Kanye is inarguably a master at stirring up trouble and pitting himself against outside forces, real or imagined. Seems he pulled of one of his better stunts last year when he claimed his first choice for cover art for My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy had been “banned.” West then lashed out at retailers, specifically Wal-Mart, claiming he didn’t make music for them. But now the truth seems to have come out. According George Condo, the creator of the banned cover and all of the other Twisted Fantasy covers, West directly requested an image that would be banned.
In a piece in the current issue of the New Yorker written by Calvin Thomas, Condo’s interactions with West are described by Thomas: “West said that he had seen paintings by Condo, and wanted to collaborate with him. According to Condo, he also said that he was looking for “something that will be banned. West came to Condo’s studio, where for several hours they listened to tapes of his music, and over the next few days Condo made eight or nine paintings. Two of them were portraits of West, one in extreme closeup, with mismatched eyes and four sets of teeth. Another showed his head, crowned and decapitated, placed sideways on a white slab, impaled by a sword. There was also a painting of a dyspeptic ballerina in a black tutu, a painting of the crown and the sword by themselves in a grassy landscape, and a lurid scene of a naked black man on a bed, straddled by a naked white female creature with fearsome features, wings, no arms, and a long, spotted tail. West chose that one.”
So, once again, Kanye shows himself to be a very astute provocateur. Next up for West is the January 11th premier of the first single, “H.A.M.”, from Watch the Throne, his collaborative album with mentor Jay-Z.
To be honest, I’m not surprised. If I’m promoting an album with this concept, I’d do the same. Controversy Sells.
His cover art wasn’t “banned” people. Stop using that word.
It wasn’t “banned” at all. His label just didn’t decide to use it. Lol.
C’mon guys. Does this New Yorker quote sound right to you or a self serving cut and paste?
controversy creates cash
Of course he wanted a controversial cover, it’s a great idea if you want to make more money.
smh. Kanye never attacked Wal-Mart first off, all he said was that he didn’t make his album with them in mind… secondly, the artwork WAS banned which is why it’s all pixelated in the packaging… and lastly, don’t you guys get that this is part of his master plan?. CREATE CONTROVERSY TO GET PEOPLE TO BUY!!. duh.
i’ve never seen such bending over backwards to defend someones actions. And all unnecessarily. Dude can do what he wants, but when you go out of your way to justify his every move you just come off as a dickride. What he said about walmart was pretty slighted… he basically threw them under the bus saying their taste was irrelevant… the way you quoted it you made it sound like he was just casually making an observation over coffee.. when it was the total opposite tone. He did single the out, and pretty harshly. Kanye doesnt need your blind dickriding defense… and he doesnt need to defend what he did… hop off
lol Anonymous..you sound like you’re dick riding walmart quite frankly. who gives a flying uck tard about what walmart thinks about music. they don’t give a crap about music. shit, they’re part of the reason why album sales are so crappy. and then with their extreme level of censorship. fuck walmart. piece of shit company anyways. Kanye is a beast, end of story and you are all on his dick. Myself included LMAO
pause @ dexter. homo ass nigga
Kanye is overrated as hell, fuck him!
Controversy for controversies sake is pretty weak…
i’m hungry sojebody get me a pizza
thats a weird picture 4 an album cover lol
What a bullshit article, all 4 of the cover art described there were used.
Sorry 4 of the 5
nothing wrong with wanting it to be banned
this shouldnt be banned
we talk about it because of kanye
Is this supposed to come as a surprise?
torrent link?
Damn…The things people do for attention…Music is trash, so album art controversy?? Corny..
kanye is sick n now his turnin hiphop up n down… he should jus focuz on prod…ha… nickfill
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” artist claims Kanye asked him for a controversial image,,,wat else…uh