Kanye is bringing some much needed creativity and artistry back to the game with his first and now second video from Graduation- Stronger. He has an Asian super hero plot in the video as he goes through different stages of getting stronger. This is definitely one of the most visually interesting videos to watch that was come out in a long time…I only wish I knew what the hell the words popping up on the screen meant (I can’t even tell you what language that is lol). Cassie makes a cameo in the video as his love interest, which worked well for the video. I wasn’t instantly a fan of the song, but after listening to the lyrics more, I grew to appreciate it…I’m still going to give the nod to “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” as the better song though.
*Thanks to Redshade07 for giving us the heads up about the video!
What do you guys think about the video? Are you feeling the more plot driven, artistic direction that Kanye is taking his videos? Which song do you like better…Stronger or Can’t Tell Me Nothing?
Posted by Reecie
Edit: Below is some of the translation to help throughout the video. Props to JS.
Definitions:
1. ko-se-ro: strong
2. su-to-n-ga: stronger
3. yo-ri-na-ga-ku:
4. i-ma-su-gu: not later, but now
5. i-ma-o-ma-e-ga-hi-tsu-yo-u-da: I need you now
6. ga-n-ba-re: fight, strive
7. yo: yo
8. ki-ga-ku-ru-u: to go crazy, insane
Motorcycles Scene:
1. ya-re: Oh! (expression)
2. ta-tsu-se-i-shi-ro: Someone please help!
Translation
Hospital Scene:
(Kanye West) o-re-ha-ko-ro-sa-re-na-i: “My head isn’t a box” (I can’t be contained.)
(Kanye West) Ha-o-re-ra-ryo-ku-su-ru-da-ke-da: The only one that can clear things up.
(Kanye West) i-ma-su-gu-i-n-gu-n-da: “right now –ing” (Be Here
(Nurse) O-O-O: OOOOO!
(Kanye West) mo-u-mu-ri-ma: “it’s impossible, that’s certain.”
(Kanye West) ta-su-ke-te!: “Help!”
(Kanye West) re-da-ke-o-ma-i-u: “Only a step higher” (more)
(Kanye West) ta-tsu-se-i-shi-ro: Someone please help!
(Police) u-go-ku-na! , to-ma-re!: Move In!
(Kanye West) re-da-ke-o-ma-i-u: “Only a step higher” (more)
(Police) na-n-da-ko-re-ha?: What is this?
(Kanye West)ta-tsu-se-i-shi-ro: Someone please help!
(Police) u-go-ku-na! , to-ma-re!: Move In!
Reecie
thehonorable
Thanks for the little side note there..Kay, well as to the vid, I think it’s out there…but not in a bad way. It’s different than your usual “see girl, get girl, dump girl” plot of most vids now. Very creative, good for Kanye. As to the language, it’s Japanese for sure because I remember reading that the person doing all the videos and cover art from this album is a Japanese pop artist. Not sure on name though…but over all, 10/10 on this.
goodness. this video is great. i cant even fake, i just sit here all daythose glasses look a little suspect tho. like a sideways spatula, doubled up with some frames mayne. and nobody knows what those japanese kanji characters mean. i heard the video cost multiple millions, like 4 or 5…anybody know the real number!?
and the track is amazing, im just mad he sampled daft punk. but busta did it too. his videos are innovative as shit, so even if u dont really like them u gotta give him props for trying something new. and what’s that line about prince? i like it but i dont know what he’s saying. somebody let me know! shit!
kanye does it again…billion dollar budget…hype williams has a two for one deal on videos…i dont know if 106 will back it,but i know this is gonna be a trl usual
It’s not often a rapper does a video that doesn’t take place in a club or that doesn’t have ass shaking(not that I’m complainning about that)in it. I like the fact that Kanye put a lot into making a video.
Kayne may be the most refreshing artist in the game right now.. Well him and Common!
“You know how long I been on ya/Since Prince was on Apollonia” Apollonia was Prince’s love interest in Purple Rain.
I’m giving the nod to “Stronger” as being the better of the two current singles. “Can’t Tell Me Nothing”- all though a good song- was just the beat for the original version of Young Jeezy’s “I Got Money”. “Stronger” pushes the enevelope and introduces Hip Hop to some new sounds. Plus that breakdown at the end was bananas!
I like Stronger way more than Can’t Tell Me Nothing, song and video!!!
this video was so hot, never had this much creativity in a good minute.
and i cant believe that Daft Punk was in the video. well, that’s where he got the sample from (Daft Punk - Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger). Im lovin how he sampled them. It sucks how Daft Punk never takes off their robot outfit (there the ones controling the robotics). Nobody ever seen daft punk without their robotic helmet on. Kanye must have though!
Do you really think that this will be the point at which hip-hop will break into more interesting kinds of sounds? Is it that hip-hop must sample from other genres and garner more original and inspired talent (nix the “hustlers”
to create something more appealing than “bitches and hoes”?
Heavy anime influence here. Lots of stuff taken from “Akira” and “Ghost in the Shell.” Interesting video for a decent song. Cool to see Daft Punk in the vid as well.
I bet you think ay baby or coffee shop is better I think you tamp down songs that have crossover appeal -RR
I really enjoyed watching this video and I would definitely say that this is a better song than Can’t Tell Me Nothing. Can’t Tell Me Nothing was very boring and the video ( which either makes me like songs more or doesn’t help at all) didn’t do much to sway my interest. The director of this video did an excellent job.
video was coo… kanye always does his thing… he could have done without the window blinds shades tho ( well i guess they dont block much light, so frames)…i like both songs, but i can hear this one gettin a party to jump off
hahaha, yea, i remember reading about him making a big deal out of those glasses… that was disappointing “oh i wanted to get something that was too exclusive for people to buy”… yea, well im glad more ppl dont have access to those… anyways…the video was real cool… kanye is not my favorite MC, but he’s def. one of my favorite people doing hip hop… he’s good for the genre
“I bet you think ay baby or coffee shop is better I think you tamp down songs that have crossover appeal -RR”
lol…I’m going to take that one as a joke. I like a lot of different sounds and types of music…I couldn’t write for a blog everyday on tons of different artists if I had a narrow range of sounds or lyrical content I go for. But anyway…”Can’t Tell Me Nothing” appealed to me on more levels, but this video certainly tops anything out right now.
thats dope if those two were really were daft punk but atleast it represents them =]
Mr. Wipe me Down,
Props for noticing the Anime influences, I was noticed the same thing. Akira w/ him wearing the white, with the white headstrap leaning against the wall, w/ the army coming at him, then BOOM! I thought it was dope, and real talk I support Kanye even on his worst days… but thats just the “Chi,” in me talkin’… Regardless who can contest that this man is in his own lane…
Stronger: This is a much better video and song IMO that can’t tell me… I do like the creative-ness that Kayne is bringing. I thought the excution of the concept fell threw just a little bit, but it’s all fine. When i heard the mix-tape I really liked the Daft Punk sample. The song turned out great.
On a side note.. Reecie, AOl has Timbaland new video. “Throw it at me”, let’s talk about that one, cause that’s another “ODD” pairing for hip hop; Timbaland and the Hives..
Yea, the video is different, I’ll give it that… But I remain unimpressed.
All that hype for some shots of Japan, Cassie, him rapping in front of a wall, and some weird plot of him in a hospital?
No thanks…
That being said, Kanye will definitely kill someone if the man don’t get no recognition for this shit.
What a waste of money.
The fact that you recognized the hype, watched the video (maybe even multiple times, and even commented on a blog about it makes the video not be a waste of money. I haven’t seen a video get so much hype in so long. He even had screenings.
Hype Williams is my favorite video director, so I’m biased. But, this is one of the better videos i’ve seen a while. Kanye is about to be everywhere.
Is the production on this song, high quality? A resounding YES. Is the video, creative and well made? No question. But is this groundbreaking? No. Anyone who has been paying attention to music for the last 10 would see that the best Hip Hop group to ever do it, Outkast, has been using the “Techno” sound on joints like “Wheels of Steel”, “Synthesizer”, and “Bombs Over Baghdad” for years. With all that being said, I’d like to thank Kanye for continuing to avoid every rap cliché in the book when making his videos and music.
Btw: Since we are on G.O.O.D. music, let me give credit to Common for a funky fresh (yeah, the song puts me in an old school state of mind) video that really puts the song “The People” in a different light. Excellent job.
Oh it’s nothing necessarily groundbreaking about the song. Outkast, Timbaland, etc. have all touched on the electronic genre in their music. I still think the song is hot.
I agree also with the common song.
I have a lot of respect for Kanye as a producer. Both of those songs are polar opposites. Both are hot.
Until Kanye West stops sampling other peoples ideas I can’t really call him artistic. His video for “Cant Tell Me Nothing” reminded me of Madonna’s video for “Frozen” in regards to certain aspects. And Stronger samples Daft Punk, creating the basis for the beat. He’s not a bad artist, I just can not consider someone who samples an innovator.
i hate it how people hate on kanye for sampling! this concept of authenticity or originality is so 20th century.. whats ‘originality’ anymore? we dont live in a vaccuum. everything in culture is borrowed. i love how kanye does this unapologetically.
his re-working of pre-existing tracks…. how is that unoriginal? where else u gonna hear daft punk in hip hop.. that song is pure fire!!
hes taking hip hop/pop music to new levels. thats innovative.
hip hop has always been about the sampling anyway.
^^^
You are so right about the sampling thing. The other day my friends and I were listening to old Kraftwerk (old German techno group) and were amazed at how much Afrika Bamabaattaa(sp) jacked their stuff to make “Looking For the Perfect Beat”, “Electric Kingdom”, etc… Hip Hop music was founded on sampling and didn’t really break away from it until Dr. Dre ushered in the synthesizer era with the Chronic. And even then when Dre was making non-sampled music, he was still replaying old songs from Parliament, George Clinton, etc… Is it still considered sampling, when DJ Toomp replays a Roberta Flack bassline to make TI’s “What You Know” or is it only sampling if you use that actual song itself? I don’t know. Personally, I’m more concerned with the result and less with how you got there.
KANYE TUDDA TOOK THE THEME FROM OLD SCHOOL ANIME MOVIE AKIRA.
This is a real good example of Kanyes keen sampling ear, excellent track and quality production, even though he did take a little bit of a Daft Punk Track. I guess some people just can’t grasp the concept of having parts of old tracks sampled to create a new sound, but i think K has done a worthwhile job. The videos looks pretty cool too, but i did notice old Hype did a bit of Jackin himself. The seen in the hospital is from one of the first Manga films( Japanese Animation) Akira, where tetsuo shima (played by Kanye in the music video) is held for tests after a motor bike accident, he wakes up, the soldiers go for him, he goes ape. check the film its great, not as great as Kanyes glasses though. Are they Venetian Versaces??
dope video. if u guys want to talk about sampling. those shades he had on were jacked from the last dragon. those shades were around in 85 but had a different shape. same blind lines though. =)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiGwgXKl7kQ
u can find sho nuff rockin em in black in this video clip.
JS got a bunch of the Japanese translations wrong. Here are the real translations for the Japanese katakana characters in the video Kanye West - Stronger:
Definitions:
1. コロセ [korose]: kill
2. ストンガ [su-to-n-ga]: stronger
3. ヨリナガク [yo-ri-na-ga-ku]: longer
4. イマスグ [i-ma-su-gu]: right now
5. イマオマエガヒツヨウダ [ima omae ga hitsuyou da] “I need you right now”
6. ガンバレ[ga-n-ba-re]: fight, strive
7. yo: yo
8. キガクルウ [ki ga kuruu]: “go crazy” (”go apeshit”
Motorcycles Scene:
1. ya-re: Oh! (expression)
2. タッセイシロ [ta-sse-i-shi-ro]: “Achieve it!”
Translation
Hospital Scene:
(Kanye West) オレハコロサレナイ [ore ha korosarenai]: “I won’t be killed.”
(Kanye West) …ハオレヲツヨクスルダケダ… [...ha ore wo tsuyoku suru dake da...]: “… will only make me stronger…”
(Kanye West) イマスグイソグンダ [ima sugu isogunda]: “I need you to hurry up now”
(Nurse) O-O-O: OOOOO!
(Kanye West) mou-muri-da: “it’s impossible”
(Nurse) タスケテ! [ta-su-ke-te]: “Help!”
(Kanye West) レダケオマエヲ (re dake omae wo): seems to have been part of a longer phrase with both ends cut off for some reason.
(Kanye West) タッセイシロ [ta-sse-i-shi-ro]: “Achieve it!”
(Police) ウゴクナ！[ugoku na!]: “Don’t move!”, トマレ！[tomare]: “Stop!”
(Kanye West) re-da-ke-o-ma-i-u: “Only a step higher” (more)
(Police) ナンダコレハ…？ [nanda kore ha...?] “What the…?” or “What is this?”
(Kanye West) タッセイシロ [ta-sse-i-shi-ro]: “Achieve it!”
(Police) ウゴクナ！[ugoku na!]: “Don’t move!”, トマレ！[tomare]: “Stop!”
-Tha J-Man