I’ll send you out this weekend with my latest response to Scott Smith in our ongoing conversation about Chicago’s favorite son.
Mr. Smith,
What you say about our music consumption now that we’re older is true. It’s a matter of perspective, given how long we’ve been fans; you might think that Album X is good, but it just doesn’t blow your mind like Album A ten years ago, so let’s not get too excited about it. And the good news is that Kanye outsold Fiddy by a wide margin, so maybe we’ll have less chaff to sift through in the future.
To your question as to whether you judged Kanye unfairly based on what Graduation was lacking, namely, less masturbation and more inspiration, I say absolutely not. As soon as he called out President Bush on live TV and said out loud what all of us were thinking, he assumed the mantle of social responsibility. In fact, he did this when he recorded “All Falls Down,” but not so many people knew about it yet. But there’s no turning back now, not when he has this much talent. It reminds me of Charles Barkley’s wishful thinking when he said, “I am not a role model.” Once he achieved a certain level of stardom, like it or not, he couldn’t take it back. Kids all over the country were going to look up to him, and he had to act accordingly (which to Uncle Charlie’s credit, he did).
This brings up the age old question of whether we can expect all our celebrities to be role models, and of course I say no. One needn’t look much farther than the front page of the newspaper to find evidence to the contrary. But when a celebrity has shown both an aptitude and a willingness to do so, he can’t have it both ways. Kanye can’t record a song about the illegal diamond trade in Sierra Leone, then come out with another one called “Drunk and Hot Girls” (which may be the worst song I’ve ever heard by a popular artist not named Fred Durst). But the catch is that this contradiction is what makes Kanye so fascinating; he can both infuriate and exhilarate you in the same verse. I just wish he had done it with better beats on Graduation.
You compared Kanye to Chuck D, which is appropriate, but with some very important differences. Chuck D was never ambivalent about his role as the voice of a community. He used his grenade launcher of a voice to make that clear from the first verse of “You’re Gonna Get Yours,” and hasn’t let up since. He never toed the line between decadence and righteous anger (he let Flavor Flav do that for him); instead, he wore his heart on his sleeve. I don’t know that this type of stark militancy would work for Mr. West though, because he’s a different artist in a different time. The world seemed like a much simpler place when Fear of a Black Planet was scaring white people from coast to coast. Today’s problems are painted in much more troubling shades of grey. If you listen to one of Public Enemy’s more recent albums, that strict moralizing served straight with no chaser feels too heavy-handed. We need it mixed with a bit of levity, and perhaps this is why Kanye is the perfect candidate to deliver it. He can revel in the luxury and self-centeredness afforded him by fame in Dick Cheney’s America, but at the same time be enraged by the inequality he sees on the streets of his hometown.
Speaking of Chicago rappers, I saw Common last night at the Charter One Pavilion, which if my nose hadn’t felt like it was stuffed with a bag of cotton candy because of allergies, would have been one of the most enjoyable shows I’ve seen in a long time. Common is a great example of an artist (one in Kanye’s immediate circle, no less) who has grown into his social consciousness. You can listen to his albums in succession and hear him becoming wiser, going from a kid with that annoying squeaky verbal tic to one who lets his dad rap on every record. You’re right when you say we should expect more of Kanye, and maybe he just needs more time to develop his voice. But then again, do we really want him to change? That contradiction makes him all the more real. Don’t we like him because he’s the “international asshole”?
Regards,
Wood-Tang
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