I know some will consider that debatable and that's fine, I think you're wrong, though. Saying that, I have liked how, over the last week, so many people who I know dislike/hate the great man have appreciated his interview with Zane Lowe (please do make the time to watch it if you haven't already. Love or hate him, it's a very insightful interview once you get past the perceived madness, most prevalent in the first part).
I would like to see more of that: people being objective and showing appreciation for greatness, regardless of their opinion of a person. There's nothing wrong with praising someone's work or, in this case, words, even if you dislike them as a person. It's not hypocritical. It's accepting that, like all human beings, we are multi-faceted and, as such, are more likely to contradict ourselves than we are to be consistent in our views. For example, I think Kim Kardashian is sexy as hell, but hate everything that she stands for as a human being.
I read the following tweet earlier this week:
It got me thinking.
It would be a fair comment to assume that Kanye West has had this ego forever, right? In general, I don't really have a problem with anyone having an ego, actually. I love rap music where everyone thinks they're the greatest (Jay-Z is, everyone else, is not). There were probably people who thought Kanye was insane when he said the above. Heck, there's probably people who are reading this and think it now.
For the sake of this argument, I'm going to make this statement: Kanye West has done more to suggest that he is as big as Michael Jackson, than he has done to suggest the opposite. i.e. he's closer to being as great as MJ than he is to being far away from it.
What Kanye was telling people back in 1998-2002 above was before the social media age, where one's seemingly deranged claims weren't destined to circulate rapidly via Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr etc. You just said it to whoever would listen to you. They might tell one or two people you said it. Even more likely, they might just not think it's anything worth sharing. Especially if they don't think it's true.
It's taken me a while to get to the point of this blog to the point where, actually, the introduction is actually going to be longer than the point. Like those restaurants that serve you loads of carbs, accompanied with a small portion of the accompanying sauce/meat/etc.
But here we are, we have arrived at it. In the social media age, why are so many constantly telling us how good they/their work is? You know, the kind of person that will tell us that we all slept on their last [insert art form here], that we didn't appreciate it, know how good it was etc. I cringe every time I see this [type of] person go on a rant about how good their work is on Twitter when they haven't made it (if I've ever been guilty of this, which there's a high possibility I have, I
To an extent, I blame the same man who I have no problem with having this ego: Mr. Kanye West. It's as if his ego has given a permit to this highly impressionable generation to behave as he does; proclaiming they're the greatest. Except, unlike him, they haven't done enough/anything to make such claims. And you know the thing about Kanye? Rather than go on about how people wouldn't give him a chance, he got shit done (then made a 12 mins41secs song about it on his first album). Read the following from bottom to top (I contemplated editing this to have it in the right order, then I remembered that I don't get paid to write this blog. So, yeah.):
What's yours is yours, and no man can take away from you. If you're great, it's only a matter of time*. When that time comes, you may shove your Kanye-sized ego in our face as much as you want. Sure, some will hate you for it, but I, love or hate you, will acknowledge that you've earned the right to do so.
*Granted that you work
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Currently listening to: Ab-Soul - Double Standards feat. Anna of Sonnymoon
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