We all know Kanye thinks the world of Nicki Minaj and even dubbed her one of the “scariest” artists currently making music. It turns out ‘Ye is so much of a fan that he tapped the Young Money star to narrate his film, Runaway. Mr. West had the official screening yesterday in London, which he referred to as “a second home since Dame brought him there eight years ago.” The Hip Hop Chronicle was there to document the entire thing with an extensive review.
Firstly it has French subtitles.
One of the first images you see is of a determined and running Kanye West. The first voice you hear is of Nicki Minaj who narrates the opening in a British accent.
Kanye driving his fancy sports car is hit when a fireball/comet from the sky hits the ground. From this fireball, we see Selita Ebanks as The Phoenix. This phoenix is innocent and for me, it represents the art world. Kanye (being the commercial and art world) takes it into his care and teaches it. There’s a moment where the phoenix is watching TV and not knowing what it is.
Yeezy’s first line, “first rule baby, don’t pay attention to what you see in the news”. It’s almost like he symbolises the merger between the art world and the commercial world.
One thing that really hit me was the distinct colours that are used. Green, Black, White and Red are permanent fixtures in the movie. It really added depth to the cinematography. Ang Lee (director of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), is also a director who uses colour effective to bring out a scene.
There’s an ode to Michael Jackson in the movie with a procession.
How is the movie you ask? This is about everything you’ll need to know.
One word to describe the movie: Epic.
It’s abstract and I think fans will enjoy it. Some may not be able to sit through the ballet part of the movie but it doesn’t take away from the artistic effort that’s been put into this film. I enjoyed the movie. It will come with the album and will loop from beginning to end. It will be a visual reference point for fans. He’s as passionate as I saw him during his album playback for 808′s & Heartbreak. It’s almost inspiring to see someone still have that much drive.
After the screening, Kanye held a Q&A and then an extended one. Here are some of the moments I captured.
Q&A
Yeezy wants to perform outside the pyramids but they aren’t available until April.
He told the audience that he moved to Japan for three weeks before going to Hawaii and working on the album. He said it was a treat to have Q-Tip, Rick Ross, RZA and Pete Rock come down.
For some reason Kanye West seems more relaxed now. He has been through alot. I think spiritually he’s in a better place. At times he was passionate (as he always is) but also very funny and witty. He was talking about how he understands the position and platform he has now and he wants to make it count. “I have 80-90 years to do something”.
He kept dropping gems and quotables throughout the night. The following was an example, “Hip Hop is like black semen” – lol. I wasn’t quite sure what made him say that.
What I was sure about what Kanye’s intent to showcase art in its purest form. He’s tired of being discriminated against. He doesn’t want to look down at anyone and detests art that does look down on others.
As it was approaching midnight, some people had to go and the rapper wanted to continue so after a brief intermission, the Q&A continued.
Extended Q&A
I took some briefs notes so here they are:
He also spoke on how he came up with “toast to the douche bags”. He was in a party in Stockholm and there were two floors of people partying. One had douche bags and the other snobs.
One deep line Kanye said: “you change things by doing things as good as you can”.
G.O.O.D. Fridays is an exercise in the power of art.
He talked about being 14 years old sitting outside No I.D.’s house trying to get a drum sample and No I.D. would give him a sample every 3 weeks.
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