When the name Kanye West comes to mind, everyone remembers that infamous day in September when he interrupted — or “Kanyed” — Miss Taylor Swift, thereby cementing his status as the most hated celebrity in America. The next day, the incident was everywhere: the news, radio, and was quickly becoming an Internet meme. This wasn’t the first time Mr. West had been an interuptupus, he’d done during a Hurricane Katrina telethon in 2005 and at another MTV award ceremony in Europe the following year. To say it was bad is an understatement — even President Obama called him a “jackass” — and all Kanye could do was apologize, apologize and apologize. Yet he is still considered a jerk.
Despite Kanye problems with his ego, we shouldn’t judge him based solely on that character flaw but take the man both with the good and the bad parts but remember that the good unquestionably outweighs the bad. Just think of all the other issues plaguing his peers in the music industry, hmm… let’s see; Amy Winehouse has a dreadfully big drug problem, Lil’ Wayne is currently serving time in prison for an illegal gun possession charge and Gucci Mane is also serving time for violating parole on an arrest that was based on assault. The only thing Kanye’s been arrested for is breaking a nosey photographers camera but in comparison to all the others listed he’s a choirboy.
I haven’t even started mentioning what he’s done for hip-hop music in general. When his debut album, “The College Dropout,” came onto the scene in 2004, his production style wasn’t original. Dr. Dre, The RZA and Pete Rock had been sampling classic soul, jazz and R&B songs through out the ’90s but that technique was considered out dated or limited to the underground. That is, until Kanye dragged it up and presented it to mainstream audiences coupled with the depth of his words.
Black poets from the civil rights era influenced his flow and content of his lyrics and one could easily tell. Don’t forget during this time gangsta rap dominated the airwaves with violent misogynistic lyrics and everyone was interested in getting crunk.
Kanye’s focus was on “soft” subjects like his feelings of insecurity, racism, dropping out of college and of course religion. Despite it’s vulgarity, “Jesus Walks” — in my humble opinion — is the most passionate and genuine hip-hop song about Christianity ever made. Numerous Christian hip-hop artists have tried to emulate this to only meet with unoriginal and stale failure.
Don’t believe me? Then just listen to a few Christian hip-hop tracks and make an assessment. With his honest and soulful sound, Mr. West was able to take hip-hop from the gangsters and pave the way for a more sentimental group of artists in hip-hop (ahem … Kid Cudi).
Kanye’s sampling didn’t stop with classic soul tracks, as you must know, he’s sampled everyone from Shirley Bassey (“Diamonds from Sierra Leone) to Daft Punk (“Stronger”) to much success. Mr. West’s eclectic use of samples has brought more fans to the hip-hop genre and swayed other hip-hop producers to experiment with various forms of music. Will.i.am anyone?
Kanye West’s statements are not only limited to interrupting people-or screams as his all caps blog announcements imply- but he’s spoken for a serious ongoing issue that is plaguing the hip-hop community; homophobia. In an industry where homosexuality is seen a form of weakness and saying “no homo” to remove fears of being gay is the norm, Kanye has brought the issue to the limelight. He’s been vocal about his own struggles with homophobia and has advised artists to be accepting of everyone despite their sexuality.
Despite his best efforts, his cries have fallen on deaf ears and have been replaced with taunts and lame questions regarding his sexuality. This hasn’t stopped the relentless Mr. West in his quest for equality; it’s only a matter of time before he makes another statement in an interview or on his blog … in all caps.
Kanye West might not be the best award show guest and really needs to learn to keep his mouth shut but we remember he’s not as bad as the others out there. He’s also been instrumental in moulding the current shape of hip-hop and music today.
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sooner12 2 years, 1 month ago
Damn it, the Kanye incident happened a LONG TIME AGO. Please, move on.
soonergirl1064 2 years, 1 month ago
Kanye West is yesterday's old news! MOVE ON!