Rapper and producer, Kanye West has garnered himself a somewhat negative image in the eyes of the young tween pop fanatics that fuel his celebrity. This is mostly due to several public blunders that the Chi-Town producer has made, especially n recent years. The world can remember when a young west proclaimed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina that "George Bush doesn't care about black people." More recently, it was his act at the 2009 MTV VMA's in which he sole the mic from a 19 year old Taylor Swift who was in the middle of her first VMA acceptance speech. "Taylor, I'm really happy for you and I'mma let you finish but Beyonce had one of the greatest videos of all time. Of all time!" This in addition to his history of egotism, are the primary factors that have fueled such a negative image.
While agree with most of the criticism that he has received and don't in any way encourage, his public behavior, I do believe that on a certain level he has been misunderstood. In addition, I don't believe that the media created caricature that has been made of him should be justification for people to make claims about his artistic character and ability. In this post, I hope to briefly analyze the mind and music of this Hip-Hop legend and hopefully come to a solid defense of this often misunderstood genius.
Firstly, I would like to isolate one or two factors that may drive his obnoxious social mishaps. Having, watched a magnitude of interviews and read extensively on or by him, I believe that in making such wild claims and causing such large scenes, West is coming from genuinely good intentions. For West, truth is one of the most important facets of life. His greatest regret is the often inaccurate representation of pop culture by the the most commonly trusted pop organizations such as award shows. He has often threatened to boycott such award shows as the Grammys and VMAs on this notion. So in interruptingTaylor Swift and in calling out the president, the young rapper, only hoped to expose what seemed to him to be the obvious truth. While, his tactics definitely go unprotected, there is no denying honest intentions. Undoubtedly, in the wake of Katrina and in the crowd at the VMAs there were people who felt quite similarly to West, and they would be justified n thinking so. The difference is, West presented the issues in a blunt and unadulterated form. He hoped to spare no tears or feelings, just to present the truth or more of it.
That being said, I think these issues are completely irrelevant to his artistic and musical genius. In an industry that is fueled by synthetic drums and techy disco tinged vocals with laser leads, Kanye West's music is a breath of fresh air. Most of his music is based on sampling, which is taking small aspects from several songs,crashing them together with original or alternative compositions and building an entirely new song of that. He gained much of his initial fame from his production for Jay-Z. His chipmunk sequence soul samples became a trademark of his during his preppy and ironically college hating phase. This time, (2004-2005) marked the more lighthearted fun and humorous Kanye West. In recent years, he has developed a sound and taste that is more grandiose and sonically esoteric.
His career has been one of extreme dynamism, which is rare of most pop artists of this time period. Whereas College Dropout and Late Registration were more soul inspired, his best seller, 2006's Graduation seamlessly combined hip-hop with various electric genres like techno and dub step. Upon the death of his mother, he released "808s & Heartbreaks" in 2008 on which he created an epic soundtrack riddle with intense synths, pads, tribal drumming, and chants all topped with his grainy singing through auto tune. Critics raved. No one was expecting it, especially not from an egotistical maniac rapper. It was one of the most unique albums of the decade. After going on a brief hiatus musically, the Chicago native came with a vengeance on the rock/hip-hop record heavily driven by orchestral strings. "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" ended up being one of the most successful record of the year, garnering a "10" on pitchfork, something which had last happened a decade previously. In addition to the boundary smashing record, West released 30 minute movie written and directed by him, which was essentially a long music video featuring songs from the album, clean and unorthodox visuals, and a simple story which emphasized the theme of the album.
In addition to his various successful fashion and design endeavors, Kanye West has proved himself worthy in more than one scene of the art industry. No other artist in the last decade has been so dynamic, daring, and unorthodox, and impactful. For this, this genius, I think needs more credit than he receives.
