not only akria but a daft punk cover too.

i might actally give this man some money for his music

Not too sure about the video, but I dig the song.

Someone make a side by side comparison video with Akira footage and this video.

I'm quite interested to learn the genesis of this video. I'd really expect the anime literacy to come from the helmeted Frenchmen, given "Interstella 5555." But then again, Kanye might be an Otomo fan. Also, I'd like the video more without the unrelated booty shaking and those stupid glasses. A four minute video shouldn't need to be padded with T&A and that damn moronic eye wear. In the end I'm just happy with the bit of geeky joy I got from it

minus the random shots of booty girls, that was awesome. I dont like rap at all, and I am very selective about hip hop, but Kanye West has always kicked some serious butt. This just goes to show how good he is, and that he can work something like an Akira tribute into a music video and still be huge. Plus it doesnt hurt that Stronger is a damn fine song

Blantant Closet Otaku.

blatant*

Kanye West doesn't care for Japanophiles.

PS - He doesn't even care for the robot French house producers either.

WHAT?! Bangalter is in the video?

Pretty cool....I think Daft Punk being in there strongly influenced the outcome of the video. I can imagine the convo they had already,,,,,,,,,,
Kanye: What the f*@k is Akira, shizzy mi nizzy (thats how rap people speak)

Daft Punk: Akira, oui tres bien for sure...make video magnificent excellente!

Kanye: I'm Jesus, i can make anything Magnificent......yeah gold digger!

Kanye as Tetsuo, lol.

Daft Punk was even in the video as scientist, lol.

Real life fanservice girls are a plus; I don't care what anyone says. We need more of them and with purple hair, too.

Grr, I hate this twunt.

Akira & Daft Punk are great but Kanye West = mega fail. Generic R&B/Rap FTL.

++ for akira and daft punk

-- for kanye west

So the video is sampled from akira
and the audio is sampled from daft punk...

cant he do anything on his own?

How about a Kanye West video inspired by End of Evangelion, starring Kanye as Unit 02? :D

daft punk improved the kayne west...kayne west drought the daft punk down. i enjoyed the music but the lyrics really put me off. i'm sure i'll hear this pumping outside my window here in the ghetto and i'll enjoy not being able to decifer the words.

thats so kick ass daft punk is in this video.

It's a shame that any of the people who have not seen Akira, will look at it and be like "Its so original!!!" when they're missing the awesomeness of the movie.

Anyone read Japanese to see what it was "saying" during the video? Cause I would seriously lol if it was just random kanji chosen cause it "looks cool" (Sort of like 75% or so of the kanji tattoos)

I could read most of it. Some was hard to make out.

I understood none of it because I can only read... :D

Pretty cool song. I agree that the Akira/Daft Punk influences will be lost on 99% of the population that votes for this on TRL. At least he's bringing some attention to them though.

Anybody else think the girl in the video looks like Cassie?

Lets face it, Kanye West is a complete asshat. Ripping off a classically cool anime is not going to changed that. He probably didn't even know anything about it, it was probably the director that came up with the awesome concept. An awesome concept wasted on a talentless moron.

Lets face it, Kanye West is a complete a$$hat. Ripping off a classically cool anime is not going to changed that. He probably didn’t even know anything about it, it was probably the director that came up with the awesome concept. An awesome concept wasted on a talentless moron.

Lets face it, Kanye West is a complete a$$hat. Ripping off a classically cool anime is not going to changed that. He probably didn’t even know anything about it, it was probably the director that came up with the awesome concept. An awesome concept wasted on a talentless moron.

Daft Punk? Awesome.
Akira? Awesome.
Kanye West singing about being drunk and trying to pick up a girl? Um...


'A' for effort!

i hate kanye west. not his music. i just personally think he is a douche.
anyone i showed this to that wasnt familiar with akira had no clue what the hell was going on. the editing was confusing and didnt make for a coherent story. kanye fails at "acting" during the hallway scene.

It's funny that someone would complain about Kanye sampling the song when Daft Punk smaples so heavily. "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" used smaples from "Cola Bottle Baby" and the differences between Kanye's and Daft Punk's is greater than "Cola Bottle Baby" and "HRFS". Either way, I liked the video, Kanye's a punk, but I liked the song, too. Nice post.

@teradoc
I read that japanese and seriously I can't make anything of it.

firstly it's ALL in katakana- a syllablary used only for foreign words, making it impossible for any of these "phrases" to be proper japanese.
@4:19 it says "コセロ" (pronounced kosero) and that doesn't mean crap.
other times at like 3:45 a giant "ne" (ネ) appears on screen, which isn't shit alone.

conclusion:
the japanese was chosen for aesthetic reasons only and none of it makes sense. If this were a japanese video with english it would say stuff like "als edg sdda," but it turns out that the japanese actually know some english so there would be actual words in their music videos, they just might not make sense as a sentence. What can u expect from hw and Kanye West anyway?

"So the video is sampled from akira
and the audio is sampled from daft punk…

cant he do anything on his own?"

i hate when people say this, as if the entire history of hip hop and dance music weren't predicated on sampling

i mean, that daft punk song is built around a sample of edwin birdsong's 'cola bottle baby'

needs more poop arm....
who was the rapper who had the thx-1138 music video maybe 6-7 years ago?

so whats the name of the Daft Punk song that this song is sampling? I wants it

my bad, but isn't Akira itself inspired by the original live action movie Tetsuo?

There is a little bit of decipherable Japanese in the video.

タスケテ！(tasukete) - Help!

Then there is confusing the katakana n(ン） with so（ソ） in ガソバレ(gasobare) where it should be ガンバレ(ganbare) which sorta means "Hold on; Go for it; Keep at it".

Japanese people seem equally confused.
http://doops.jp/2007/06/check_it_kanye_weststronger.html
http://naka09.blog91.fc2.com/blog-entry-88.html

king3vbo, the original song is "harder, better, faster, stronger" from the album Discovery. The video is here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=QZ2ktH-iSxg and info on the entire compilation of videos for the album is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstella_5555:_The_5tory_of_the_5ecret_5tar_5ystem

Kanye West is an annoying SOD. And a message to all Rappers: Please stop taking older songs and rapping over it - there's already been 3 main-stream rap songs using Daft Punk songs in the background (Bustarhymes, Remix of Bustarhymes, and this song).

it's not a cover when he has no melodic input of his own.

when rap was doing interesting things with sampling music and loops from records in the 80's it was pretty nice.

except I've made better beats on my effing toilet when remixing britney spears accapellas while cooking my own 4 course meal.


It's nice he pays homage to akiira by completely "borrowing" from it as well like vanilla ice did from queen. let us not forget, it's "ding ding ding ding dingy ding ding"

you see there's this extra eighth note which makes it his own idea.

I'm sorry. I'm tired, I'm angry that kanye doesn't practce, have a high standard of musicianship, and needs to recylce good electronic music in a trite and boring manner in order to feel "original".

and in my angry state, he's an asshole.

the major scale isn't that hard to understand dude, I can teach you how to use it kanye, if the effing 9 year old kid I explained it to today who was able to improvise using it within minutes, I think I could do wonders for your tonality.

I now step off my high pedestal.

You're seriously pathetic. Just - stop.

It's a decent song. Kanye's not the greatest rapper but he carried himself well enough.
Whatever.

Get over it.

I think it's funny that these nerds hate on sampling and homage when it's from someone they don't like but when it's from someone they do, it's not only good but it's genius. You don't have to like the music or the video but it's silly to come on a comments section and try to crap all over the place. Like it or don't but realize that just because you don't like it doesn't mean it's devoid of merit.

Bloody hip-hop sux ass, how dare this second-rater rip off Akira.

"i hate when people say this, as if the entire history of hip hop and dance music weren’t predicated on sampling"

Word! Finally someone said it. If a song was good on time around, it'll be equally as good the other time around too, sometimes even better. And do your history lessons first before complaining over that Kanye just "steals" from poor Daft Punk:
http://palmsout.blogspot.com/2007/02/sample-wednesday-27-daft-punk.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJPdVVOmbz4

lol its an AMV now.

Firstly, all music samples. Classical composers would sample phrases from each other, as well as regional folk melodies. Klezmer was passed on generation to generation with the same basic outline. Blues muscians sampled riffs they learned from whoever taught them, and those were passed on as people wandered around playing guitar to anyone who listened. Rock just sampled blues riffs, and then hip-hop sampled rock. Reggae, another example of more musical phrases and progressions that have been used a variety of different ways but have the same basic structure. I'm not saying just because you sample something its good. But the fact that you're sampling something does not automatically imply that it is bad, as it is a technique that has been used in music for years. I find it amusing that all these "hip-hop sucks" people usually listen to music thats just as derivative of its predeccesors as they bash hip-hop for being. And theyre also usually Quentin Tarantino fans, and he's the kind of stealing other peoples ideas, reogranizing them and then being crowned a "genius". Get off your high seats.
Now that thats said, I thought it was a pretty cool video, but I think they shouldve taken it further. I want to see Kanye West start mutating into a huge blob creature. Well, thats a bit crazy, but some more scenes from the movie would've been nice. The motorcycle tracers were great, I always dug that little detail.

Love the Daft Punk cover. This is an awesome song. Kanye may be narcissist, but he's a highly upgraded version of P-Diddy. The song is great.

That actually IS Daft Punk manning the controls with the helmets on.

Don't EVEN DARE compare the bloated flyblown corpse of commercial hip-hop to those other forms of music.
Hip-hop was fresh for about 5 years, when it was on-message.
Whats the message now.
Make money, fuck whitey, fuck whiteys bitches, make money, just get famous. blah blah blah.
Where are the black scientists, architects, great thinkers.
Two generations of young black kids and stupid kids of other races brainwashed by the lazy hip-hop bullshit.
Wheres the work ethic, fucking nowhere thats where.
Fuck you.
Fucking hip-hop.
The only thing working hip-hop now are the maggots in the corpse, bloated on dollars.
dickhead.

You need to look up the difference between plagiarism and inspiration you solid gold fuckwit

guess kanye ran out of things to sample and rip-off.



WHY MUST IT BE ELITE ELECTRONIC MUSIC AND HISTORIC FEATS OF ANIMATION?
cause everything he touches becomes a fad in 2 months.

@creaturecool

Thanks for deciphering it. I had a feeling it was like I predicted. The katakana chosen was only chose because it "looked cool"

Congratulations Threlly, Grizz L B and all the other people who has expressed similiar opinions in this thread! You have now officially outed yourselves as the very people who give anime/manga-nerds a bad name as narrow minded/stupid douchebags without any interest at all in seeing the big picture of popular culture. Thank you! Just go head and throw your opionions out instead of thinking a little bit more and maybe reflect over things like "mmmh maybe the things we don't like in modern rap music are a just a mirror of the society it comes from as the same way that for example the loli/moe/underage-thing in anime are mirror of a sexual tension that exists in contemporary Japanese society". But no, fuck that!

"Make money, fuck whitey, fuck whiteys bitches, make money, just get famous. blah blah blah."
I ain't even gonna comment that, living with yourself after making such a comment is punishment enough.

Here are many songs by Kanye West (for fans :) ):
http://mp3-jam.com/artist/name-kanye-west/5700/

I've read the whole thread and have really been thinking about this whole thing. I just had to write a comment. Here goes.

I've been a die hard Akira fan since I was 11 in '89 when I first saw a bootleg japanese copy, before it was released in the states. I have every original comic book, and have read them through at least 6 different times. I put custom Akira graphics on my first solid red '88 Suzuki Katana motorcycle and have watched the movie over 50 times.

That being said, obviously Akira is the best f**cking Anime movie ever produced and I'm actually stoked to see it in Kanye's video. Now I can't stand Kanye West, don't get me wrong, but daft punk is great and this song actually makes me want to get up and dance. Analyze it all you want, the song bumps, original or not, sampled to death or not. I'm as anti-mainstream as they come, but Kanye obviously recognizes the greatness of Akira and Otomo's work.

Would we all rather see Otomo's work stuck on a dusty shelf? Any way it reaches the general public indirectly or directly is good in my opinion.
And no, Akira was not inspired by the movie Testuo, it was a completely original concept of Katsuhiro Otomo.

I'm also a die hard old school / classic / turntablist hip-hop fan and a DJ myself and I'm here to say that real, quality hip-hop still exists and is being avidly created in the underground music scene. Don't get 'rap' music and hip-hop confused. This shite you hear on the radio (rap) disgusts me, but don't be ignorant and classify all hip-hop as garbage.

I currently designing custom graphics for my motorcycle helmet taken directly from Akira - inspired by Joker in the Clown gang. Coming to the SF Bay Area streets soon!
-Stephen

Stills think the song is shit and Kanye West is a douche despite what ^ Mr. L337 DJ ^ says... HE JUST TALKS INCOHERENTLY OVER A DAFT PUNK TRACK, GOOD JOB KANYE!

ya still saying Akira is also a ripoff of "Tetsuo" as defined by all you. History repeats, the greatest form of flattery is imitation.

I am now dumber after watching that.

Kanye West should die for ruining Akira! He's not worth it!!! WTF is that studip asian gurl doing in the video too?!? That video is probably the ugliest TRAVESTIE in the music world. Akira has a concept of its onw. IN NO way did Kanye West make it work for his video. The only thing we get from this video is that AKIRA is GREAT. Kanye West thinks that by stealing something cool and juxtaposing it in his video, it makes him cool. WRONG!!! It makes you lame if you use it in the way you did dawg. DON't DO IT EVER AGAIN!!!! I have no respect for idiotic rappers like him. Do Tetsuo a favor and explode your guts on the celling Mr.West A.K.A Poorly-drawn-no-brain-rapper-douche-bag!

Love,
Samuel Johns xox

I wouldn't mind so much if he had credited Akira better, maybe then more people would go and check out the film and get to experience a film that turned many people into anime fans.

However, in a recent interview about it, he apparantly didn't even mention Akira. And did mention Total Recall. Which makes you wonder, did he even have any involvement in the video's subject matter? Did he even know it was inspired by Akira?

Going back to this video, I could see why Mr. West didn't want to be upstaged by the French again (via a loss to Justice's We Are You Your Friends video @ the MTV Europe Awards). Instead he has to use French house robots, parts of Tokyo, the Bape store stairwells, video ho's & of course, scenes inspired by Akira. Will he win a video award this time? I don't know. All I know that Kanye West still doesn't care about Japanophiles.

Kayne West is scum in the face of Akira. and he makes Daft Pumk dirty too. TWO THUMBS DOWN

goodness anime fans can come across really racist...lets debunk really quick...first da katakana isn't all simply 4 show...most of it makes sense...its funny u watch anime but can't read a lick of japanese, i found dat it wasn't all correct but it made sense (he even puts da name of da video n da openin seconds of it "sutonga" like most katakana it makes sense when u say it outloud...try it). second kanye is i big fan of anime and japanese culture n general...when interview on sohh.com hype williams (director) said da video was completely kanye's idea and they shot scenes straight from akira dat they may put n da extended version of da video 4 da tru fans...kanye sampled but daft sampled it first...rap isn't all money, cash, hoes (u jus probably can't hear fast enuff 2 catch da message or watch 2 much mtv between spankin off 2 hentai)...and cassie is n da video...now please go do somethin important wit ya lives so everyone here can bitch and moan about how much u suck...

Lil Help 4 u lames

ko-se-ro: strong
su-to-n-ga: stronger
i-ma-su-gu: not later, but now
i-ma-o-ma-e-ga-hi-tsu-yo-u-da: I need you now
ga-n-ba-re: fight, strive
yo: yo
ki-ga-ku-ru-u: to go crazy, insane

Motorcycles Scene:
1. ya-re: Oh! (expression)
2. ta-tsu-se-i-shi-ro: Someone please help!

Translation
Hospital Scene:
(Kanye West) o-re-ha-ko-ro-sa-re-na-i: “My head isn’t a box” (I can’t be contained.)
(Kanye West) Ha-o-re-ra-ryo-ku-su-ru-da-ke-da: The only one that can clear things up.
(Kanye West) i-ma-su-gu-i-n-gu-n-da: “right now –ing” (Be Here

(Nurse) O-O-O: OOOOO!

(Kanye West) mo-u-mu-ri-ma: “it’s impossible, that’s certain.”
(Kanye West) ta-su-ke-te!: “Help!”
(Kanye West) re-da-ke-o-ma-i-u: “Only a step higher” (more)
(Kanye West) ta-tsu-se-i-shi-ro: Someone please help!

(Police) u-go-ku-na! , to-ma-re!: Move In!

(Kanye West) re-da-ke-o-ma-i-u: “Only a step higher” (more)

(Police) na-n-da-ko-re-ha?: What is this?
(Kanye West)ta-tsu-se-i-shi-ro: Someone please help!
(Police) u-go-ku-na! , to-ma-re!: Move In!

I personally think that akira associates very well with the culture of hip hop, and kanye has every right take inspiration from it. for those who have seen the anime, what are the topics that come often in akira? Gangs, drugs, violence, desillusionned youth, manipulation from the governement. the same topics that hip hop and rap artists use in their music. so before starting to criticise, try to do a little background study.
besides, that idea of mixing hip hop and electronics music is not a bad one. for me kanye is a pioneer, mayb ahead of his time. that's why you people can't really appreciate his work.

Array

At one point, a longer sentence of text says "ima omae ga hitsuyou da" meaning, "Right now, I need you" . Most of it is just random katakana, not meaning much, but their's an occasional phrase of real stuff.

Also is said: "netsu sei shiro" meaning "The reason for the fever" or something like that.

((By the way, I'm in love with this song. The mixing of styles and obvious Akira references are just so great. It's an awesome compilation))

A lot of the translations posted by M.E.M.P.H.I.S. are wrong. Here are the real translations for the Japanese katakana characters in the video Kanye West - Stronger:

Definitions:
1. コロセ [korose]: kill
2. ストンガ [su-to-n-ga]: stronger
3. ヨリナガク [yo-ri-na-ga-ku]: longer
4. イマスグ [i-ma-su-gu]: right now
5. イマオマエガヒツヨウダ [ima omae ga hitsuyou da] �I need you right now�
6. ガンバレ[ga-n-ba-re]: fight, strive
7. yo: yo
8. キガクルウ [ki ga kuruu]: �go crazy� (�go apeshit�)

Motorcycles Scene:
1. ya-re: Oh! (expression)
2. タッセイシロ [ta-sse-i-shi-ro]: �Achieve it!�

Translation
Hospital Scene:
(Kanye West) オレハコロサレナイ [ore ha korosarenai]: �I won�t be killed.�
(Kanye West) �ハオレヲツヨクスルダケダ� [�ha ore wo tsuyoku suru dake da�]: �� will only make me stronger��
(Kanye West) イマスグイソグンダ [ima sugu isogunda]: �I need you to hurry up now�

(Nurse) O-O-O: OOOOO!

(Kanye West) mou-muri-da: �it�s impossible�

(Nurse) タスケテ! [ta-su-ke-te]: �Help!�

(Kanye West) レダケオマエヲ (re dake omae wo): seems to have been part of a longer phrase with both ends cut off for some reason.

(Kanye West) タッセイシロ [ta-sse-i-shi-ro]: �Achieve it!�

(Police) ウゴクナ！[ugoku na!]: �Don�t move!�, トマレ！[tomare]: �Stop!�

(Kanye West) re-da-ke-o-ma-i-u: �Only a step higher� (more)

(Police) ナンダコレハ�？ [nanda kore ha�?] �What the�?� or �What is this?�

(Kanye West) タッセイシロ [ta-sse-i-shi-ro]: �Achieve it!�

(Police) ウゴクナ！[ugoku na!]: �Don�t move!�, トマレ！[tomare]: �Stop!�

-Tha J-Man