See what I did there?
So unless you have been living under a rock or some other firm mineral, Kanye West embarrassed himself on national tv in front of 11million (really MTV??) people during the VMA’s Sunday night. Kanye did what many of us dream of one day doing; finally making Taylor Swift speechless. Wait…
Not what I meant to say.
Now, to start this thing off right I want to make a warning. I don’t mean this to sound harsh or offensive. I do not agree in any way with racism, prejudice, or any sort of activity or hate speech that demeans a person based off of race/gender/sexuality/nationality or any other -ality there is out there.
But Kanye West is a moron.
Kanye busted (bursted?) on to the scene with his stellar debut album The College Dropout, the first rap album I had legitimately purchased since before high school. The first single Through the Wire never did anything for me, but when Jesus Walks came out, I knew I had to buy that record.
I think Kanye is a talented artist. He reintroduced me to hip-hop. For that, I am grateful. But let me say it again, Kanye. West. Is. A. Moron.
Oh Kanye… You have written some great music. You have become a huge public figure. You have become a social pariah. A leader of a slacker generation. And sort of a racist.
I’m gonna hit all of this in sort of a stream of consciousness type dealio, so I hope it makes some sense. This is three days of thought coming out during a very engaging biology class.
Kanye West is huge. He’s bigger than huge. He’s huge in an industry that is known for self-proclamations of greatness. Jay-Z once claimed to be the best rapper in the world. Lil’ Wayne has recently claimed that title, as HOVA keeps flirting with retirement, Brett Favre style. But nowhere in the world is Kanye as big as he is in his own mind. I’m becoming more and more convinced that Kanye lives in his own little Kanye world. He’s the king of it. He is the best rapper in it. And believe it or not, Uncle Kanye’s Goodie Shoppe whips up the best little cupcakes you’ve ever tasted.
Like I said, Kanye brought me back to rap after a hiatus of few years. When I fell back into it, I didn’t go hardcore Wafrican-Wamerican; (white person playing like a (stereotypical) black person). Speaking of white dudes acting like black dude, why don’t you ever see any white guys playing like Obama; only the stereotypical gangsta? That one was for free…
Now I jumped back in to listening to rap music. I bought it, downloaded it (illegally!), and listened to it viciously edited on the radio. Thanks to Kanye, I found Lil’ Wayne, Young Jeezy, and T.I., and started a new love affair with Jay-Z, and Wu-Tang. That’s when all this “greatest rapper in the world” talk showed up. More on that in a moment.
Kanye West did what many young wannabe stars do. He went to college, found out he REALLY would rather perform than grade literature papers all day (Kanye was an English major, TLANE) and dropped out to chase his dream of being a hot shot rapper. People still say “hot shot,” right? He went on to title his debut album after his departure from an institute from higher learning, as well has giving collegiate themed titles to two other albums. Oh, and his website is called kanyeuniversecity.com. He has some obsession with college for someone who decided to not finish out a full four. But as above, more on that to come.
Kanye West is black. There, now it’s out in the open. With that said, Kanye has done a lot considering that in the United States of America, where everyone (sarcasm!) has equal rights. I realize something a lot of people don’t. It’s hard to be a black person in America. Sure, the president is black (half, OH SNAP!), the best selling artists in the world are black, and the top sports stars are black, even in golf!! (By the way did anyone see where Tiger finished -19 this weekend? Who does that???)
And I say none of that sarcastically. Despite all these high profile citizens being black, being born an average black man, to average black parents, in an average black neighborhood (yes, they still exist), means that you will statistically have a harder time in life than an average white man. Just the other day my man Eljay got stopped by a cop, and had his school backpack searched while walking in to work. And if you know Eljay, the most questionable thing he was doing was walking in to a Panera Bread wearing a flat billed cap. Black people have a lot to be upset about. They have overcome so much, yet still seem to have so many more mountains to climb. More on that, after the jump…
Lil’ Wayne is the greatest rapper in the world. And you know if it comes from the mind of a 24 year old white dude from Alabama in plaid Old Navy shorts, you know it has to be true. I’m the voice of my generation! Despite all his rantings, ravings, crazy gibberish talkings, and popped collars, Kanye has yet to pass Lil’ Wayne as the greatest rapper in the world. Maybe Lil’ Wayne isn’t the greatest in the world. But come on, the dude straight up raps his recordings without any lyrics in front of him. All stream of thought, “fueled by the beats”* Kanye has well thought, articulate, harsh, and biting lyrics. In front of him. While he records. I’m just saying, Wayne wins that round. Oh, and Lil’ Wayne sold one million records in one week. That works out to about 1.7 albums sold every second, non-stop for a straight week. Compare that to Kanye West’s debut The College Dropout, his best selling album to date (3,135,000). That works out to .02 albums sold every second since it dropped in February 2004. Or, if you’re a stickler, .73 albums a second for the first week. Come on. Wayne for the win.
Oh, and as far as I’m concerned, nobody will ever release a rap song as legit as 99 Problems. Jay-Z single handedly gave rap a new anthem with that song. Then he redid it with Linkin Park and ticked off everyone’s parents in the world. Debate on who you think is the greatest rapper in the world, but Mr. West doesn’t even reach near the top five.
*Stolen from VH1 Behind the Music
That last one ran a little long, I’ll try to calm it down a bit. In this society, where black people are constantly thought of (read THOUGHT OF) to be lazy and not wanting to succeed, it takes prominent black men and women to say something profound and inspirational to the young, black generation. Kanye decided to proclaim that college is a waste of time. Way to be a leader Kanye. Now, sure maybe musicians and athletes shouldn’t be considered role models (Sir Charles Barkley tirade, anyone?). But Kanye has proclaimed himself to be a voice for a generation. To be a sort of leader. To be a role model. Then that role model says college is a waste of time, in a job market where a bachelors degree is a MINIMAL requirement for entry level jobs. President Obama said a very profound thing once. He said, “You might be the next Lil’ Wayne. But probably not.” His point, stay in school. Go to college. Despite what Kanye says, it’s not a waste of time. I know someone will say “anyone who takes advice on their future from a music artist is too dumb for college anyway.” Not the young kids who look up to this guy. Or any guy that says something as moronic as that. When you were a kid, your heroes never did wrong, and what they said was gospel. If Brett Favre had said college was a waste of time when I was a kid, I probably would have thought that it was a waste of time. Just saying….
What Kanye did on Sunday was rude and disrespectful. No one deserves to have their moment stolen by an inebriated musician. And not just stolen, but an attempt made to pass it off to someone else. Now, this is where I may get in to some trouble, so please read this with an open mind. Kanye West is a racist person. I’ll say it again, Kanye West is a racist person. I’ll make a quick comparison and leave it alone. If Beyonce had won the award for Best Female Music Video at the VMA’s, and Justin Timberlake went up, stole the mic and said “Congrats on the award, but Taylor Swift’s was better” he would have been labeled as a racist. Why? Because a white male said a white female should have beat a black woman for an award. An award based on popular vote by fans. I think it is subtle, but his excuse at the time was that Beyonce was responsible for one of the “greatest videos of all time. Of all time!” His words, not mine. Granted, the video for Single Ladies was pretty cool, and when Timberlake and Andy Samberg put on tights and did it up on SNL the video became hugely popular. But of all time? Thriller, anyone? November Rain? Tell me race wasn’t at least a minute reason behind his actions.
This wasn’t the first mildly racist action by the rap star. In a time when the country was facing a terrible hardship, and people were left without homes, or even a city to call home, Kanye did the noble thing by helping out. By calling the president racist. Not just calling him racist, that would have been an understatement. Claiming that President Bush did not care about black people was a bold, and irresponsible statement. Was the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina handled properly by the federal government? I say no. Was it motivated by the presidents lackadaisical attitude toward an entire race of people? Not hardly. By being one of the most popular stars of the day, anything said is looked at in a different light than say a 24 year old blogger. What I say doesn’t reach a lot of people. What a celebrity says, especially bold statements, reach a huge audience. What if Obama had been president during Katrina, and the same events took place in the aftermath? What if FEMA still had slow response time, and the recovery plan was as confusing as it was back then? Would Kanye make the same statement? Doubtful. Just food for thought.
I’m not going to say that Kanye wasn’t concerned for the citizens of New Orleans. That would be a lie. He did in fact seem to care, as he did what he could to help out, however small his efforts were. (He appeared on a celebrity telethon.) Sean Penn and dozens of others went to New Orleans and helped clean up, and take supplies. Again, food for thought.
Was this recent action motivated by race? If it was, it was minimal, especially considering Mr. West’s track record of race-related comments. But there is still a taste of it there, and it’s hard to forget past comments.
I don’t agree with the idea of people stopping buying his albums. In reality, many more celebrities have done way worse things and been given a pass. I mean, Charlie Sheen adamantly believes 9/11 was a government cover-ups, and is still allowed to be on a mediocre CBS comedy. Did Kanye hurt anyone, other than Taylor Swift’s feelings? No. Did he apologize? Yes, and I believe it was sincere in a way. Does he need to be allowed to speak in public, about non-rap issues? Probably not. Just play it safe Kanye, do what you do best. Record rap music. Stay famous for that reason, not for constantly trying to get your size 11’s out of your mouth.
