Kanye reminds me of...

Before you write off my assessment, you have to hear me out. As i was sitting watching my favorite movie Above the Rim the other day it forced me to think about Tupac's life and this is what i resolved, Kanye is extremely like Tupac. It is rare that people so different can reflect the same light.

Follow me, its ok, trust me. Both individuals were intensely passionate about their work, especially music. Their passion for music pushed them to the cusp of greatness, Tupac created music that was felt like never before. The first fingerprint of his work was his voice, never had an artist up to that point spilled so much assertion and aggressiveness on their music. The most potent characteristic of his music was its impact on the rest of the game. He dared you to step your game up, with thought provoking songs as well as when he had his ambitions as a ridah. Kanye has also pushed people to take their music to a whole new level, he was essentially the godfather of a whole music revolution as far as the resurgence of the soul sound. Even now he makes music that changes the whole dynamic of his genre, if you can still box him into one.

Both of these guys were technically bred as anti-mainstream artist. Tupac came through with Digital Underground, a heavy contrast to the "gangsta-rap" that was taking place at that time. Kanye came up with Talib Kweli who is certainly more about helping generations than he is about selling records. Kanye says Kweli is the most important person in terms of his development as a rapper. Both Pac and Ye ended up being extremely available to the mainstream.

Both individual are extremely emotional, if you have the opportunity look at some old Tupac interviews or if you have snippets stored in your brain just think back. Look at how emotional Kanye gets, just like Tupac did. Both were passionate from an uncommon viewpoint, let me explain what that means. Tupac was such a layered individual and there was more to him than what met the surface, people would often ask him how he could make these aggressive and violent songs and in the same booth create some of the most inspirational, thought-provoking, and uplifting material. He took his experiences from an under privileged environment and merged that with privileged living, what he saw during the later chapter of his life. Most people weren't like that, which is why it was so hard to fathom for most people. Either you were hood or you were uppity, there were very few that had come from so little and achieve so much and have a platform to express it to the world, simultaneously trying to explain to the opposing viewpoint to each side. He couldn't convince the media and mainstream America that people from the slums don't always have bad intentions and they are just like you, they could not absorb what it was like to be from the slums. Just like people from the "hood" couldn't understand the demands he had on his life now and that he had work to do as far as helping as many people as he could with the platform that he had. So his viewpoint was so uncommon because there were so few that could relate.

Kanye on the other hand was taught to be different by choice. He defies all the laws and platforms that were set before him, from the time he entered as a rapper, he says himself " they were looking at me funny cause i didn't have a jersey on". He is part of the mainstream but he thinks like an underground artist, he doesn't want to do it the way others do it. Kanye would make an album and gripe because he didn't get a Grammy Award, but you have to look at what drove him to act this way. Kanye is so talented a lot of songs that are produced, he could do in his sleep, his brain is thinking "push the envelope" and create something truly original. He thinks why are we rewarding people for songs that sound just like ten other ones on the radio and lack so much from a creative aspect. Kanye is a true artist stuck in the world of painters. Everyone can paint especially if you have a stencil. Kanye is trained to think the way you SHOULD think. Lets use the example of taking someone out to a fine restaurant with the finest delicacies and they don't want anything because they are looking for a hamburger, and you are thinking "dude, we got filet mignon here, what do you mean you want a hamburger?". That is what he deals with in his field, but he works amongst them and with them. So back to my original comparison, both were hellbent on making you see things from their uncommon perspective.

Pac and Ye were also both raised by single mothers and were very close to their mothers, which I personally think had to do a lot with them being so emotional. Both had mothers that were relatively activist and progressive on societal concepts. Tupac's mother was affiliated with the black panthers and although Kanye's mom was a teacher at the tender age of six she participated in the sit-ins.

For me when i look at the two i am able to see a lot of the same brilliance, creativity, and emotion. That's why i see these two as carbon copies that walked two different paths.