Kanye West “SNL” Video (12/13/08)
“Love Lockdown”
Kanye West attempted to his show off his vocal chops as the special musical guest on Saturday Night Live this weekend.
Oh Kanye, you make it so easy for us to laugh at you.
“Heartless”
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On December 22nd 2008, Joe wrote:
Kanye simply cannot sing. Without electronic enhancement he sucks! I sing better than that…maybe I should sign on to a label and claim to be the voice of the generation….lmao!!!!!
On December 22nd 2008, ra-hawk wrote:
Kanye never said he was luther vandross. He stepped out there with somethin different from his usual. get off his left. let him be. its no secret the mic was rigged fa that song so get over it.
On December 22nd 2008, ra-hawk wrote:
PS. Find something better to do with your life than trying to bring others down.
On December 22nd 2008, yolanda wrote:
I don’t think his performance was bad, he sounds as though he may have been out of breath,or had a cold. Some times when your voice is crackly the show still must go on.
On December 22nd 2008, shugabutt wrote:
Are you serious, are you kidding me?!?!?!?! Did he REALLY think he could sing or was that suppose to be some kind of a statement? What’s wrong with that guy and what do we pay him for… cheap karaoke is free and way more fun!!!
On December 22nd 2008, ToddJihad wrote:
Every performer has shows like these. He’s obviously sick here. It was a bit painful to hear in the beginning, but, he also gave it his all.
Too bad it was SNL.
On December 22nd 2008, Sterling Roberts wrote:
I wonder if Kanyo will try to blame this shitty performance on George Bush not liking black people? Thank goodness for the loop he was singing over or the underpaid back up singers that have to back this jerk & try to make him sound good.
On December 22nd 2008, Diane S Gray wrote:
I hear his heart and i understand. This song is truly what he,s feeling at this time, he brought Heartless to life. I love the living spirit inside of you Kanye West. DSG
On December 22nd 2008, Josh wrote:
If only Simon, Paula and Randy were on SNL to give Kanye a reality check. Voice of my genration? That was uncomfortable to watch. He’s an idiot.
On December 22nd 2008, Hemerus wrote:
The best statement about this found on yaho o
“The next generation is lame. You were raised on garbage. People are egotistical (read:insecure), when deep down they know they are not that good. Trite subject matter, no singing ability, all flash-no panache, not particurly innovative samples (please, Tricky (probably don’t know him, huh?)has more genius packed in one song then Kanye’s entire catalogue. Voice of his generation? Truly sad. Ours was Stevie Wonder. No comparing. Can’t sing, can’t play an instrument, the best parts of his songs are the loops from the genius’ that he aspires to, like Steely Dan or Buffy Sainte-Marie. His audience is the Clear Channel generation. They don’t know any better because they haven’t been exposed to anything else. And for those who think someone in the last generation “doesn’t get it”, we did more acid and partying than you ever did….and had/have more fun, because we are not addicted to the subject matter you all are, which is boasting (read:insecurity), cheap sex (read:insecurity). You are a generation of sociopaths, and it shows in your idea of genius. Yes, your pissed, at yourself for the being the blind sheep that you have become in the cultural malaise you raised in. Pathetic”.
On December 22nd 2008, donutty wrote:
He had just as big of a flop at the mtv europe music awards with the same song. May be alittle pride cause he can’t do everything perfect?? Should stick to the rap, let the singers sing!
On December 22nd 2008, True Blue wrote:
Dude, come on???? You better get a day job!!! YOU SUCK!!! Quit taking people’s hard earned money by selling such trash!!!
On December 22nd 2008, johnny depth wrote:
it seems like the crowd loved it to me. it wsnt bad in my opinion either.
On December 22nd 2008, kledge dwnsthspitta wrote:
man he aint lip syncing he’s just droppin his voice on those words. it seems like he forgot which words to drop on. and as for the voice in the back round thats stackin all rappers stack their voice a few times.
On December 22nd 2008, Hdawg wrote:
Whats the big deal. He lip-syncs as much as every other hip-hop artist. They all sing over a background vocal track.
On December 23rd 2008, Crystal A wrote:
Ok….Heartless had a lot of passion in it and was a pretty good performance with a few pitch problems…Love Lockdown….pretty bad. Like someone above said it sounds like someone doing bad karaoke. I will give him props for the creativity of the music…however, I think his success should be awarded to the producers that help create the recorded sound.
On December 23rd 2008, Shaner. wrote:
WOW!!!! Im sorry if the truth insults some of you but the truth is that music (if you can call it that anymore) has hit an all time low. what happend to real musicians who make REAL music? How did things get so bad?.
On December 23rd 2008, littleleelee wrote:
I don’t listen to Kanya much, so I can’t remark as to whether he was having a bad night or not like others speculate. He was jumping around pretty much, so no wonder he sounded a little winded. Anyone would. Personally, I thought he sounded pretty good anyway.
On December 23rd 2008, Dan wrote:
I’m a professional musician and I’m aware that many people with mediocre talent and backing have a lot of celebrity thanks to technology. It’s obvious here that Kanye relies heavily on technology, but he seems to be passionate about his message. Perhaps he should just stick to writing and producing and let the people with the real talent perform.
On December 23rd 2008, dreddedopinion wrote:
it’s NOT so serious that it’s necessary to sit here and pick his performance to pieces. to the negative ass people on here… get a life. kanye is an artist, pls allow him to do what artists do. he’s a rapper, yes but if he feels compelled to sing, why sit and talk shit about it? if u don’t like it, don’t listen. as far as his voice on this particular performance goes, it’s so obvious that he has a cold, and he did okay to say how unstable your voice is when you’re congested. come on, now. lets get some other hobbies. when u sit and bash folks all day, ALL that negativity comes back to you eventually.
On December 23rd 2008, Jeff wrote:
First off, I’ve never listened much to Kanye, and am more of a rock fan, so I have preconceived notions. What I saw on SNL and watched again, was a pretty damned good performance. The thing is, from a rock perspective, some of the best performers have great voices that are great because of their imperfections. His soul game through to me, the technology I think was used well and to good effect, and his real vocals standed up pretty good to me. The songs themselves had a great rhythm and beat, and kept my attention thoroughly – as with all art, its value is the eyes of those beholding it. In my eyes (and ears) these performances have me interested in Kanye more than before
On December 23rd 2008, Qflat wrote:
I’m sorry I have been performing for 40+ years and I think K.W. is a talented young performer. I do believe however that ain the studio these days you can make anyone sound like they can sing. However as a vocalist I know that you must first know how to breathe when singing and it sounded like. A: He was overworking his vocal chords. B: He has know idea how hard it is to really sing in a low register if you don’t have a low register and hit the notes or C: A & B above. I thought his other performance was a great tune for the Pop charts these daze and he shopuld stick to that format. Wonderful song indeed.
Peace from the 60’s
Qflat
On December 23rd 2008, janizzle wrote:
i saw Kanye perform 4 days before this performance and he sounded fine to me!
his voice was NOT the way it is in these videos!!
but give him a break, he’s been performing like crazy….did 7 back to back shows before the one i went to, he must have been exhausted! we dont know what he was going through at the moment, so dont judge. we all have bad days.
On December 23rd 2008, mike wrote:
Kanye, do you still think you’re the king of music? LOL
On December 23rd 2008, Laurie Asch wrote:
I really liked this version. My junior high choir boys section has been working on singing this and pitch on it is a very difficult issue because the way the drum pitches spread out and the wide space between the piano line and vocals. Hey, I think Kanye just got more fans with this performance because it is very human, shows the difficulty of this arrangement which must have been hard to record. In a way if one was recording with headphones and other singers or the vocal line with you when you are singing it would almost be easier than live. This performance showed me that I was right to temporarily pull the boys off performing it for the winter concert and work on it more because it is very treacherous. Also, pitch is just one element of music and to many people it is not as noticible as rhythm, emotion, timbre, etc. This is a great song, it just is very difficult to perform because the melody changes so much with each verse and the way it is orchestrated.
On December 23rd 2008, big skinny wrote:
sick. and not the “hip” term either. i am only 31, but the Beastie Boys are better than this garbage. i have never heard this guy until now. i am now going to have the lasting image of a guy that looks like he is bombing an American Idol audition.
dude sucks. music stopped on all fronts in the mid-late eighties.
On December 23rd 2008, doc smith wrote:
I happen to like this guys songs. But heres what happened. There were tracks missing, the vocoder was messed up, auto tune wasnt working etc etc. He was supposed to sing along with his pre recorded tracks and they just werent there.
This is something that every performer today does to some extent. But when it goes wrong, its not good.
On December 23rd 2008, Ju wrote:
I dont consider this lip syncing but its sad that he had to bring himself to the lows of vocal processors. T-Payne is infamous for this in the studio. I think its the same effect but with just a hint of reverb and auto-tune. There pretty much the same thing.
On December 23rd 2008, rude boy wrote:
everybody who wants to jump on kanye for that performance can just stop listening to him.its that simple. youcant expect every artist to have perfect performances. look at artists who fall on stage or those who have been caught doin worse.nobody is lookin at that and its sad.its original and yas it may not have been up to the worlds high standards but KANYE……CHICAGO and the world STILL LOVE YA
On December 23rd 2008, lynzack wrote:
no lipsyncin there just a poor performance i would,nt pay too see him live
On December 27th 2008, brian wrote:
Mr. West is a beeeeotch that can’t sing.