A$AP Ferg has been teasing his “Work” remix for some time now and on Monday night (May 13) the Harlem rap upstart finally let it go. Flanked by French Montana, Trinidad Jame$, Schoolboy Q and A$AP Rocky, Ferg turns his bouncy underground single into and good old fashioned posse cut.
Ferg sets things off with his usual herky-jerky rap style, paying respect to the Notorious B.I.G. and one of his favorite clothing designers Tommy Hilfiger. “Coogi down to the socks like I’m Biggie Poppa/ Keep ya girl’s head in my Tommy boxers,” he raps.
Fergenstein then passes the mic to French Montana, who combines his rap drawl with Ferg’s rap style. Trinidad toasts his Caribbean roots and then Schoolboy Q drops a murder-filled verse before Rocky closes the show. With his bars Rocky cleverly addresses his fashion detractors. “They want that Pretty Flocko, ratchets, designer jackets/ The same n—as who jack it, be the first to claim we f—ots,” he rhymes.
On Tuesday (May 14) Ferg will drop the track’s video. He shot a portion in Los Angeles and a portion in his native Harlem. MTV News caught up with the A$AP Mob’s latest breakout during the West Coast portion of his shoot back in April and he explained to us how he came across such a potent rap lineup for the “Work” remix. “I chose the artist I chose because they’re all my friends. I got this thing, like, if you’re not on my phonebook then I’m not really talking to you or messin’ with you on a record,” he said.
Special effects legend and inspiration for many of today’s most innovative directors, Ray Harryhausen has passed away at the age of 92. The iconic effects wizard created groundbreaking techniques that brought giant and horrifying monsters to life on the big screen for the first time.
Directors like Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson, and James Cameron count Harryhausen as one of their key influences.
The family of Ray Harryhausen released a full statement, which you can read after the jump!
Raymond Frederick Harryhausen
Born: Los Angeles 29th June 1920
Died: London 7th May 2013.
The Harryhausen family regret to announce the death of Ray Harryhausen, Visual Effects pioneer and stop-motion model animator. He was a multi-award winner which includes a special Oscar and BAFTA. Ray’s influence on today’s film makers was enormous, with luminaries; Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Peter Jackson, George Lucas, John Landis and the UK’s own Nick Park have cited Harryhausen as being the man whose work inspired their own creations.
Harryhausen’s fascination with animated models began when he first saw Willis O’Brien’s creations in KING KONG with his boyhood friend, the author Ray Bradbury in 1933, and he made his first foray into filmmaking in 1935 with home-movies that featured his youthful attempts at model animation. Over the period of the next 46 years, he made some of the genres best known movies – MIGHTY JOE YOUNG (1949), IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA (1955), 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH (1957), MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (1961), ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. (1966), THER VALLEY OF GWANGI (1969), three films based on the adventures of SINBAD and CLASH OF THE TITANS (1981). He is perhaps best remembered for his extraordinary animation of seven skeletons in JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS (1963) which took him three months to film.
Harryhausen’s genius was in being able to bring his models alive. Whether they were prehistoric dinosaurs or mythological creatures, in Ray’s hands they were no longer puppets but became instead characters in their own right, just as important as the actors they played against and in most cases even more so.
Today The Ray & Diana Harryhausen Foundation, a charitable Trust set up by Ray on the 10th April 1986, is devoted to the protection of Ray’s name and body of work as well as archiving, preserving and restoring Ray’s extensive Collection.
Tributes have been heaped upon Harryhausen for his work by his peers in recent years.
“Ray has been a great inspiration to us all in special visual industry. The art of his earlier films, which most of us grew up on, inspired us so much.” “Without Ray Harryhausen, there would likely have been no STAR WARS” George Lucas.
“THE LORD OF THE RINGS is my ‘Ray Harryhausen movie’. Without his life-long love of his wondrous images and storytelling it would never have been made – not by me at least” Peter Jackson
“In my mind he will always be the king of stop-motion animation” Nick Park
“His legacy of course is in good hands
Because it’s carried in the DNA of so many film fans.”
Randy Cook
“You know I’m always saying to the guys that I work with now on computer graphics “do it like Ray Harryhausen”
Phil Tippett
“What we do now digitally with computers, Ray did digitally long before but without computers. Only with his digits.” Terry Gilliam.
“His patience, his endurance have inspired so many of us.” Peter Jackson
“Ray, your inspiration goes with us forever.” Steven Spielberg
“I think all of us who are practioners in the arts of science fiction and fantasy movies now all feel that we’re standing on the shoulders of a giant.
If not for Ray’s contribution to the collective dreamscape, we wouldn’t be who we are.” James Cameron
Kanye West keeps his Twitter page pretty minimal and when he does tweet, sporadically, his tweets usually mean a lot. Which is why the Internets were buzzing yesterday when Ye tweeted “June eighteenth.”
We assumed that he was hinting at a musical release, but others are speculating that June 18 could mean a possible wedding date. An insider revealed (via PerezHilton) that KimYe have set a date with no engagement or media involved.
According to the source, the couple had already picked out a location and decided how they want their wedding to go down. “They’re going to tie the knot in a lavish wedding in the Los Angeles area right after the birth of their child, where they can hear the waves and be married under the moon and stars,” the source revealed. How romantic of them.
Yeezy reportedly let Kim take the reins on planning the wedding details, his only requirement was that no media were to be allowed at the wedding and they would not sell their photos for profit. Smart move on their part- they clearly want to steer away from the direction of Kim’s last wedding. The source revealed that Kanye wants to donate the profits instead. “[Kanye] considered a donation to one of Kim’s charities like the Skin Cancer Foundation, or Mattel Children’s Hospital in a deal around the wedding for a short film.”
Hip-hop features prominently at the 15th edition of the Red Bull Music Academy, an international festival currently taking place at various venues in New York through May 31.
RBMA has planned an ambitious program of concerts and club events that features tributes to artists like David Bowie and Brian Eno and nights dedicated to genres such as electronic music and jazz (though an improvisational jazz duet night on May 1 is given a hip-hop spin with the inclusion of ?uestlove). But hip-hop’s breadth and history is well-represented in New York this month.
Highlights include tonight’s “Fillmatic” screening of rare documentaries and panel with Afrika Bambaataa and Schoolly D; a live performance by Mykki Blanco (May 7); a soundclash between Just Blaze, Young Guru, Federation Sound, and Fools Gold Records (May 9); a “Drum Majors” showcase featuring Mannie Fresh, DJ Mustard, Bangladesh, and Young Chop (May 22); and a DJ gig with classic jocks Bambaataa, Egyptian Lover, and Magic Mike (May 23).
Private lectures and collaborative recording sessions, held for successful admittants to the Academy, are traditionally kept secret from the public until the results are revealed on the RBMA YouTube channel, are also a facet of the proceedings. We’ve learned that this year’s event was to have included a lecture with Rakim, but was canceled for undisclosed reasons.
Though many sessions are sold out, there are still more opportunities to get a taste of the sonic experience via RBMA Radio streams. One event of note that will be available to stream takes place tomorrow night (April 30) at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Held in conjunction with Los Angeles label Brainfeeder Records, it’s set to feature Erykah Badu spinning rap jams in her DJ Lo Down Loretta Brown mode and producer Flying Lotus making his New York debut as an MC called Captain Murphy.
Woody Allen is busy gathering together the cast for his next directorial effort, and it seems like Emma Stone could be his leading actor.
Deadline is reporting that Stone is in talks to play the main role in Allen’s latest. Little details are known about the movie beyond that it will shoot in the south of France. Allen last shot in that country for “Midnight in Paris,” and then traveled to Italy for his follow-up, “To Rome With Love.”
Details about Allen’s most recent film, “Blue Jasmine,” have slowly begun to trickle out to the public. He recently wrapped that San Francisco- and New York-set movie, which stars Louis CK, Cate Blanchett and Alec Baldwin. That project is set to premiere in New York and Los Angeles on July 26.
Stone already has plenty of other projects in the works, like Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s “Birdman” and potentially Guillermo del Toro’s “Crimson Peak.” If she signs on Allen’s latest, this will be her first time working with the director, and we can definitely picture it being a great fit.
Would you like to see Stone star in Allen’s new film? Tell us in the comments section below or on Twitter!
