KANYE WESTWARD HO
I have had mixed feelings about Kanye West for a while now.
I hadn't heard of him until about six months ago. I had heard about him and his erratic behavior long before I listened to his music.
None of that mattered when I finally sat down and listened to his first album THE COLLEGE DROPOUT.
Because now there was more confusion to deal with. Musically the album is fantastic. Few producers can lay down a track as imaginatively layered as West. He intersperses old gospel and spiritual samples, reminiscent of Moby's PLAY album, over a wide array of sounds, all surrounding a backbone of a solid hip hop beat.
Its when he speaks that there is a problem. Far from the best rapper, he is at least far from the worst.
If you took the mic skills of P. Diddy, Ma$e, half of the Fat Boys, and three quarters of 50 cent and you would get a good approximation of his abilities. Lyrically he both soars and infuriates.
Street cred is the general currency of the hip hop world. If you haven't come from the streets, worked yourself up from poverty, been in a gang, pushed drugs, or most recently, taken at least a few slugs of hot lead, your opinion is dubious at best. N.W.A. really started this trend rolling, even if most of the members, ironically, didnt have a rap sheet, weren't that acquainted with the streets, and hadn't done a fraction of the amount of nefarious doins they bragged about on their album. Dre avoided the streets after his brother was killed. Ice cube was from the suburbs. Easy E was the only member that could legitimately call himself a gangsta, albeit a small time one.
Yet they appeared on the music scene with a menace not seen since the early days of rock and roll, and raised social awareness at least to a growing sense of frustration and anger that had largely been left unarticulated.
Its into this atmosphere that Kanye finds himself. Since he doesnt have any street stories himself, he tends to glorify the seedier elements of street life while bemoaning them. Its a pretty precarious tightrope act to perform, and Kanye noticeably stumbles whenever he talks about subjects he only has a second hand experience with.
2pac only had a criminal record after he became famous, but when he spoke of murder, death, and the ravages of inner city life he had the sharp eye and sure voice of a ghetto born Walter Winchell. Kanye, at his toughest, would only be as intimidating as a frustrated Young MC.
Overcompensation seems to be Kanye's solution to this. He self consciously adopts the mantle of ghetto spokesman, with decidedly mixed results.
Many of the social ills in which he talks about are quite legitimate, and he is able to make his point quite convincingly much of the time. But when he raps about the crushing social conditions of WORKING AT THE GAP, claiming racial discrimination and profiling, being questioned about shoplifting, a crime that he has already bragged about committing, he aint exactly Al Sharpton. A recurring theme of the album is his disgruntled take on higher education, that never really elevates itself past the spoiled ramblings of a child who downplays the virtue of a toy he could never figure out how to put together.
Like most self indulgent narcissists, he talks about the trivial pratfalls of his life as if they were universal tragedies, indicative of his entire race. I took cds from Borders when I worked there, but I am hardly in a position to identify with depression era Oakies who had to steal just to get by.
To further exacerbate his folly, he spends a full ten minutes giving the minutia of his rise to fame, getting his feet wet in the industry and finally signing with Jay Z's ROCKAFELLA records. The redeeming grace of this self important rant is the mesmerizing beats behind his slowly drawled words. Andre 3000 pulled this same technique to much better effect on his THE LOVE BELOW.
Which brings us to his notorious New Orleans telecast statement.
"Bush doesn't care about black people". The look on Mike Myers and Chris Tucker's faces say it all.
Was this an impassioned, angry plea or was it a shameless attempt at self promotion, race baiting his way far past Janet Jackson's superbowl exhibitionism? I think it was a mixture of both. Kanye isn't known for holding his tongue or displaying anything resembling stoicism.
LATE REGISTRATION hopped to the top of the charts, partially due to the incredible buzz of this one statement. People who didn't know who West were were suddenly intrigued.
The music alone would have been enough. It is a huge leap artistically, musically and lyrically, with a maturity that was at times sorely lacking. A self consciousness to balance his ego.
"Throw a tantrum like he is three years old/you gotta love it though someone still speak from his soul" he mentions near the end of the album. This may be the biggest intangible to his credit. The impulsiveness and lack of social screens that lets air to the unspeakably obvious. When everyone was skirting around the obvious, careful to pick their words with politically sensitive precision, Kanye said what everyone was thinking. Bush doesn't care about black people. Nor do the majority of the people in Bush's socio economic level, including minorities, who tend to think of poor people, of all colors in the same way a used car salesman views slowly circling birds. He wishes them no particular harm, but sure as hell doesn't want to deal with them and their mess when they are around.
At least someone up and said it, as inappropriate and self serving as it may or may not be.
Keep up the good work, Kanye.
I hadn't heard of him until about six months ago. I had heard about him and his erratic behavior long before I listened to his music.
None of that mattered when I finally sat down and listened to his first album THE COLLEGE DROPOUT.
Because now there was more confusion to deal with. Musically the album is fantastic. Few producers can lay down a track as imaginatively layered as West. He intersperses old gospel and spiritual samples, reminiscent of Moby's PLAY album, over a wide array of sounds, all surrounding a backbone of a solid hip hop beat.
Its when he speaks that there is a problem. Far from the best rapper, he is at least far from the worst.
If you took the mic skills of P. Diddy, Ma$e, half of the Fat Boys, and three quarters of 50 cent and you would get a good approximation of his abilities. Lyrically he both soars and infuriates.
Street cred is the general currency of the hip hop world. If you haven't come from the streets, worked yourself up from poverty, been in a gang, pushed drugs, or most recently, taken at least a few slugs of hot lead, your opinion is dubious at best. N.W.A. really started this trend rolling, even if most of the members, ironically, didnt have a rap sheet, weren't that acquainted with the streets, and hadn't done a fraction of the amount of nefarious doins they bragged about on their album. Dre avoided the streets after his brother was killed. Ice cube was from the suburbs. Easy E was the only member that could legitimately call himself a gangsta, albeit a small time one.
Yet they appeared on the music scene with a menace not seen since the early days of rock and roll, and raised social awareness at least to a growing sense of frustration and anger that had largely been left unarticulated.
Its into this atmosphere that Kanye finds himself. Since he doesnt have any street stories himself, he tends to glorify the seedier elements of street life while bemoaning them. Its a pretty precarious tightrope act to perform, and Kanye noticeably stumbles whenever he talks about subjects he only has a second hand experience with.
2pac only had a criminal record after he became famous, but when he spoke of murder, death, and the ravages of inner city life he had the sharp eye and sure voice of a ghetto born Walter Winchell. Kanye, at his toughest, would only be as intimidating as a frustrated Young MC.
Overcompensation seems to be Kanye's solution to this. He self consciously adopts the mantle of ghetto spokesman, with decidedly mixed results.
Many of the social ills in which he talks about are quite legitimate, and he is able to make his point quite convincingly much of the time. But when he raps about the crushing social conditions of WORKING AT THE GAP, claiming racial discrimination and profiling, being questioned about shoplifting, a crime that he has already bragged about committing, he aint exactly Al Sharpton. A recurring theme of the album is his disgruntled take on higher education, that never really elevates itself past the spoiled ramblings of a child who downplays the virtue of a toy he could never figure out how to put together.
Like most self indulgent narcissists, he talks about the trivial pratfalls of his life as if they were universal tragedies, indicative of his entire race. I took cds from Borders when I worked there, but I am hardly in a position to identify with depression era Oakies who had to steal just to get by.
To further exacerbate his folly, he spends a full ten minutes giving the minutia of his rise to fame, getting his feet wet in the industry and finally signing with Jay Z's ROCKAFELLA records. The redeeming grace of this self important rant is the mesmerizing beats behind his slowly drawled words. Andre 3000 pulled this same technique to much better effect on his THE LOVE BELOW.
Which brings us to his notorious New Orleans telecast statement.
"Bush doesn't care about black people". The look on Mike Myers and Chris Tucker's faces say it all.
Was this an impassioned, angry plea or was it a shameless attempt at self promotion, race baiting his way far past Janet Jackson's superbowl exhibitionism? I think it was a mixture of both. Kanye isn't known for holding his tongue or displaying anything resembling stoicism.
LATE REGISTRATION hopped to the top of the charts, partially due to the incredible buzz of this one statement. People who didn't know who West were were suddenly intrigued.
The music alone would have been enough. It is a huge leap artistically, musically and lyrically, with a maturity that was at times sorely lacking. A self consciousness to balance his ego.
"Throw a tantrum like he is three years old/you gotta love it though someone still speak from his soul" he mentions near the end of the album. This may be the biggest intangible to his credit. The impulsiveness and lack of social screens that lets air to the unspeakably obvious. When everyone was skirting around the obvious, careful to pick their words with politically sensitive precision, Kanye said what everyone was thinking. Bush doesn't care about black people. Nor do the majority of the people in Bush's socio economic level, including minorities, who tend to think of poor people, of all colors in the same way a used car salesman views slowly circling birds. He wishes them no particular harm, but sure as hell doesn't want to deal with them and their mess when they are around.
At least someone up and said it, as inappropriate and self serving as it may or may not be.
Keep up the good work, Kanye.