Did Kanye West Pick The Wrong First Single?
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I am eagerly anticipating the release of Kanye West's new album Graduation. However, I have to admit that I am a bit underwhelmed by the first single and video “Can't Tell Me Nothing.”It's not a bad song or anything but it just pales in comparison to the first singles off his previous two albums.“Through The Wire” was compelling for multiple reasons from the circumstances surrounding it to the great beat and the courage it took to actually release a song where he raps with his jaw wired shut. “Diamonds (From Sierra Leone)” was just a great song that got overshadowed by the more mainstream-friendly “Gold Digger.” I watched the video for “Diamonds” recently and I am still amazed by how wonderfully complex the beat for this song is. He could've easily gotten multiple songs out of that.The video for “Can't Tell Me Nothing” is also somewhat disappointing. Kanye is one of hip-hop's best video artists, one who usually values creativity over having the new hot video chick in his video. Yet, there is not much to the video for “Can't Tell Me Nothing.” I guess him and Hype wanted to try a minimalist video given the flashy videos they did for “Diamonds” and “Gold Digger.” Unfortunately, I think the attempt at minimalism comes off more boring than artistic.“Can't Tell Me Nothing” just doesn't fire me up the way a good first single should. But you know what other song from Graduation does? That would be “Stronger.” The snippet contained on the Can't Tell Me Nothing mixtape really caused some buzz. Cleverly sampling Daft Punk's “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” (a song that the Neptunes remixed a while back), it sounds different from anything else out there and it hooks you almost immediately. This song, more so than “Can't Tell Me Nothing,” really reminds me how good a producer (and rapper, even) Kanye can be. Oh, and enjoy the video for the original Daft Punk song:
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