Kanye West

"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever."

- David St. Hubbins, from This is Spinal Tap - if you haven't seen it yet, go rent it right now. It's brilliant and way ahead of its time.







Watched the Grammys last night. Pretty standard as far as Grammys go. There were highlights (Beyonce and Tina Turner performing together stands out, as well as "A Day in the Life") and lowlights (Why do they trot out guys like Tony Bennett who can't read the teleprompter? How long until Amy Winehouse goes Britney Spears on everybody? She needs some time to adjust to fame and get her head straight, before she's chilling with Dave Chappelle pretty soon. Her album was so good, and I hope she remains with us putting out good music. Hopefully my Janis Joplin comparison is not prophetic.)

But most of all, I was annoyed by Kanye West, and something he did specifically.

The pros of Kanye:

- His album "Graduation" is good, as good as his other albums. In his speech in winning "Album of the Year" he talked about how he's trying to keep hip-hop alive by continuing to incorporate other genres of music and push the art form, which I think he's doing. He's famously a mediocre lyricist, but his strength continues to lie in the eclectic and interesting sounds he appreciates, and continues to absorb and incorporate into his music.

The cons:

- I truly hope that his egotistical "I am the shit" attitude is put on, a persona through which he feels comfortable. He certainly has achieved a level of fame. He has carved his specific niche in the entertainment world, and I'd bet he's at the point where your average middle-American probably has heard of him and knows he's a rapper and thinks George Bush hates black people (even if they can't name any of his songs or pick him out of a lineup).

The lyrics he comes up with in 90% of his songs are the same kind of self-promotion that hip-hop is usually about. I don't listen to much hip-hop anymore. I got the Jay-Z and Kanye West albums as they came out these past couple of years, and friends lent me albums by Common, Talib Kweli, and Mos Def. That being said, at least with Kanye and Jay-Z, most of their lyrics are attempts to make their rhymes, flow, and wordplay as clever and, well, flowing as possible. I get that. I understand that each song doesn't necessarily have to be "about" something. However, it's strange when a song performed at the Grammys has the lyrics


Cause is Louis Vuitton Don night
So we gon do everything that Kan like
Heard they'd do anything for a klondike
well I'd do anything for a blonde dike
And she'll do anything for the limelight
And will do anything when the time's right



Yes, it's a fine line between clever and stupid. And Kanye crossed it when he didn't take off these sunglasses when he was done performing.

If people are offended by the lyrics because it's sexist or whatever, they don't get that he doesn't mean it (well, maybe he does, but that's not the point.) However, it's just seemed kind of stupid to perform songs like this.

I found it ok that he performed with his lit-up vest and white-plastic-framed sunglasses. *** TO BE CONTINUED ***

Continued - Friday, March 7, 2008

Been a while since I blogged. Man...

Anyway, I was saying that I was offended by Kanye's insistence on waiting until the music was on so that he could start talking about his mother's illness and then complain about not getting respect since they had the gall to keep the music on. I was disappointed that the Grammy people didn't keep the music on despite Kanye's whining. Bitch.

In retrospect, the most surprising thing though was Amy Winehouse's bizarre performance and the lack of media discussion about her.

Ah well, on to newer and better things...