Kanye West: Love? Hate? Couldn't Care Less?

Hey gang, I need your help.

I want your take on Kanye West (even if you don't have a take on Kanye West). Maybe you love his music, hate his ego. Maybe you dig Gold Digger, despise the rest.

Maybe you think he's a liberal windbag; maybe you think more artists should speak their minds like the Chicago rapper. Me? I think Ye has the genius gene in him, which means he's a fascinating, frustrating, phenomenal headcase. I'm pro-Kanye all the way.

Anyway, lemme know. I'm writing up an essay about his polarizing rep for the next Weekend mag. Kanye plays the Ford Amphitheatre in Tampa on Monday, May 5.

Comments

[Bassnote]

I could care less about him.

[whocares]

Kanye should get over himself, just like the rest of us have...

[Anne]

He's so full of himself that I leave him to be self-congratulatory. He doesn't enter my realm of awareness.

[David]

i agree that he is talented on a genius level, but that chip on his shoulder is definitely getting in his way. it is very hard to take him seriously.

[Tony]

kw is a twit. have you ever heard him in a impromptu interview? he sounds incoherent! i thought perhaps he was caught off-guard (or high), but after another interview with similar results it's clear that it's hard for him to put together a complete sentences.

it's 2 bad that many consider him a poet because he can't seem to come up with any original musical content -- just retreads that are so old they seem new to folks who can't remember anything before 1995.

[Sean Daly]

I shadowed Kanye during the Grammys a few years ago. In listening to him talk, I didn't think he was a twit at all. However, I was struck by how naive and childlike he was. He wasn't polished and he was brutally, comically honest. I don't think that's changed much. Whether you love him or hate him, the guy is a true original.

[jane]

Fascinating, frustrating, phenomenal headcase... yeah, that works. I'm not, shall we say, into his music. But he as a personality fascinates me -- one of those "you just never know what..." kinda characters. Very interesting to watch, ego and all. Even with those funky venetian blind shades he frequently sports.

[Sean Daly]

Is there anyone who doesn't like him but digs his music?

Come on, "Jesus Walks" is a badass song.

If "Stronger" comes on in a club, everyone's on the dance floor.

"Gold Digger" is so wrong it's right.

[jane]

I'll give you "Gold Digger" -- totally dig that one. Although I didn't realize that I had downloaded the explict version and got quite a surprise as I sang along in the car...

[Ray]

Put me firmly in the "Couldn't Care Less" camp.

[Tonianne]

I'll cop to having a fair amount of Kanye on my iPod (fair amount = far more than I have of a-Ha, but far less than I have of Sinatra). For me his music serves a distinct purpose: it's disposable ear candy perfect for working up a gym sweat.

Sure he's an agent provacateur, an egotistical bloviator, and I've no interest in defending his behavior. But if the character of the artist served as a discriminator every time I went to download music, I'd be left listening to the Vienna Boys Choir.

Or hump back whales.

[Matt]

Annoying. Egotistical. Seems to have unresolved issues about his status as a dropout. Highly overrated.

Gold digger was pretty much spot on but everything else was just banal pop garbage.

The whole Kanye as Jesus for Rolling Stone just sealed the deal.

[Marissa]

Sean, I ignore the ramblings he calls interviews. I don't know all of his music, but what I've heard I like.

"Gold Digger" ~ Dig it. The doctor in our office will occasionally belt it out.
"Stronger" ~ coolness
Essentially, I like the faster, heavier beat stuff.

I need no justification. I just like a funky sound and beat.

[Lester]

Racist idiot

[DG]

"...the guy is a true original."

Seriously? On a strictly critical level, just judging the music, I'm just curious why you consider West original.

I'm not dismissive of rap or hip/hop as genres. I think there is quality and merit to be found in music that is based more on rhythm than melody. I've just never understood much of what's considered substantive in this realm, when I can trace the original song that the rap or hip/hop song is based on or sampled from.

The first time I heard "Gold Digger," I thought, "That's from a Ray Charles song." I just don't see the originality in that approach.

And I realize that much of rock and pop is deritive. Yet there's a difference between being derivitive and capitalizing on someone else's talent.

[Sean Daly]

I find him pathologically, Tourettically honest. West says exactly what's on his mind -- whether it's "George Bush hates black people" or kissing, then kicking, boss Jay-Z's a-- on the song "Big Brother" or badmouthing someone who had the audacity to beat him out of an award. His honesty can be obnoxious and refreshing -- but at a time when most pop/rock/hiphop stars bore me senseless, he's always fun to write about.

And frankly, I love Ray Charles, but I also like "Gold Digger." I don't see it as a cheat at all. Rappers and hip-hoppers are collagists, homagists, whatever. That's their medium. Some people get caught up in the samples; I think it's cool.

[Marissa]

Why Mr. Daly, I do declare you've just unleashed your passionate self to us.
Muy caliente! And I mean that with the utmost respect to you as a writer.
Such a statement is what makes you stand out. Bravo!

[Tim]

From reading your comments,Sean, it is obvious you have your mind made up on your upcoming article. A Kanye "lovefest"..

I will admit being from the 70's generation I am a "Rap is Crap" guy.. I don't get it.. never have .. never will..

Kanye comes across as just another angry black man.. No prejudice intended ..

[Tim]

From reading your comments,Sean, it is obvious you have your mind made up on your upcoming article. A Kanye "lovefest"..

I will admit being from the 70's generation I am a "Rap is Crap" guy.. I don't get it.. never have .. never will..

Kanye comes across as just another angry black man.. No prejudice intended ..

[jimh2622]

If someone can show me how much money
he donated to the Katrina hurricane fund, like he said he would, I will respect him.

[Jon]

Could care less. Everytime I hear his name, I think of his outburst on national TV during the Katrina fundraiser. He always seems to be complaining about something. If he would channel some of his anger towards doing some good in the world with the fame he has, maybe I would pay more attention to him.

[A. Einstein]

Aren't we being really liberal with the word "genius"?
From what I've heard in my cold grave from Mr. West is awful (and that's with everything being relative!).
He can't even lay claim to being "cool."
Begging from Grammy awards? And even worse, taking MTV awards seriously! The cool move is to not care. I thought everybody got that memo Marlon Brando sent out in the sixties.
Jeez, I even lost my Nobel Prize money to my ex-wife!
I was discussing K. West with Notorious BIG the other day over dinner and he was disgusted on where hip-hop has gone. He spoke about how for a brief period hip-hop was a vital, energetic, capital "T"-"Truthful" form of expression; but has quickly morphed into some sad caricature. A total lie. He doesn't even recognize it anymore. After a brief pause to soak in Biggie's poignant comments; we both got high.

[Forever Fiancee]

I’m not sure whether I like Kanye or not. Most of the time he seems like such an egotistical and self-absorbed
b------!!! Many of his songs are filled with hate and his outburst during the Hurricane Katrina fundraiser was completely inappropriate – wrong place, wrong time (and I’m no fan of George Bush)!

And his boycott of MTV was just silly (or did he boycott the Grammy’s? I can’t remember which).

And it seems pretty obvious who was responsible for the recent break-up of his engagement to Alexis Phifer.

But then you see how tenderly, sweetly and sadly he talks about his recently deceased mother. You’ve gotta love a man who loves his momma so much!

So I’m torn.

[sparky]

I actually liked Stronger but really can't stand Kanye. Personnally, I think he is trying to fashion himself a P-Diddy-Lite. Hopefully, in January he and W will stroll hand in hand back to New Orleans.

[Paisa el Toro]

Kanye's music is an oasis in a the barren desert of contemporaneous hip hop.

[A]

Hate him!! Love some of his music just can't stand him! Whining at Grammys and Hurricane Katrina The man has so many other accomplishments he should be celebrating instead of being so childish and racist, which he himself is!!!

[D]

I hate that I love Kanye West.

But I have to say that I've noticed that he picks some very interesting people to do background vocals (Adam Levine, Chris Martin, etc), and those people tend to overshadow him. I find myself, during those songs, looking forward to the choruses.

I do not condone weird iPod-esque videos with black and white fireworks though. Want to get that out there.

Looking forward to the write-up (like the chorus in "Heard 'em Say")!

[Sean Daly]

I'm thinking of dividing the essay into two parts -- all the reasons you hate him (valid and otherwise), and all the reasons i like him (valid, etc).

[NickWithAnAxe]

I'll first qualify my opinion with this statement - "I could care less about hip-hop".

It's not that I don't like it. There's the occasional tune that will get stuck in my head for a few days. It's just that I don't care. I would never seek hip-hop out. I think it's 90% garbage, based on what I've heard. An endless lineup of flash-in-the-pans. How many hip-hop artists have actually had any staying power?? Very few. Thing is, they don't seem to care as long as they get paid. I think that's what gets me the most. It seems that the music is a distant 3rd behind the money and the lifestyle.

Kanye is good at shooting his mouth off. I'll give him that.

Thing is, it worked on some level with the Bush/Katrina remark. He got some attention. After that?? Nobody seems to care anymore. It's on to the new, throw-away flavor (flava) of the week - be it Soulja' Boy or someone of his talentless ilk.

In another five years, Kanye will be an answer to a pop-culture trivia game andour fast-food culture will have moved on to something else.

[Laurie]

I was totally indifferent about him, until I saw a mini documentary on him. I saw an intelligent young man that really loved his mother. Then his mother died about 3 weeks after I saw this film, how sad it must have been for him. I think as always the media has painted a bad picture of him (sometimes warrented, I'm sure) but we are all human and make mistakes. I don't pay much attention to the stories that come out about most celebrities. Give them some privacy, PLEASE!

[Derrick]

Kanye west is the best that hip hop has to offer presently. He is in a position to demand respect and he gets it. All his albums were awesome and Graduation is a classic. He is a musical genius. His true Kanye is in his music. Kanye west is the man.

" GEORGE BUSH DOES NOT LIKE BLACK PEOPLE" ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? THIS GUY IS AN IDIOT JUST FOR THAT COMMENT ALONE. I HATE HIS MUSIC, EGO AND FULL ON STUPIDITY. HE DOES NOT LIKE WHITE PEOPLE IS HIS PROBLEM.

[yo]

he is one of the best in the game a very intelligent guy. you have to give him credit in the fact he isn't like lil wayne who is my favorite rapper, t.i. and ect. who are always getting trouble with law when for selling drugs or guns. i mean when you have that much money you need to learn to get that part of your life over that. kanye is extremely talented and a very very smart businessman

[Bob]

The words "petulant twit" come to mind--Some found his shaving of "mama" into his head and his tribute touching--I found it far less than dignified, though it was very sad how she went, and she seemed like a really fine person--don't care for the bombast in his music, though I like the positivity and pro-education stance, the messiah complex is another story. Give me "The Joni Letters" anytime! (I won't even start on Trainwreck Amy, GREAT backup band, though)

[R. Charles]

I had no idea Kanye West was black.
I thought he was Italian. With all the tacky clothes, jewelry and such, it's an honest mistake.

[Elizabeth]

I think his ego is unhealthy. He obviously has talent in the hip hop world and I like a couple of his songs; however, his lyrics are hyppocritical. He sings about how Jesus walks and he hopes God puts him in her plans, but he says he'll do anything for a blonde dike, etc.
His comment about how Bush hates Black
people was inappropriate on a fund-raiser. Most Black people don't know about the constitutional laws that prohibit the National Guard from being sent without proper protocol (not initiated by the Black governor of New Orleans). However, he is brazen...which can be positive and negative. I feel bad about his mother's death due to cosmetic/plastic surgery; I hope he didn't encourage her to do have the surgery. He is indeed fascinating.

[Tonianne]

I was all riled up, prepared to address this snippet of cultural insight:

"I thought he was Italian. With all the tacky clothes, jewelry and such, it's an honest mistake."

And then I read this:

"Most black people don't know about Constitutional laws..."

I have no words.

[James Madison]

Since when does the Bush administration care about following the Constitution?
I guess only when a city is flooded.
And as founding father, let me just say, we didn't care about black people either. (except for that rascal Jefferson)

[Noah Webster]

I'm proud of "Elizabeth" for having the decency of correct grammer by capitalizing "Blacks".
So proper.

[Old Fat Bald Chick Magnet]

Um, it's "grammar," Noah. Can I check your ID?

Kanye? Meh. He's just a more skilled version of what hip-hop has become: ultra-derivative, cliched, boring.

[Nick]

I love him, sure he is an egomaniac but he stands out in the hip-hop/rap community. In a genre full of wannabe thugs and gangsters he writes about things besides shooting people and dealing drugs.

I don't see why anyone can hate on him for sampling music, everyone in this age does it. It is disappointing that so few songs are truly originals anymore, but at least he chooses interesting songs to sample.

I don't get why everyone hates on him so much for the Katrina thing. That was the funniest/most awkward thing to ever happen on a telethon, Mike Meyer's reaction was priceless.

[Tonka61]

I wish his jaw would have stayed wired shut.

[Tonka61]

I wish his jaw would have stayed wired shut.

[Longtime reader]

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.