Whether you think Kanye is a musical genius, a philosophical mastermind, a political activist or absolutely none of the above, it is interesting to discuss his performances- both his artistic performance and his performance of his self, his identity.
Some would argue that Kanye West as a topic is 'old', redundant. Some would also argue that we are giving Kanye's mindlessness too much attention. But I think there are some wider issues involved in all this Kanye talk.
For a basically good, quick response to Kanye calling Kim Kardashian more influential than the First Lady, Michelle Obama, check out this piece.
I have compiled some of the interesting tweets I found concerning his interviews and performance. Although Kanye West's interviews should not be as important to us as, say, the current mass exodus of Syrian refugees or the US drone strikes in Pakistan and Afghanistan, they do provide us with an interesting look at current popular culture and an artist who has perhaps become a victim of the culture of which he is a part. See below- enjoy!
- Posted by Olympia
I think what is interesting about all of the conversations surrounding West, as evidenced through the one tweet that mentioned it above, is there is little to no talk about race. For all intents and purposes, West could very much be attempting to embody, and therefore perform, black [male] exceptionalism. While, I am disgusted by his comments, thought his last album was trash (although nobody believed me) and am curious to see what happens next, I think there is a lot to be said about black [hyper]masculinity that is being ignored. How does his obsession with capitalism and being adherent to it work to purport his masculinity and how might that work when he is attempting to add validity to his existence?
ReplyDeleteGood point, Yasmeen. Those are the kind of conversations that make Kanye worth talking about. What is interesting to me especially is the way he was at first (College Dropout) seemingly completely aware of the ways capitalism was working to purport his masculinity and validate his existence (as a black man in America specifically) but has now chosen a totally different path in expressing that (or so he thinks). For example, on the one hand Kanye being with Kim- Kanye has argued- is an expression of anti-classism and I would argue that he sees his relationship with her as controversial almost purely because of their races. You and I would probably agree however, that Kanye is in fact obsessed with capitalism and she is another extension of that.
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