But who doesn’t love Haim? They’re super funny, unbelievably talented, and nailed the “chill rock electronic” music genre down to a science. The California sisters hit major success with their 2013 released album Days Are Gone, and are prepping for a lot more awesomeness in the new year.

Alana and Este recently told Rolling Stone they’re working on new material in 2014, along with launching their biggest tour yet.

“Our New Year’s resolution is to discover new things, go to new places and get inspired by different kinds of music,” says multi-instrumentalist Alana Haim.

And just who is inspiring them these days? None other than Kanye West and his dark twisted fantasies.

“We’re always writing and figuring out new vibes and trying to get our inner Kanyes out,” says Alana. Adds bassist Este Haim, “We’re going to tap into our inner Kanye.”

They are huge fans of the Yeezus album, noting that it was one of their favorite’s of 2013.

“It’s a fucking masterpiece,” says Alana. “I have yet to see Kanye not put out an amazing record – and people don’t understand how hard that is. To make record after record and come out with something new and push the boundaries and have it succeed every single time is insane. If I could choose any brain to just chill in, for, like, 10 minutes, it’d be Kanye’s. I just want to see what goes on up there. Because he’s a genius.”

They also pledge to work on their fitness more, and of course, call their mother. Rock on Haim!

Today I listened to this Haim and Lorde cover of “Strong Enough” by Sheryl Crow one too many times. Enjoy!

(Photo by Getty)

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“Well, I’m just a creative; I’m more like a Walt Disney, or something. Rap is just a chamber of my thoughts. If I’d have lived in a past life time, maybe I woulda been a playwright. But in this life time, to be the most ‘turnt’ and the most relevant, the most relevant is to be a rap/rock star, ” says Yeezy.

That’s a direct quote from Kanye West’s recent interview with Chicago radio station B96. The interview, which features a cool, calm, and collected Yeezus, is mostly filled with bouts of narcissism, followed by his response to the Anti-Defamation League.

The ADL’s national director, Abe Foxman, called Kanye’s comments on Jews and power “classic anti-Semitism,” adding “There it goes again, the age-old canard that Jews are all-powerful and control the levers of power in government.”

Kanye called the comment an “ignorant compliment” and said it was widely misinterpreted:

“I don’t know how being told that you have money is like an insult,” Kanye said. “That would be like if somebody complimented black guys and said, ‘All black guys have big penises.’ You don’t want to be the black guy who raises his hand and says like, ‘That’s not true. I have proof!’”

Ok, totally. Lovely comparison, Sir Yeez.

If you’re fan of the “Black Skinhead” rapper, watch the interview to learn more about life as “Kanye Kardashian,” his clothing line, and working with Frank Ocean and James Blake.

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It’s not too often we find people in support of dear Yeezus, the self-proclaimed “God” of hip-hop. Leave it to Minister Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam to defend the rapper and his alleged anti-Semitic comments made about President Obama’s “weak” global connections.

During Farrakhan’s weekly “Time and What Must be Done Series” the minister offered his two cents on Kanye West’s bold comment: “Black people don’t have the same level of connections as Jewish people. Black people don’t have the same connections as oil people.”

Here are the highlights from the minister’s lofty sermon on Abe Foxman’s press release, which requested an official Kanye apology:

“Did he (Kanye) lie? No he told the truth,” at the 25 second mark.

(About Jews) “You’re not all powerful, but you certainly are powerful, and you control the levels of government. You don’t want to admit it,” at the 1 minute mark.

“Kanye West, don’t bow to the pressure to apologize to anybody. You said nothing wrong. I am directly from the christ and the messiah, so what I tell you has more weight than anything that these enemies might want to say,” at the 2 minute mark.

If he wasn’t before, it looks like Minister Farrakhan is now president of the Kanye West fan club. He calls for Yeezus to stand firm on his overreaching comments, and it’s highly doubtful that the filter-less West will break from his beliefs.

But what can we say? Just another day in the life of a God.

(Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images For BET)

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Last week, in a radio interview, Kanye West made some stereotypical comments about Jewish power.

“Man, let me tell you something about George Bush and oil money and Obama and no money. People want to say Obama can’t make these moves or he’s not executing. That’s because he ain’t got those connections. Black people don’t have the same level of connections as Jewish people. Black people don’t have the same connection as oil people.”

This week, the Anti-Defamation League is calling on Kanye to apologize, XXL reports.

Abraham H. Foxman, the ADL National Director then responded to Kanye’s opinion with some thoughts of his own. “If the comments are true as reported, this is classic anti-Semitism,” said Foxman.” There it goes again, the age-old canard that Jews are all-powerful and control the levers of power in government. As a celebrity with a wide following, Kanye West should know better. We hope that he will take responsibility for his words, understand why they are so offensive, and apologize to those he has offended.”

Ah, right— totally forgot that Kanye is renowned for saying all the right things. Because he never said, “I’m sorry, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time,” or “George Bush doesn’t care about black people,” or “I walk through the hotel and I walk down the street, and people look at me like I’m … insane, like I’m Hitler.”

The ADL might want to stay off any lyric website, lest they find many more hip-hop references to Jewish connections and money, that aren’t automatically anti-Semitic, but rather, need context. (Royce Da 5’9: “While these rappers kill each other, them Jews they stick together like glue / and generate more money than FUBU”; Jay-Z: “See I was born in sewage, born to make bomb music / Flow tight like I was born Jewish”; Nas: “The Jewish stick together, friends in high places / We on some low level shit.”)

We’ll see if and how Kanye responds to Foxman. It should be interesting.

(Photo by Gabriel Olsen/Getty)

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After the release of Kanye West’s awful, yet totally amazing “Bound 2” music video (starring wild horses, scenic mountains, and a blonde, sultry Kim Kardashian), James Franco and Seth Rogen decided to recreate their “favorite new video” while working on the set of their upcoming film, The Interview. You will not be sorry you watched this [20 times].

Here you go:

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• Avital Chizhik, who wrote in Tablet about the politics of tights for Orthodox girls, shares a moving cross-cultural experience in the New York Times.

• Josh Radnor, front row at Fashion Week. What would Ted do?

• Is this the definitive list of the 25 best Seinfeld episodes?

• Diane von Furstenberg told the Fashion’s Night Out crowd at her store she hoped they were all Democrats.

• Adam Pally, aka Max on Happy Endings, wrote a movie that Will Ferrell is producing.

• It was bound to happen, right? Kanye raps about Israel—and Bar Refaeli four minutes into his new song, Clique:

The post Daily Jewce: Kanye West Raps About Israel, DVF Gets Political appeared first on Jewcy.

Just ask quirky New York singer-songwriter Hannah Elka Meyers. On her new album, You’re the Pacific, Meyers debuts a song whose title makes exactly that point. In “Emoticons Turn Me Off,” Meyers bemoans a potential love interest’s use of smiley faces (she calls them emasculating).

Meyers probably belongs to the majority of people who find the ins and outs of texting etiquette exhausting. She’s not the only one singing the text message blues, either. Here are five other songs about texting gone wrong, including a choice lyric:

“Longest Text Message” by Childish Gambino: “Texting on my day off, ‘Hey babe, what’s going on?’ ‘Sorry I can’t make it out. Sad face, emoticon.'”

“7 Things” by Miley Cyrus: “When you mean it, I’ll believe it. If you text it, I’ll delete it.”

“Devil in a New Dress” by Kanye West:: “Text message breakups, the casualty of tour.”

“Messages From You” by Drake: “I hate gettin’ messages from you, especially when you say you should’ve stayed.”

“Lollipop” Lil Wayne (Remix Featuing Kanye West): “Cause you don’t want that late text, that ‘I think I’m late’ text”

(Texting image via Shutterstock)

Jared Levy is interested in the intersections between music and philosophy. He tweets here.

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• Kim, Kanye, and… Bar Refaeli?

• Why Bella Abzug’s legacy is more important now than ever before.

• The latest from Gerald Molen, the Oscar-winning producer behind Schindler’s List? An anti-Obama film.

• Mayor Bloomberg can only make so many puns in one sentence.

The post Daily Jewce: Madge Cries on Stage, Bar Hangs with Kim and Kanye, and more appeared first on Jewcy.

• David Samuels calls the Jay-Z and Kanye West album ‘Watch the Throne’ “the sonic equivalent of a $10 million bat mitzvah.”

• Police found Boston University Jewish fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi pledges bound and covered in honey and hot sauce in the fraternity house basement.

• Drake’s people “paid a standard rental fee for the use of the synagogue’s facilities” for his bar mitzvah-themed HYFR music video.

• Scarlett Johannson on playing the first female superhero, the Black Widow:

The post Daily Jewce: Kanye and Jay-Z’s $10 Million Bat Mitzvah, WASP Woody Allen, and more appeared first on Jewcy.

While we will probably spend the next few days discussing how amazing Kanye’s new album is, let’s not forget that Barbra Streisand just put out her own My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, but she called it My Passion for Design.

Before I go any further I should probably mention My Passion is actually a book, not an album.  But after I caught a glimpse of the cover, I realized that Kanye and Babs have something in common:  they seem to be the only two people on the planet that genuinely don’t give a crap about the recession.  They’re like “we’re rich, bitches, and we’re gonna flaunt it.  We’re gonna get people to paint us humping a sphinx or snap us hanging out with a dog that looks like it costs at least $15K.”

Go out and purchase 3 or 4 copies of this, because it’s the perfect Hanukkah gift for your grandma, your grandma’s mahjong buddies, maybe your mom, that girl that reminds you of Rachel from Glee, and that drag queen who does a mean Liza impersonation.

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