Kanye's Vestige

"Look at cha, Look at cha, Look at cha, And i want to show you how you all look like beautiful stars tonight..."

There are billions of people on this earth and one of the most intriguing and awe inspiring happenings is when people find ways to separate themselves from so many that are just like them.

Here we are, a couple of days after, where the authentic feelings usually reside. Kanye has just debuted his short film "Runaway" and it has once again left him standing alone with no modern day peers in sight. The film was roughly 35Mins long with a delicately delivered storyline sandwiched between music and pretty imagery. A lot of artist leave the listener to fend for themselves when drawing conclusions and painting images in their head about the presented music, but Kanye spoon-fed all of his personal visions, whether fond of them or not. However it gives another avenue for avid fans and pedestrian listeners to latch on to, perhaps someone was not substantially moved by the music but they were inspired by the visuals.

Most hip-hop artist forget that they're making art. For the sake of consistency we'll classify Kanye West as a hip-hop artist (although i have another theory). Obviously most people want to sell music to the largest pocket of consumers they can reach, therefore you have to be very generic in your approach...unless you are THAT good (most aren't). One of the most perplexing phenomenons is that record labels usually sign hip hop acts that aren't 'That' talented. For instance I don't think many people would argue that 50 Cent, Rick Ross, or Gucci Mane are much more talented than many of their peers. Many of the faces in music are just that, faces. There are people who produce the track, craft the most important parts of the song, which would be the hook or bridge (IF the hip hop song even has a bridge now) and do a lot of the creative process for the "faces". It has become more important to find the right resource than to be the resource, which isn't always a bad idea but it shouldn't be the first option. The segment that now separates artist is marketing, therefore the eminent emphasis isn't on the art. Most passive music listeners will listen to whatever comes on the radio and aren't very discriminate in what they listen to. So the extra time/effort goes towards other things. Contrary to popular belief music is a niche culture.

Kanye on the other hand works equally hard at both, if you recall back to College Dropout he talked about how he had marketing schemes for an album that didn't even have a home (label) yet; he was the one who forced Rocafella to put the album out because he filmed the video got it played and was pushing his own art with his own drive. Whether one likes Kanye's presentation or not you have to be grateful that he is trying hard. He didn't wake up one day in Prague with a film crew, costumes, and backdrop and decide to shoot this film. He didn't decide to relay another gangster or street related visual back to us. He attempted to give us his story how he viewed it as he lived it; not give us someone else's story and try to fit it to himself. An "A" for effort should be given above all else. His motivation of changing the music landscape is the catalyst behind this and that has always been apparent. There are artist that often leave me perplexed to wonder what their motivation is in the music race. Kanye is amassing a nice collection of audio and visual memoirs to keep him alive for many years after he has stopped, and for an individual looking to change the ordinary that's not a bad idea.

Give Kanye credit, love him or hate him, he probably won't Runaway again... He'll be here in some form or fashion.

Thank You Mr. West

Much of this has been through the wringer already and im going to approach this with a sense of delicacy. Kanye's actions of taking the microphone from Taylor Swift was nothing that i condone and i actually feel it was out of pocket. However most of life is layered and this is no different, occasionally things get in the way and nullify the good intentions or scramble the hearts meaning.

I've heard people say that he is pompous and they will never support him... but i think that's the perspective of someone who doesn't see the complete scope of the situation. First lets make this point Taylor won "Best Female Video" and Beyonce proceeds to win "Video of the Year". This is like saying you didn't make the playoff but you won the title, totally paradoxical. Of all the people i have talked to, not a single person has been able to make sense of this for me. MTV is the same network that a couple of years ago gave Britney Spears the main stage at the VMAs and gave Kanye a side room to perform in. Here is the context, Britney had not been doing anything but rehab, she hadn't been making music and she was definitely out of game shape to even return on a national stage such as that. It is utterly ridiculous to surrender her the stage in denial of Kanye who was killing the networks and radio alike with his Graduation album.

You see MTV plays politics and charades, for an honest and authentic artist this is your greatest fear. Kanye doesn't have a malicious bone in his body concerning music, he loves it, perhaps to a fault. His gripe is completely with MTV not with Taylor, i don't think in his tactless rant he meant to decry Taylor, she was merely a byproduct of the fight with the network which is part of the machine. He actual prefaces his declaration with "yo Taylor Im really happy for you ..." He meant everything he said, he really was happy for Taylor. See the thing with Ye is that he perhaps is honest to a detriment. If he were to craft his method better perhaps his blow would have landed more effectively and the public would not be blinded by his incurtious actions. But trust me his heart is in the right place. Just like when Kanye stuck up for the people in Katrina with the George Bush comment, the man honestly means well. The most intriguing facet of this is that he fought for someone else. And not to say that Ye is the only one passionate about his craft (because he's not) but he one of the few within his circle that is passionate enough along with a platform to keep the validity of music achievements. If you follow the mans career, when he came out on his first album he said " at the tender age of six she was arrested for the sit-ins, with that in my blood i was born to be different" referring to his grandfather taking his mother with him to the sit-ins. He believes in standing up for what he considers are the ills of the music game. And unfortunately that is something that i cannot be mad at, granted he could certainly have crafted his tactic better. Generally we forget that everything has two sides, if Kanye wasn't the dominant personality he is, we would never know his name. He had to basically kick the door in because nobody was even giving him a shot with his music career. Certainly becoming more refined would serve him well but when you allow people to be themselves you must accept the good with the bad.

I've watched the Taylor video that won. MTV is "reaching". I'll leave it at that. And its not about how many albums the person sold its about the video and "Single ladies" has penetrated darn near every culture to the point where they spoofed it on Saturday Night Live, that's penetrating. Whether we think the video was great or not the impact was certainly monolithic and obviously MTV agrees giving her the "Video of the Year" award. There is certainly contradiction there and for honest people (trust me I know) it eats you alive when people are deceptive. Some people have cynically responded that he knew what person to do that to and that he calculated this. I can't argue his calculations or not, but you would be hard pressed to get the proper factors to align again. Kanye ONSTAGE next to a microphone, overt bias occurs, network has previously snubbed him. You can make a case either way.

I watched his apology on Leno and he emphasized that he has nothing against Taylor and feels tremendously horrid for degrading her music ability and her moment because those weren't his intentions. He would never want to take anything away from people musically, that would be counter productive to his quest. He simply has too much love and passion for music to watch people politic'it. I don't think people really understand K.West and just because he isn't always politically correct doesn't make him a bad guy. I personally think we need more Kanye's. We all hear of the ills of the music industry and how biased it can be. I've watched other artist gripe about it and nobody ever does anything and for that matter i can't particularly take exception when someone finally steps up and says something. Kanye isn't quite jaded like most of the world, remember that approach we all had as children, when things were wrong we said so; we didn't look at life and say "oh this isn't the right time somebody might get offended". He often holds that same approach. Ye doesn't do this for fame or glitz, as a matter of fact he hates seeing the paparazzi and the like. In his apology he said "i have to accept that i am a celebrity", indicating that he fights with this fact; in his brain he wants to be "A real boy" and live in a real world. Any mistakes made blame it on the mind not the heart. Remember "Everything im not made me everything i am"

Creativity Alert

This is an MTV Europe ad. Why can't we get that creativity over here. We always get stuck with the seductive ads over here in the lustfully driven U.S.A. Simple yet creative, enjoy