Anime and Rap

If you haven't already heard the hit single "Stronger" by Kanye West on the radio, then you don't listen to pop radio. If you haven't seen the video yet, then you're probably normal because no one really plays music videos anymore. I saw the video a week or so ago on MTV2 (during the day when no one was watching but me) and immediately realized that it was a beat apart, then I watched it again (because I thought it was good). What did I realize? The video is a live action recreation of parts of the famous Anime Akira.

For those of you who don't know Akira, it's a animated film from Japan that came over in 1989 set in a dystopian future that centers around the exploits of a teenage biker who develops strong psionic powers and the leader of the teenage biker gang who tries to reel him back from the brink. It was the first anime that I ever loved and it's credited with ushering in the flood of Anime in the early 1990's. To sum up: Akira is a big, big deal. It was completely visionary and still looks beautiful and artistic.

And what happened to Akira? Kayne puts himself into the movie as one of the characters and produces an electric video that is hard to stop watching. Of course, Kayne has some funky 80's sunglasses on, but that's only part of the reason that you should tune in.

Check it out here.