Not to take anything away from Mr. West here... I mean he IS an amazing artist. His energy is high, releasing an
album every year since 2004 and producing countless singles and
albums for other artists since 2001; and his music is far from ordinary. He takes hip hop to another level and much like Jay-Z,
Pharrell Williams (of N.E.R.D.) and Mos Def (my personal fave) he has raised the bar for urban music to a level that few can reach. Having said THAT....
...WTF, Kanye??
After his win at the MTV
EMA's (European Music Awards) this past week , West was
quoted saying,
"I won nothing last year and I'd brought out Stronger. Then this year, just because I was there, I won best urban act. This was Lil Wayne's year." But the gush of
appreciation didn't end there...he went on to say,
"Britney Spears over Rihanna? Are you serious? I mean fucking Jared Leto? He's my boy but he shouldn't have won over some of those other artists." Well, I'll admit that Jared Leto might be far from America's favorite list of artists and I'm DEFINITELY not a fan of the whole "blood bath" scenario at 30 Seconds to Mars' concerts; but they're concepts are one of a kind, the music is sincere and their videos are something to take note of, not to mention it's EUROPEAN music awards, and their taste is usually far different that that of the US. As far as Britney over Rihanna is concerned...I can't argue, that was an entirely unfounded choice and obviously a corporate decision given her embarrassingly wobbly (and by wobbly I mean the 'fat-jiggle') performance she gave at the VMA's last year. Kanye should be thankful he got an award and graciously accept. Shut up, count your millions and stop complaining about all the love your getting that you probably deserved last year; better late than never.
BUT....it doesn't stop there, folks.
West was also
quoted as saying,
‘‘I realize that my place and position in history is that I will go down as the voice of this generation, of this decade, I will be the loudest voice... It’s me settling into that position of just really accepting that it’s one thing to say you want to do it and it’s another thing to really end up being like Michael Jordan.’’ So how does Kanye get this honor of being dubbed "the voice of this generation"? A Michael Jordan reference? Was their a 1/8 of a lifetime achievement award he received that I've somehow missed?? He undoubtedly is a large influence in hip hop music today, but lets not forget that the world does not revolve around hip hop music. He's not an actor, a painter, an activist, a diplomat or anything much more than an, albeit amazing, producer and lyricist. Although his music touches people of all preferences, it's still soundly considered Urban Hip Hop. Being "the voice" of a generation, at least in my humble opinion requires more than just that. I mean, he's really dumbing down the potential of this generation by naming himself the King.
With all of the musical influences of the past decade, Kanye has definitely ruled the commercial music scene for the last 4 years, but his place is hardly in same halls of The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Prince, Marvin Gaye, Bob Marley or Elvis Presley (pick your era)... I think he's still got some proving to do. And if he thinks his job is done after 4 or 5 short years of being a household name, his light will end up burning out quicker than he can imagine.
Sorry Kanye, but as far as being the voice of my generation....
you gotta speak up a little louder to speak for me.
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