Controversial Animator Bill Plympton Talks About Working With Kanye West

In a new interview with The Daily Beast, animator Bill Plympton speaks on his experiences working with Kanye West for his 2005 Late Registration single “Heard ‘Em Say.” Uninterested in children genre cartoons, Plympton looks to explore deeper, occasionally political themes with his unique hand-drawn, dialogue-free creations.The works have earned him two Academy Awards, and garnered a notable fan in Kanye West. The Chicago creative woke the artist with a late night call in 2006, saying “is this Bill Plympton? This is Kanye West. Are you the animator guy? I want to hire you to do my next music video.” West’s ambitious creative vision has earned the respect of Plympton, as the Portland animator professes “he really is a smart guy, and very visual; he could be a theater director. I trusted his opinion.” To read more details of the experience, visit The Daily Beast. Read an excerpt below.

On “Heard ‘Em Say”
“Kanye didn’t like the video. But he had to premiere the film in a week on MTV. He flew over to my studio for a couple of days to look over my shoulder as I was drawing and criticized them. He said, ‘I look more handsome than that—make me more handsome!’ I said, ‘Sure, Kanye.’”