“Dabble – to work at anything in an irregular or superficial manner.” *Dictionary.com
“Dabble” is the best word to describe what musician Kanye West is doing by directing a movie that will accompany his next album release, Dark Twisted Fantasy, which itself is part of his “Good Music Fridays” initiative, where he releases a new song every Friday between now and Christmas.
The 40-minute movie is called Runaway and it represents West’s first time exploring film as a medium. He recently showed the trailer for Runaway at the pre-show or the MTV Video Music Awards and it left many viewers grasping for words to explain what they had just seen.
This isn’t the first time West has left people speechless as they try to understand the edgy hip-hop artist. At the 2009 VMA’s, West notoriously interrupted Taylor Swift while she was accepting her award and instantly solidified his reputation as an egotistical loud-mouth jerk. He took a lot of flak over the next few months, much of which has settled down now – he even got a stern talking to by Jay Leno, who asked the controversial star what his recently-deceased mother would’ve thought about his tasteless behavior.
I threw a Molotov cocktail on my career last year, in a way, and I had to come back as a better person.
It’s very hard to explain what is in the short trailer for Runaway and even harder to explain what the movie will be about, but one thing is for sure – West’s ego will be stamped all over it. The only way to watch the trailer is to check it out on West’s website – fans can also download six audio tracks from his next album after watching it. Check out the link below for the trailer:
.
.
While the imagery is beautiful to look at and the framing is excellent, I can’t help but notice the lack of cohesion in the trailer. West says the film is a “visual” that goes along with the album and it’s possible he’s made one long music video that is supposed to be played along with the entire album. If that is the case, then the movie might make more sense when taken into context. Kanye describes Runaway as such:
It’s the story of a phoenix fallen to Earth, and I make her my girlfriend, and people discriminate against her and eventually she has to burn herself alive and go back to her world. I’ve been feeling the idea of the phoenix. It’s been in my heart for a while. It’s maybe parallel to my career.
West has never been lacking in swagger and ego but I find the statement “I make her my girlfriend” to be very pompous. Of course I have to be honest – if a cute fiery girl fell to Earth and I found her, then I’d make her my girlfriend too. West told NY Mag this in reference to his ego:
“There’s no such thing as an alter ego for me. I am the ego.”
West isn’t the first musician to put down the microphone and step behind the camera. Rob Zombie has done it several times (The Devil’s Rejects, Halloween), Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit has two films to his credit (The Longshots, The Education of Charlie Banks) and most recently Wu-Tang member RZA has decided to direct a Kung Fu film (The Man with the Iron Fist). Not all of these musician-turned-director efforts have been great. Zombie and Durst both had mixed results behind the camera and RZA has yet to be tested.
West will have to please more than just his fans if he wants to continue making movies. Who knows – if he pulls this off, maybe audiences will be watching a tent pole summer film in 2012 directed by Kayne West – what do you think about that?
Runaway should be released November 16th, 2010 in correlation with Dark Twisted Fantasy.
Follow us on Twitter @Walwus and @ScreenRant
Source: The Marquee Blog
‘Dexter’ Season 8 Trailer: The Hunt Begins – How Will it End? 
‘Game of Thrones’ to End in Season 7? 
‘Pacific Rim’ Featurette Explores ‘Drift Space’; First TV Spot Offers More Action 
‘Prometheus 2′ Casting Rumor – Is the Sequel Moving Forward? 
Well the guy has spent years making music videos with the likes of Spike Jonz, Cris Milk, and Hype Williams so u figure maybe some of those guys talent could rub off. Personally I’ve always liked is music videos beacause they go beyond the chiche hip-hop imagery and actually are pretty clever, fun and oddly dark at times so I’m looking forward to seeing this.
For a moment there ,I thought Kanye was directing Marvels Adaptation of The Runaways and I almost had a heart attack!
hahahaha same thing i thought dude,but still if he had the chance to direct marvels runaways……
Not a fan..like Golddigger but that’s about it…not a fan of Taylor Swift either but his rude behavior at that event was in bad taste..let’s hope he doesn’t repeat this behavior..the guy has talent but his ego wants to rule the universe…
I still say that “incident” was staged by MTV. They’re known for stupid pranks, but I do agree with West that hack Taylor Swift didn’t deserve to win the award. Beyonce is far more talented than she is.
Anyway, I’m not a big fan of Kanye West. My favorite album of his was ‘College Dropout’.
I’n not a fan of Beyonce, Swift, West, etc, etc, etc..I’m not a fan of much music since 2002..
Yeah West is a talented wordsmith and his videos do show much promise but there is a huge difference in making a 4 minute music video and a feature length film. I’m fairly certain he can pull this off though as long as he doesn’t go too artsy with it.
I’ll definitely give this a chance. I love Kanye West, and there’s no debating that he’s a talented artist. His performance at the VMA’s performing the song “Runaway” was amazing.
Also if his music videos are any indication, this might be pretty good. The videos for “Heartless” and “Power” especially come to mind. We’ll see how this works. It seems like an interesting idea.
Best joke I’ve heard all day.
that was cool.
I’m really happy for you Kanye, and Imma let you finish, but you shouldn’t be directing….
Kanye does it for all the A-holes and douchebags. haha I’m looking forward to it.
Pass.
Wasn’t he the one that ranted before that about how some video or another of his should have one because he spent so much money on it?
This guys a tool.
His debut was the music video- ‘Best I Ever Had’. That sucked.
Wow, just wow. Kanye is not talented at all, if anyone thinks he is a good lyricist then you need to go out and listen to real hip hop. He is a hack. I cannot express my hate for this egotisgical gay fish enough. Kanye + fishsticks = gay fish.
@sully311
Who do you consider real lyricists ?
@ jack
Lyrics born, gift of gab, lateef the truth speaker, del, jurrasic 5, immortal technique, buck 65, supernatural, common, bob dylan, atmosphere, aesop rock, life savas, ect.
@sully311
That “Best I Ever Had” video was not his first directing job….he did the “Go” video for Common and directed his own video for “Spaceship”.
Huh? I don’t watch mtv so i can’t comment or speculate on his videos. I was just talking bout his music
@sully311
Its jago not jack lol. Anyways from your list i’d take off “Immortal Technique” and “Supernatural”. Then i would add: Little Brother, Camp Lo, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Andre 3000, Dilated Peoples, Roots, Consequence, Mobb Deep and since i’ve always liked old school a tad bit more then the new stuff i would have to say both “the leaders of the new school” and “A Tribe Called Q.U.E.S.T”.
@ jago
Sorry dude droidx automatic text lol! Those are all good artist as well. Can’t deny tribe or dialated. You don’t like immortal technique or supernat? I’m way into bay area hip hop and old school too. Hierogliphics and souls of mischief are some favorites of mine. I kinda have a guilty pleasure towards brotha lynch lol!
@sully311
Lol,its ok. Yeah i don’t know why but i just don’t really like them that much. To me they’re like Kanye, pharoah monch,etc. As in they have certain songs that i like but i don’t follow them as much as the above artists mentioned. Like with kanye and his 6 free downloable tracks above there was one that at first had my head bopping (something i don’t do to just any song), it had that beat from the song “Wu-Tang Clan ain’t nothing to____ with” and it even started out with Raekwon going at it but then the song was stained by Justin Bieber. Whats crazy though is that if you didn’t know who it was you’d swear it was a song from the 90′s with like monica or brandy singing the chorus (very girly voice lol).
That’s funny! Yeah I really only like supernats old sway and tech freestyle stuff. You ever listened to sound providers?
Yes i have, it was actually because of “little brother” that i found out about them with that one track “braggin and boastin”. Because of the Jazz in their beats (atleast most of them) they sorta remind me a lil bit of camp lo with Roots and a tribe called Q.U.E.S.T. Aren’t they from the bay area aswell ?
They’re actually from san deigo if memory serves me correct. The first time i heard them i thought it was a new tribe song i hadn’t heard lol!
Like Sully said, the guy is a hack. The guy can rap but he cannot write lyrics, he definitely CANNOT sing (autotune has knocked music into the toilet) and more than likely, he cannot direct.
The guy is one of the most egotistical (see his “book”), racist (calling mixed race girls “mutts”, Bush comment, etc.) a holes around and people still support him.
He calls mixed girls mutts!? What a a$$ clown. I’m multi raced and yeah, I joke and call myself a mutt but, that’s me making fun of myself. South park hit it right on the head with that ‘fishsticks’ episode.
“If it wasn’t for race mixing there’d be no video girls. Me and most of our friends like mutts a lot. Yeah, in the hood they call ’em mutts.”—Essence magazine, December 2006
I really don’t care about what people say between each other…their business. But if you’re a celebrity and you make public statements like that, you’re an idiot. Again, no big deal; a lot of those celebrities around. But combined with everything this guy has said and done, I dislike him very much. The worst part is these kids who say he’s a good musician…sigh, I’m turning into a grouchy old man at the age of 24, but c’mon, the guy is NOT a musician
Also, my favorite quote of his is:
“Sometimes people write novels and they just be so wordy and so self-absorbed. I am not a fan of books. I would never want a book’s autograph. I am a proud non-reader of books.”—interview with Reuters, May 2002
@sully311
I knew i wasn’t the only one that felt it had a tribe feeling to it.
@Ogb139
I guess its because he knows how to use that bad publicity to spread out more and have his music reach people before the bad news does(but thats just my opinion). I mean with all that he did there are still songs that i will like from him, never really liked him but his music is another story. Its gotten to the point that wherever i hear about something new that kanye did i always picture him with a smile and the screen closing in on his (circle-wise) whilst a loony toon theme is playing… He’s just a character in my mind lol.
I hear ya JAGO. I still enjoy his music and some of his songs A LOT but I have no illusions that he’s a recording studio musician (beats made by someone else, his voice completely digitized, etc.)
Also, I don’t buy the whole “any publicity = good publicity”. A lot of these dbags keep saying this on a loop but I really don’t think he’s secure enough to believe this. It’s when someone messes up that they resort to this belief.
Also, I like how he talks about the “hood” even though he’s not from the hood.
And big props on the artists you guys mentioned. I’ve been playing Mos Def non stop for a couple of weeks. Love it. Some truly great talent out there and most of them don’t “make it” and we’re stuck with “shaky leg” or whatever crappy excuse for hip hop is on MTV right now.
J i just put on blackalicious’s ‘Nia’. One of my favorite albums ever. Btw if you guys can’t tell, 311 is my favorite band ever (they rap okay for being from omaha lol)!
@Ogb139
Lol, shaky leg… I sooo hate that song and most songs that have a “Dance to it”. To me the one big thing that happened with him that i didn’t see as anything bad was the taylor swift thing (put the pitchforks down people and let me explain lol). I didn’t see it as a bad thing because this happened at the VMA’s. This is the place where Will Ferrel came dressed as slick rick (eye patch and all), Madonna Dry-humped the heck out if the stage whilst singing “like a virgin”, Lil Kim came out with a boob hanging out then the next year after that had both boobs out, Snoop Dogg had two girls on Dog Leashes, Kid Rock and that other guy who’s bame escapes me (was also pamela andersons ex) started fighting while alicia keyes was performing,etc,etc… To me that was just another event that was bound to happen.
Jago
This doesn’t necessarily fit in the hip hop genre but, Anthony Kedis from The Red Hot Chili Peppers is a very underrated lyricist imho.
@sully311
Yes anthony is awesome. Also 311 is awesome aswell… I caught a acapella version cover song they did from Sublime’s “what i got” that was pretty cool.
huh…im awesome?…this i know LOL. and yea Sullly we both agree that crybaby kanye is a hack. i’ll NEVER forgive Sting for letting him on stage to ruin one of The Polices songs
Somehow after i hit submit comment i knew you’d reply (i read nearly everything within screenrant/gamerant at work lol) but figured ah what the hey… He wouldn’t cause any troubke whatsoever anyways right (ignoring tupac thread lol). Anyways everyone have a GoodNight i’m done for tonight.
Jago
word hpeace, peace bro
Anthony
Dude you’re funny! F**k kanye and his Police rip off!
Kanye, I’m really happy for you and Ima let you finish, but P Diddy ruined a Police song 5 years ago
…or something along those lines
Wow, that concept goes right in line with his devil worshipping buddies Jay-Z, Beyonce, Rhianna, Swizz beats, Lady Gaga, etc… “Phoenix” falling from the sky….”being discriminating against”….”having to burn herself up”? Satan getting kicked out of heaven, disliked, burning in the pits of hell!! Kanye wants to make her his girlfriend…Beyonce’s alter ego “Sasha Fierce” a demon, Jay-Z’s imagery in “On to the next one”, and Lady Gaga’s video’s!! Man, people better wake-up and it’s funny many reading this text will dismiss this but….they didn’t otherwise… why do they do it?
Wow, that was w/o doubt the dumbest thing I have EVER read.
???
I think what Black Duv, was referencing was the symbolic images found in the music videos.
Lady Googoo. Has a ton of them in her videos.
Its too bad some people can’t see what’s really going on in the world.
Especally when its right in front of them.
Keep your head in the sand matt,,, enjoy the view,,,
What exactly is “going on in the world” 790? Lady Gaga is a devil worshiper?