KanYe West – Superstar, Icon, Inspiration…

Estelle’s song ‘American Boy’  featuring KanYe West sits proudly at the top of the charts and I thought it would be a good opportunity to big up one of my major influences…

 

KanYe’s work is uniquely different to the rest of the hip-hop scene and it is this difference that sets him apart but ultimately nearly resulting in his career never took off as well.

 

The fact that K raps about things that matter such as religion (‘Jesus Walks’) and the diamond trade (‘Diamonds from Sierra Leone’) sat uneasy with record producers who felt that he would not be as marketable as rappers who portrayed the street gang image of guns, pimps and hoes that is prominent in the genre.

 

So here go my single dog radio needs this
They say you can rap about anything except for Jesus
That means guns, sex, lies, video tapes
But if I talk about God my record won’t get played Huh?

 

‘Jesus Walks’

 

Fortunately someone saw sense and KanYe’s work has led to multiple awards (including 9 Grammy’s), critical acclaim and commercial success.

 

Yet K is much more than a phenomenal performing talent and genius producer for other big names in the industry.

 

With more than a penchant for wicked wordplay, K is an extremely bright individual who is devoted to his parents, particularly his late mother (evident through ‘Hey Mama’) while also having immense courage and conviction to fight back from a near fatal accident.

 

In October 2002, KanYe was involved in a car accident while driving home from the recording studio. However the incident did not deter him, providing the inspiration for the single,‘Through the Wire’ performed two weeks after the accident with his jaw still wired to his face due to the reconstructive surgery that was needed.

 

It is little wonder that this triumph over adversity and musical success has led to something of a swagger about KanYe as he declares that before he dies he’s going to touch the sky in the hit ‘Touch the Sky’ while declaring on Estelle’s latest song:

 

Who killin em in the UK?
Everybody gonna say you K,
reluctantly, because most of this press don’t f**k wit me.

 

‘American Boy’

 

The lyrics are certainly true as KanYe’s strong beliefs and antics are at times radical but like a not-too-former Prime Minister, the dirt never seems to stick and he always seems to be a media darling.

 

The fact that he has never been vilified in the same way as artists such as Eminem and Oasis have for their antics and outbursts may be surprising but perhaps the fact most of his statements have more than a grain of truth suggest that he is merely saying what most people sub-consciously acknowledge but are too afraid to say.

 

From a journalist point of view he is certainly ‘good for a quote’.

 

The press’ favouritism was also evident in the media hysteria surrounding the release of KanYe’s third album on the same day as 50 Cent’s in September 2007.

 

Stupidly, Fiddy declared that if KanYe’s Graduation were to sell more than his Curtis album then he would stop releasing solo albums. While KanYe’s album received rave reviews, Fiddy’s was panned as ‘cold, hard and joyless’ (The Telegraph) and unsurprisingly he ignored the forfeit.

 

The media interest in the pair is a microcosm of the hip-hop industry with The Telegraph article expertly portraying the polar opposites. On the one side there is the archaic Gangsta rap image that 50 Cent represents while on the other is a deeper struggle for self worth and improvement with KanYe West.

 

Don’t get me wrong, I was one of the first to jump on the 50 Cent bandwagon with his debut album, Get Rich or Die Tryin’. At the time it was edgy, raw and full of the anger at the treatment of the American underclass but since then Fiddy has descended into a court jester and pastiche.

 

The same cannot be said of KanYe who continually supports Gay Rights and pro-actively denigrates anti-Gay lyrics in a genre that is rife with them. His live television outburst on the government’s slow reaction to helping the same American lower classes that Fiddy has slowly forgotten about in light of Hurricane Katrina also proves that he is willing to face a media backlash if the cause is justified.

 

Yet perhaps he just thinks ‘that that don’t kill me, can only make me stronger’ (KanYe West, ‘Stronger’)

http://www.kanyeuniversecity.com

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanye_West

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/11/12/bmfifty112.xml

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/03/AR2005090300165.html