Daily Archives: December 2, 2011

‘That’s my fault for dropping Watch the Throne and Dark Fantasy the same year,’ Yeezy tells fans about coveted Grammy nom.
By Rob Markman

Kanye West


Photo: Pascal Le Segretain/ Getty Images

Everyone knows that Kanye West takes his awards very seriously, but those who were excepting a Yeezy meltdown for his Grammy Album of the Year snub will be disappointed.

On Thursday during the Chicago stop of ‘Ye and Hov’s Watch the Throne Tour, the hometown MC, who is leading the 2012 nominees with seven Grammy nods, addressed the crowd.

‘Something I figured out earlier today, because you know everybody came to me last night like, ‘Congratulations,’ because you know I’m leading — I have the most Grammy nominations once again, like we always do at this time,” Kanye said, drawing thunderous applause from the United Center crowd.

“But, you know, people focus, they say, ‘You ain’t have Album of the Year or Record of the Year,’ ” he continued as the fan cheers quickly turned to disapproving boos.

Then the outspoken rap star did the unexpected. Instead of sending shots toward the Grammy committee, Kanye blamed himself: “I figured it out though. That’s my fault for dropping Watch the Throne and Dark Fantasy the same year. I should’ve just spaced it out, just a little bit more.”

In November 2010, ‘Ye released his fifth studio album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,. The platinum LP was both critically acclaimed and a commercial success thanks to surefire singles like the rambunctious “Power,” the reflective sing-along “Runaway” and “All of the Lights,” which is nominated for Song of the Year and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration.

Nine months after MBDTF, in August 2011, the Louis Vuitton Don hooked up with Jay-Z to release their tag-team album Watch the Throne. Both Yeezy LPs are nominated in the Best Rap Album category, but neither is in contention for the coveted Album of the Year Award. Instead Adele, the Foo Fighters, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars and Rihanna will duke it out for the golden gramophone. Surprisingly Kanye West isn’t sweating it, though. “Don’t worry because me and Hov are gonna keep on making sh–,” he said to the crowd.

Does this mean we can expect a Watch the Throne sequel? Guess we’ll have to wait till next year to see.

What do you think of Kanye’s reaction? Should he have spazzed? Tell us in the comments!

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‘I wasn’t given this power for no reason,’ rapper says in behind-the-scenes video filmed on Watch the Throne Tour.
By Rob Markman

Kanye West


Photo: Getty Images

No one knew what to expect back in October when online entertainment company VoyR announced that it would be partnering with Jay-Z and Kanye West‘s Watch the Throne Tour to give “access to exclusive, inspirational and shareable stories” with live webcasts. Would fans get sneak peeks backstage?

Would part of the concert be streamed in real time? How much of Jay and ‘Ye would we actually see? There were quite a few questions.

Now, almost two months later, VoyR drops its first behind-the-scenes video. Kanye narrates the clip, which was recorded at one of the Throne’s November shows at Madison Square Garden in New York. “I always joked that I was like — OK, I’m doing music, but there is a bigger plan for me at a certain point. I wasn’t given this power for no reason and now it’s starting to open up,” ‘Ye says at the start.

Yeezy continues to wax poetic about his mission in life, concluding that his goal is to inspire future world leaders who will go on to pay homage at the rapper’s funeral when he dies. All the while, West’s voice-over is coupled with concert footage of him emerging onto the MSG stage atop a four-sided video cube. “I’m on a pursuit of awesomeness,”
West continues. “Excellence is the bare minimum.”

VoyR charges a fee that grants fans access to a number of different episodes, but in this first video we see the Chi-Town MC backstage getting dressed for the night’s show. While wearing a black shirt, with the same Givenchy designs that appear in the Watch the Throne album insert, Kanye straps a chunky gold bracelet to his wrist, adjusts his in-ear monitor and laces up his Air Yeezy sneakers as he gets ready to hit the stage.

The video mostly focuses on the “All of the Lights” MC, and we hardly see Jay at all. Instead we see Kanye marching through the concert halls, greeting visitors like famed Roc-A-Fella engineer Young Guru and Wu-Tang Clansman Raekwon. Hov does show up in one scene, marveling over one young fan’s haircut. The preteen, who made his way backstage, has a WTT logo shaved into his head. He is all smiles as Jay talks to him with Kanye, Bronx, New York, rapper French Montana and Hot 97′s Angie Martinez looking on. “Oh, you outta here, told you,” Jay says, laughing.

Kanye continues to narrate, talking about his legacy. “I wanna know when I’m gone that they’ll be 10 people that will go up and grab that mic,” he said about the impression he hopes to leave. “I wanna know that there are warriors now.”

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Six-minute sequence will run on select IMAX screens before ‘Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol’ showings.
By Kevin P. Sullivan

Christian Bale and Tom Hardy on the set of “Dark Knight Rises”


Photo: Getty Images

Well, it took long enough. Warner Bros. has finally pulled back the curtain on the hotly anticipated six-minute opening sequence from “The Dark Knight Rises.”

/Film originally broke the story in October, reporting that a short prologue would run on select IMAX screens before showings of “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.” For over a month, the studio had remained silent on the topic, and when the AMC theater chain released a statement confirming the report, the post was removed soon afterward.

When the MPAA handed down a PG-13 rating for the prologue alone, the event was all but confirmed.

Now, an official statement from Warner Bros. is reiterating most everything previously said about the preview. It will last six minutes and consist of the film’s first sequence. The clip was shot on the IMAX 15 perf 65mm/70mm film that director Christopher Nolan used for several key action sequences during “The Dark Knight.”

There has been much speculation about the content of the preview. This month’s issue of Empire confirmed that the prologue would introduce Tom Hardy‘s Bane.

Unfortunately for some Batman fans, as previously stated, the “Dark Knight Rises” prologue will only play before “Ghost Protocol” on screens using true 70mm IMAX projection, so theaters with the more common digital projection will not get the preview. All told, only 42 screens in the U.S. and Canada will show it.

Here is a list of the theaters where you can catch the “Dark Knight Rises” prologue starting December 16:

Austin, TX – IMAX Theater Austin

Boston, MA – Jordan’s IMAX – Natick

Boston, MA – IMAX 3D Theatre in Reading

Calgary, AB – Scotiabank Theatre Chinook 16

Chantilly, VA – Udvar-Hazy Center IMAX

Chicago, IL – Navy Pier IMAX Theatre

Des Moines, IA – SCI IMAX Dome Theater

Detroit, MI – Henry Ford IMAX – Dearborn

Edmonton, AB – Scotiabank Theatre Edmonton

Harrisburg, PA – Whitaker Center for Science & the Arts

Houston, TX – Houston Marq*e Stadium 22 + IMAX

Indianapolis – White River IMAX

Los Angeles, CA – Irvine Spectrum 21 + IMAX – Irvine

Los Angeles, CA – RAVE 18 + IMAX

Los Angeles, CA – Ontario Palace Stadium 22 + IMAX – Ontario

Los Angeles, CA – CityWalk Stadium 19 with IMAX – Universal City

Madison, WI – Star Fitchburg 18 with IMAX – Fitchburg

Miami, FL – AutoNation IMAX – Fort Lauderdale

Minneapolis, MN – Great Clips IMAX – Apple Valley

Montreal, QC – Cinema Banque Scotia Montreal

Nashville,TN – Opry Mills Stadium 20 + IMAX

New York, NY – Lincoln Square 13 with IMAX

New York, NY – Palisades IMAX – West Nyack

Omaha, NE – Star Cinema 16 with IMAX – Council Bluffs

Orlando, FL – Regal Pointe Orlando Stadium 20 + IMAX

Ottawa, ON – SilverCity Gloucester + IMAX – Gloucester

Palm Springs, CA – Desert IMAX Theatre – Cathedral City

Philadelphia, PA – IMAX at the Tropicana – Atlantic City

Philadelphia, PA – Tuttleman IMAX – Franklin Institute

Phoenix, AZ – Arizona Mills 25 with IMAX – Tempe

Providence, RI – Providence Place 16 with IMAX

Quebec City, QC – IMAX Le Theatre At Quebec

Sacramento, CA – Esquire IMAX

San Antonio, TX – IMAX at RiverCenter

San Francisco, CA – Metreon 16 with IMAX & ETX

Seattle, WA – Boeing IMAX – Pacific Science Center

Tampa, FL – Museum of Science and Industry

Toronto, ON – Coliseum 12 Mississauga + IMAX

Toronto, ON – Scotiabank Theatre Toronto + IMAX

Toronto, ON – Colossus 18 Woodbridge + IMAX – Woodbridge-Vaughan

Vancouver, BC – Colossus Langley + IMAX – Langley

Vancouver, BC – SilverCity Riverport + IMAX – Richmond

Check out everything we’ve got on “The Dark Knight Rises.”

For breaking news and previews of the latest comic book movies — updated around the clock — visit SplashPage.MTV.com.

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