offering coverage: Words

samedi 6 juillet 2013

Kanye's Governors Ball Show: 'I Am A God,' 'On Site' And A Few Words (VIDEOS)

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Kanye's Governors Ball show ended a very muddy three days of music on New York's Randall's Island, playing never-before-heard songs in front of -- and sometimes in the middle off -- an eager crowd on Sunday.

West had the air of an athlete fresh from an offseason spent getting ready, as a new hunger underscored the performances of even his oldest hits. After a jumbotron trio of barking, gnashing dogs, West emerged to perform "Black Skinhead" and "New Slaves," the two songs he has already debuted of the forthcoming album "Yeezus" (June 18, Def Jam). "New Slaves" sounds crystal clear live, shaking the ground beneath the crowd. As it turned out, he actually bookended the show with "Black Skinheads -- it was the last track he played.

Kanye West - "New Slaves" (at Governors Ball)

Wearing a black leather jacket with studs (an outfit that later morphed into some sort of firefighter-esque getup), West then walked a long platform into the audience, where he remained for the duration of the show. A clip of another new tune followed "New Slaves," but was quickly dropped in favor of "Mercy" and "Way Too Cold." Then an acid house-like new track emerged, with an 8-bit beat that gave way to the following clip:

This song appears to be called "On Site."

A few tracks later, with visuals that indicated a runway, West busted out "I Am A God," a thumping track that sees 'Ye yelling amid boasts like "I just talked to Jesus, he said, 'What's up Yeezus? I said, "Shit, I'm chillin', trying to stack these millions.'" Despite the grandstanding, "I Am a God" seems more lighthearted than "New Slaves" or "Black Skinhead" -- take a peek below.

After another set of new visuals (this time, aerial footage of vintage Navy jets) and a spirited performance of "Clique," West admitted that the part of the show "where I start complaining about shit" had arrived. "Just justifying sh-t," he said. "But you know what I is. I'm just happy to be making music and happy to be performing for you all. You know for this album, we didn't drop a single to radio, we ain't have no big NBA campaign, we don't even have a cover. We only made real music."

"Back then we used to go work on an album for like 5 months, then we'd come back and wait for the label to pick the perfect time to release it," he continued, digging in. "When you listen to radio, that isn't where I want to be any more. And, honestly, at this point, I could give a f--k about selling a million records. I'll drop it when I want and I'll sell more records. Because at this point, I don't really care about outside opinions. The only thing I care about is my clique."

From there, West launched into "Don't Like" and "Good Life" before dropping a new track that introduced reggae-style vocals over an elastic, thumping beat that sounded -- and felt -- like a thunderous, bouncing ball:

"Y'all f--k with that new sh-t?" West inquired before taking fans back with "All Falls Down" and his usual interpolation of the intro to "Diamonds From Sierra Leone" into his remix verse from Rihanna's "Diamonds." This time, he chopped up his verse into enough segments for a full track, absolutely belting the chorus along with Rih's backing track.

It's unclear which new songs (aside from "Black Skinhead") were given the Daft Punk treatment, but a number of them certainly fit the bill, as West blended hip-hop's aggression with the best of electronic music. All in all, West seemed more playful and free with the crowd than he did during the New York stop of his "Watch the Throne" tour with Jay-Z, a private show for Samsung and a recent performance at the AdultSwim upfront. He delivered a show that had a very tired and mudcaked crowd bopping along for well past the 11 p.m. festival curfew (though he did start about 20 minutes late).

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mercredi 3 juillet 2013

I Lost Weight: After Stern Words From Her Doctor, Susan Anderson Lost 140 Pounds

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Got a success story of your own? Send it to us at success.stories@huffingtonpost.com and you could be featured on the site!

Name: Susan Anderson
Age: 41
Height: 5'7"
Before Weight: 320 pounds

How I Gained It: I was always heavy. My mother was a great cook, and I took full advantage of that. As a child I was the heaviest kid in class and was teased relentlessly. I learned how to use food as a coping mechanism after my parents divorced. It became my comfort when I was ignored and teased in grade school. By the time I went to high school, I was well on my way to 300 pounds. My addiction to food continued into my 20s and 30s. I went through two divorces and was left with low self-esteem. I hated who I saw in the mirror. I was suicidal and felt ugly, hopeless and unwanted by anybody. The cycle of self-soothing with food continued. I ate whenever I was not occupied by something else, even in the middle of the night. I would wake up and go to McDonald's in my nightgown and hide in the car to eat. Eating the food would feel euphoric at first, then deep depression would set in afterwards.

Breaking Point: My journey started in my doctor's office. He basically told me I was in a life-or-death situation: "If you don't do something about your weight, you are going to die very soon." At 34 years old and a mother of three daughters, I was a borderline diabetic, on various blood pressure meds to control my extreme hypertension and very depressed. I was indeed headed toward an early grave. I will forever be grateful for his stern words that jumpstarted my life.

How I Lost It: The words from my doctor served as my lightbulb moment. Shortly after, I joined a gym, and began to walk into a new season of my life. I did a complete overhaul of my diet, exchanging fried food for veggies and soda for water.

I had not been used to moving my body at all really. I was winded when I would walk up a flight of stairs, or walk to my parked car. I started going to a women's gym called Curves. The trainer there really helped me out of my embarrassment of working out in front of people. For the first month or so I could only work out for about 15 minutes at a time, then slowly as my endurance increased I found I could do about 25 minutes. It was painful, but little did I know then, through that physical pain, progress within my body was taking place!

I began educating myself about the foods that had made me so overweight over the years. The more I learned, the more determined I was to change my body -- and my mind began to change, too. Instead of feeling powerless, I began to feel empowered! I realized then I had to capacity to change my life.

That knowledge lead me out of my own self-imprisonment. I thank God for that gift. Over the course of a year, I not only dropped the weight, but dropped my bad eating patterns. I cut all fried foods and refined carbs from my diet, replacing them with fresh veggies, baked or broiled fish, chicken and lean beef. I adopted a high-fiber, whole-grain lifestyle that left me with energy to burn! I became a fan of water, too. I drink a gallon or more daily, which really aided in my weight loss as well.

My current workouts are about an hour, six to seven days a week, in addition to walking and Zumba. To tone, I work out with weights five days a week. My goal is to compete in amateur women's bodybuilding with the next year or so.

There is a better life for those who believe there is no hope. I want to share what I have learned and help others to apply those principles to their life. It is now my lifelong mission to help others conquer obesity and become free, not only from physical weight, but mental and emotional heaviness associated with it as well. I truly believe that my transformation was not just for my personal fulfillment but to help others with their own journey to weight loss. I want to make a difference. I want to inspire others who think they cannot make their own dreams come true. I want to help others save their own lives, just as someone did for me.

After Weight: 180 pounds

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