Kanye West

Here's what we're all listening to right now. What's rocking your world this week?

As people who think about, talk about, write about, listen to and make music, it's not surprising that the most common (and favorite) topic of conversation among us is the same: "What are you listening to right now?" Stick a quarter in us, and, boy, wouldn't you know it, off we go, on and on about t ... More >>

Ten acts that helped make hip-hop more accessible to mainstream audiences

Hip-hop is a world unto itself. Its rich tradition of spoken word poetry, self-referential subject matter and electronic and sample-based production make it, in many ways, a difficult musical form to adapt to, especially if you come from a more traditional background. These ten acts helped make rap ... More >>

Kajmir Royale on selling beats to Wiz Khalifa and how he's about to Kanye the game

Meet Kajmir Royale. He lives in Colorado Springs, but his view is global, his perspective dynamic and charismatic. Taking a Kanye West approach to the game with a goal of making "popular music," Royale is an MC/producer who's hitting his stride and knows exactly where he's going. Originally from New ... More >>

Three wines that prove why moscato isn't just for hip-hop stars

The wine world's practically been doing head spins over the past six months as notable hip-hop players Nelly, Drake, Kanye West, and even poor, misbegotten Lil Kim spit verses praising moscato, a fairly under-the-radar wine known by most as a sweet wine from Italy. It seems that a few vaunted membe ... More >>

2012 Grammy Awards: Adele sweeps, Bon Iver surprises and Kanye West missing in action

As anyone and their mother could have (and, ahem, did) predicted, it was Adele's show at last night's 54th Grammy Awards. The singer, who absolutely swept the awards, took home six Grammys -- meaning she won in every category in which she was nominated, including the big three: Song of the Year, Rec ... More >>

MTV's top five greatest on-air rap moments

​Oh, MTV. There has been no greater platform for fuckery's finest and the brilliance of unfiltered musician craziness than Music Television's many segments. Whether drunken freestyles, acceptance speech interruptions, or classic moments in live performance, hip-hop rightfully lived and thrived ... More >>

Mile Highlights: This week's concert news, local radio playlists and top album sales

Here's what's good in the Mile High City this week: In September, Zac Brown is due at Red Rocks, followed by Jay-Z and Kanye West at the Pepsi Center and Neon Indian at the Bluebird in October. On local radio, Fierce Bad Rabbit, Snake Rattle Rattle Snake, Flashlights and King Mob got some spins. Mea ... More >>

Happy Birthday, Paul Newman! Five films you would have made better

Improves everything.​Today is the birthday of Newman's Own best selling product, the late Paul Newman, everyone's favorite cool-eyed and irreverent actor/philanthropist. He can't so much celebrate his birthday, being deceased, but everyone else can -- and surely they will, running some retrosp ... More >>

Local reaction to My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Kanye West's acclaimed new album

​Kanye West released My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy yesterday amid rave reviews -- Pitchfork gave it a perfect ten rating, Spin gave it nine out of ten stars, Rolling Stone gave it five stars, Urb gave it four and a half out of five stars, and XXL has reportedly given the album an XXL ratin ... More >>

Kanye's tweets read by Grandma

​Kanye West: The man of the moment. The guy who has everyone in the world talking right now. Surely by now you've seen the viral clips of the kids re-enacting his tweets. Priceless. Bet you haven't seen this one, though. Grandma -- somebody's grandma -- reading his tweets. Meme, oh, meme. Not ... More >>

Split Decision: Kanye West, young man. Or not.

​Kanye West is about as polarizing a figure as there is these days. The mere mention of his name inspires a variety of reactions, everything from exasperated eye rolls to passionate rants or equally passionate raves girded with an apologetic undertone for all of his often inexplicably brazen b ... More >>

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is here, and it's ridiculous.

​After a year of using every platform 2010 has to offer to talk, Kanye West has fallen silent. The thing this was all about, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, is out now, and Kanye has every right to gloat. The reviews couldn't be better. And yet his website remains as it was last week. His n ... More >>

A rundown of Kanye West's wonkiest moments

Kanye has gotten a lot of flack for doing some absolutely wonky things. Most recently, a photo of his hoo-ha mysteriously appeared on the Internet, followed by word that he copped the microphone on a Delta flight last week to perform for the cabin. Even with all the wonky things he's done, though, ... More >>

Kanye West's SNL performance and a collection of everything else he's been up to

Kanye West has been busy the past couple of months making everyone else in music look lazy. Not only did he perform on Saturday Night Live over the weekend with two of the best musical performances we've seen in a while, but he's also been dropping free MP3s in a series called "G.O.O.D. Fridays." ... More >>

Of Montreal, Kayne West and Air Dubai fill our playlists this week

​As people who think about, talk about, listen to and make music, the most common question we encounter is, "What are you listening to right now?" So whether you're looking for recommendations, trying to get a feel for our individual sensibilities, or are just curious, we've compiled a list of ... More >>

Grinderman, RJD2 and Dismemberment Plan fill our playlists this week

​As people who think about, talk about, listen to and make music, the most common question we encounter is, "What are you listening to right now?" So whether you're looking for recommendations, trying to get a feel for our individual sensibilities, or are just curious, we've compiled a list of ... More >>

Kanye West on Twitter: His ten most amusing tweets so far

​Hours after dissing Twitter in a freestyle at Facebook HQ, Kanye West became a part of the Twitterverse, joining ranks of millions of other users of the micro-blogging service. Since then, he's already produced nearly a hundred tweets, ranging from the inane to, well, the really inane. He's a ... More >>

Ten people who should take a cue from John Mayer and STFU

​ The recent verbal missteps made by John Mayer and his subsequent radio silence got us to thinking about a number of people who've been vomiting in our ears lately that would do well to take a cue from him and STFU. Look, we understand that being a celebrity is probably not easy, but not bei ... More >>

Top ten five blogs by bands

Photo courtesy of Kanyewest.com​ Last week, Kanye christened his new web site with the above photo of his girlfriend, Amber Rose. Then, Thom Yorke announced the name of his latest band on the Radiohead blog. Which got us thinking about the other band blogs we have bookmarked. In our bitchin' ... More >>

Top Ten Dance Albums of 2009

​The past year brought the worst economy since the malaise of the 1970s, and like that era, it also saw dance music sweep the nation. Lady Gaga, the Black Eyed Peas, Beyoncé and P. Diddy all dabbled in the sound. Even Michael Jackson was said to be working on a dance album with the Peas' Will ... More >>

Moving Pictures: The Fray may be heartless, but that doesn't mean it's art less

​ Don't know how we managed to miss this, the Fray's video for its version of "Heartless," the Kanye West cover, but we just came across it earlier today, and you know what? It's a pretty swell video. Directed by Hiro Murai (Bloc Party) and produced by Ross Girard, featuring animation from Titmou ... More >>

Kanye West tour canceled/Paramore show rescheduled

​Kanye West and Lady Gaga's Fame Kills tour, which was just announced on Monday, has been canceled. The tour was to include a stop at the Pepsi Center on December 2 and tickets were scheduled to go on sale Saturday, October 3. There's no word yet on why the tour was scrapped. Paramore's show at th ... More >>

Kanye West says he's sorry. Again. Do you believe him?

All right, by now you've seen the clip of Kanye West interrupting Taylor Swift's acceptance speech at this past weekend's MTV Video Music Awards (see the clip after the jump if you haven't already), an act of utter douchebaggery that's been universally condemned: Katy Perry likened the outburst to ... More >>

The Fray covers, uh ... Kanye West?

Hot on the heels of last week's Valentine's Day challenge in which the Fray reportedly wrote and recorded a love song in 24 hours at the behest of Q Magazine, comes this oddity: Evidently, Isaac Slade and company -- prompted by God only knows what -- recorded a cover of Kanye West's "Heartless" on R ... More >>

Ludacris Independent Records' top seller

For the second week in a row, Ludacris grabbed the number-one spot on Independent's top seller's list (week of Jan. 26 to Feb. 1), beating out Kanye West and Bruce Springsteen and Akon. The full breakdown is listed after the jump.

Another reason why death in fight over Kanye West and Jimmy Buffett was senseless

The case of Richard Lopez, a sergeant in the Army who died outside a Steamboat Springs bar shortly after returning from a tour in Afghanistan, would have been terrible under any circumstances. But the ultra-trivial dispute that led to the tragedy -- a jukebox spat that pitted Jimmy Buffett-loving ... More >>

Top Ten Hip-Hop Albums Of 2008

Over the next couple of weeks, Backbeat will feature some Top Ten lists from around the Village Voice Media chain. Click here for previous year-in-review coverage from Backbeat and VVM. A couple of weeks ago, an expert on the Harry Potter series told an audience of high school kids how lucky they ... More >>

Beyond Playlist: Guns N' Roses, Kayne West and T-Pain

Guns N’ Roses Chinese Democracy Interscope Frankly, after a decade and a half, I’m just happy that only some of this blows, instead of the whole thing – and as a bonus, several of the tracks that do blow are unintentionally funny. Not all of them, of course: “If the World” sounds so muc ... More >>

Friday Rap-Up: Suge Knight, Outkast, YouTube Live

Suge Knight files lawsuit against Kanye West Former Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight has filed a $135,000 lawsuit against Kanye West for a gunshot wound and a robbery of his diamond-stud earring that occurred at West’s pre-MTV Music Awards party back in August 2005. According to TMZ, Knight bel ... More >>

Friday Rap-Up: DJ Vajra, Lil Wayne, Nate Dogg, 50 Cent vs. Kanye: Pt. 2?

Friday Rap-Up: Infinite Mindz, Jermaine Dupri, Daz, Kanye West, the Game, Bow Wow

Rearview: The Week in Review (9/6/08-9/12/08)

Friday Rap-Up: BreakEfx, Nas Book, Young Jeezy, Kanye, Jay-Z

Kanye West pedicabbin’ in Denver

Q&A With Lupe Fiasco

Friday Rap-Up: Pimp C Dies, Spice 1 Shot, Lauryn Hill Still a Pain in the Ass

This Week in Hip Hop

A Tale of Two Rappers

How the hype played out in the 50 Cent vs. Kanye battle royal.

Last Night: Common @ The Fillmore Auditorium

Kanye West

Graduation
Island Def Jam/Roc-A-Fella

Hip-Hop Trends in 2005

Hip-Hop Sans Hova

Still no Jigga, but Kanye, some lovable limeys and a great Beyoncé substitute held it down.

Twista

Sunday, October 30, Fillmore Auditorium, 303-830-8497.

Wild Wild West

Hip-hop's brightest hope occasionally goes off the deep end on his spotty but stellar new LP.

Common

Be (Geffen)

Legendary

It's a very good time to be John Legend.

Nationalistic

Backbeat scribes weigh in on their favorite national releases from 2004.

Now Hear This

Twista

Kamikaze (Atlantic)

Kanye West

The College Dropout (Roc-A-Fella)