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No one could have accurately predicted how the Kanye West/Taylor Swift kerfuffle would be received in this soundbyte-driven media economy. After West's cognac-fueled rant at Sunday night's VMAs, there's been an exploding cottage industry of "Imma let you finish, but..." and "BEST VIDEO OF ALL TIME" memes, blogs and blog-memes.
Now, Kanye-gate has reached its apex, ascending to dizzying heights from which it can conceivably climb no higher. Matt Kammerer, a Hawaiian-born and Utah-residing DJ has done what would have seemed impossible a scant few hours ago: made Kanye and Swift share the spotlight on the same track. All right, so he didn't really make them so much as he combined West's "Stronger" and Swift's "You Belong With Me" into a mash-up, but the result is no less stunning for the duo's involuntary participation.
We chatted with Kammerer about the mash-up, and though he was skeptical about the authenticity of West's outburst at first, he remembers thinking: "Oh this poor girl! So when I saw that I thought it'd be really cool to make a remix of her song," he explains. "And then I started thinking, oh, it'd be amazing if I could put some Kanye on here."
"I thought it would be fun and, forgive me for using this horrible term, post-modern, to put these two artists from completely different genres together, playing off of that conflict from Sunday night."
The project was a remarkably quick study: "Monday, I came up with a rough cut and posted it on YouTube, and that got some attention. So I decided I'd put a little more Kanye on it and polish it up." So is that too much Kanye, or not enough? Take a listen and decide for yourself:
This isn't his first foray into mash-ups, and he'll be re-posting some more of his work to his YouTube channel soon. A remix-mixtape is potentially in the offing as well.
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See also, www.imaletyoufinish.com
I was waiting the whole time for "Imaletyoufinish!" Would have been funny at the end, or right before one of Taylor's lines. But it is AWESOME as it is! Great job!
pretty sure Imaletyoufinish.com is the real one!
It was staged, little suckers. MTV was trying to get the attention of country music lovers. But they know, their market is Hip-hop, Rap, R&B, Rock, and Pop music only. The music(s) that the rest of the world listen to. So, they will come back to their senses.
“Boycott Kanye West.”
What a sad group of country lovers (including Donald Trump bad haircut lovers).
Kenye West is bigger than you all teenage kids. I don’t blame you; because you don’t listen to his music. Go to Google and type "Graduation". Your school graduation party is not going to show up - sorry. And guess what, the first hit is not Harvard or Stanford School of Engineering Class 2009 graduation day. No, it's Kanyae West album: "Graduation"
So, grow up whiners. If it’s not staged, Sweet Taylor will get over it by shopping in Milan and dining in Paris. On the other hand, your daddy will soon lose his job and you will find yourself without a health care and then you will yell at the President: YOU DON’T LIE.
Check out another great Kanye \ Taylor mashup here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG5NBk3B8II.
PS - Matt's track is absolutely great.