Did Jay-Z bite Kanye?

November 9th, 2009

kanjay

Everyone knows that Jay-Z and Kanye West are total BFFs.

They perform at the Grammys together. They throw up their Roc signs at GQ parties together. They like to wear matching outfits. On his Graduation album, Kanye even wrote a song about Jay-Z called “Big Brother”, so it makes sense that ‘Ye and Jay would inspire each other creatively.

But with his new video for “Empire State of Mind”, was Jay a little too inspired by his little brother Kanye’s video for “Homecoming”?

Both were directed by the king of rap videos, Hype Williams. So it’s no coincidence that there are many similarities between them.

Both songs proudly celebrate the rappers’ respective hometowns. For Jay-Z, that’s New York. For Kanye, it’s Chicago.

The videos are both in black and white to show the cities with an iconic, photographic look.

And each features a big guest who plays piano and sings a big, uplifting chorus. Chris Martin of Coldplay appears on “Homecoming” as a silhouette with fireworks in the background.

“Empire State of Mind” features Alicia Keys rolling through Times Square.

Speaking of Times Square, both videos show off their cities landmarks. “Empire State” has the Brooklyn Bridge, Rockefeller Centre and Madison Square Garden. “Homecoming” sports the Cloud Gate in Millenium Park and Chicago native Common. And both videos have subway and skyline shots galore.

And then there’s the artists’ relationship with their cities. The videos use low-angle shots to portray Jay and ‘Ye as hometown heroes looking down on New York and Chicago, but also depict them as “men of the people” at other times.

But Kanye, don’t get mad at your big brother Jay for copying you. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Hova just paid you a huge complement in a music video form. Plus, Chris Martin’s got nothing but respect for both of you. As he told us in an interview last year: “Jay-Z is the best rapper in the world, in my opinion, and Kanye
West is the best producer.”

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Posted on Monday, November 9th, 2009 at 3:14 pm by MuchNews and is filed under Blog, News.

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