You all know who Kanye West is. Personally, I had never heard of the man until yesterday afternoon. But then, until yesterday afternoon I thought MTV was a cable television network that played music videos, so what do I know. But never mind that. We’re not here to talk about me. We’re here to talk about Kanye West…
In 2006, West appeared on the front cover of Rolling Stone as Jesus wearing a crown of thorns. I’m sure a lot of Christians thought he was an asshole for doing that. But just as his very in-your-face efforts to speak out against homophobia in hip hop, he was not afraid to go against the cultural grain to make a point. Here he is as Jesus, being, to some, an uncivil rebel standing up for a cause, and to others, a goatfucking asshat:
Later, in 2006, West went totally off script during a TV show raising awareness and funds for the victims of Katrina. Rather than reading the pablum provided by the cue cards, he launched a poorly done but heart-felt monologue about the plight of black people in New Orleans, and was finally cut off by the producers when he stated, quite plainly, “George Bush hates black people.”
Here is the video of West being an uncivil rebel, speaking truth to power. Or, in the eyes of some, especially George Bush supporters, an obnoxious fucker of goats:
Then, more recently, just the other day apparently, an award was given to a country western singer at the MTV music awards. West apparently thought that a different person should have gotten the award, so he walked uninvited onto the stage, took the microphone from the young woman who was giving her acceptance speech, and announced that a different performer had also done really good … He was uncivil, but he was just speaking out for the person who had not won the award … but he did so by being an over the top fornicator of ovicaprids extraordinare.
Here he is doing that:
Man, that goat is going to be sore for a couple of days…
My point? Very simple. If you are going to operate in that territory between unquestioning civility and abject goat fucking, don’t be Kanye West.
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“If you are going to operate in that territory between unquestioning civility and abject goat fucking, don’t be Kanye West.”
Priceless.
I much prefer Kanye West as a character on South Park. His ensuing ‘humble’ rant, IN ALL CAPS, was hilarious, as was the trashing he got for SHOUTING.
Oh, come on, he was right at the MTV awards. How can he be wrong? Just look at the picture on Rolling Stones – can’t you see Kanye is god? Or in the words of the catholic church, Kanye is god’s masochistic tortured and murdered son who isn’t really dead because he got better after a few days and isn’t really quite just a son because he’s really part of god – it’s all very kinky and confused and I’m pretty sure the bible mentions something about goats too, so Kanye fits in perfectly – which is lucky for the goat because that means the goat won’t really be that sore after all because the goat will fit just like a kid glove, and that’s why catholic priests love children so much, because they fit like goats.
Maybe he was just jealous that someone came up with a video more creative than half-naked girls dancing around?
MadScientists: I have no doubt that he was right at the MTV awards. I mean, they WERE giving the award to a country western singer….
The problem here is not that he was right or wrong, the problem is that you can’t interrupt the awards ceremony and get invited to the next awards ceremony. Therefore, he is no longer a factor. He’s not going to get invited to a fundraiser anymore because he told the truth about the racial disparity in New Orleans. That was worth it. Now, he’s not going to get invited to an awards ceremony any more (and those are the BIGGEST audiences generally) because he dissed a country western singer to promote an already totally famous super-privileged buddy of his.
So, he has tactics but no strategy.
He is the award ceremony version of an internet troll.
Just to nitpick, he quite plainly stated “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.”
Pundit: Thanks, noted. It was like 3 in the AM.
His interview on Leno was great follow-up. Leno mentioned that he’d met Kanye West’s mom before she died, and asked Kanye what his mom would have said about his thing at the MTV awards. That clearly was a wake-up call to Kanye that what he did was really, really stupid.
Video is here:
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1621529/20090914/west_kanye.jhtml
I know this is completely anecdotal, but I work in the music industry and know a few people that have worked directly with Kanye. Or at least they tried to. He has a reputation for being the biggest jackass in the business.