Kanye West held a listening session for his eagerly anticipated ‘808’s and Heartbreak’ here in London this week. At the event, which was was attended by select media outlets, the ‘Love Lockdown’ rapper used Beyonce and Rihanna to illustrate a point, raising an interesting point himself in the process:
After hearing listening to the album, Kanye took a Q&A session.
When asked about his single ‘Love Lockdown’, Kanye explains why he chose to make the single.
‘This is a wakeup call … people in music get comfortable … Rappers get comfortable’.
Kanye said this was the case with Beyonce.
‘Rihanna was the best thing to happen to Beyonce’, referring to Rihanna’s rise to stardom suggesting Beyonce had to set the musical bar higher.
Kanye believed that Beyonce did this with her new video ‘Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)’. He expressed his respect and love for it, while saying it was a concept that he never would have come up with. {Source}
Hmm. An interesting point, that will no doubt have Bouncy’s and Ms. Fenty’s stans squaring off – again LOL. Granted I agree Beyonce had to come differently this go around to re-affirm her place as the ‘top’ female in the industry (especially when considering Rihanna’s near 2 year dominance), I feel as though Bey was always gonna need to approach her 3rd album with a fresh concept irrespective of Rihanna. With success not being guaranteed in this current industry climate (just ask Usher and Mariah), churning out the same ol’, same ol’ would have been an own-goal IMO.
Your thoughts?