martin Lawrence

Because you know... there's at least 11 billion of them, and they all post the same zshare links, WSHH/OnSmash videos, and semi-uninformed Barack Obama endorsements.

So how about a little pact, I'll try to keep this interesting, and you sign up for my RSS updates and come back... deal?

And while we're on the subject of introductions.. here's the classic "Deep Cover", in which Dre. introduced Snoop Doggy Dogg to the world.