Hip hop music has given me the most education on the world and the
thoughts, feelings and hardships people face everyday more-so than any
other source of education in my whole life. Because it’s based on
reality from real people who, relatively speaking, live whatever form of
reality they’re exposing. It isn’t from the perspective of an outsider
teacher in a classroom who would most likely only bring up rappers as a
“bad influence” if you’re a student under a certain age and (this next
example is from a real-life experience) would say that any “truth” they
may tell in their songs is “negative” or “propaganda” simply because
their narratives are the opposite of this fantasy you’re taught at an
early age that all police are your friend, America is the “land of the
free” and other boomer propaganda (notice I didn’t put the word
Propaganda in quotes that time).
Kanye West is arguably the most polarizing rap superstar in the
entire genre’s history. And in more ways than just one. Though the most
recent example, and biggest one yet, is his allegiance to Donald Trump
after years of performing “conscious” lyrics speaking for black people.
The same dude that said on live television “George Bush doesn’t care
about black people” in response to Hurricane Katrina, would a decade
later be yelling on stage how he’s “on his Trump shit” and how if he had
actually voted, it would have been for Trump.
In my previous post, I let readers know what this post here would be
focusing on and inserted a link to a YouTube documentary that compiles
clips of Kanye footage from his on-stage 2016 rant up to present day
more or less. But the real purpose of the documentary was to try to
convince viewers of conspiracy theories about how the “illuminati”
shares ties with the music industry and that Kanye fell victim to
reprogramming because he was too outspoken and was “dangerous” to
whatever evil agenda is planned for this “new world order” rappers have
been referencing since the 90s (I remember when they kept saying the
world would be under siege by the year 2000. Guess it depends on what
one’s definition of ‘world under siege’ is). Kanye was hospitalized for
exhaustion and opioid dependency shortly after abruptly cancelling his
entire tour and announcing it after a 15 plus minute rant on stage about
the evils of radio, TV and the media in general (he even gives a ‘fuck
you’ shoutout to Google multiple times) and how they lie to you and
pretty much how everything that doesn’t follow his own opinions is lies
and mind control. This follows with him shouting “FEELINGS MATTER!” and
then dissing then-presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. When Kanye was
hospitalized shortly after, all of these crazed fans online for the most
part decided to buy into what Mr. West was saying and defending him as
this tragic hero type of figure who is “unplugged from the matrix” and
how everyone else is “scared of the truth”. There is no doubt in my mind
these extremely loyal stans are no different than ultra-religious
evangelicals who view Trump’s presidency as some fulfilled prophecy from
God and all of the horrific things he’s done are “sacrifices” or
something like that.
If you follow my twitter page a lot and have been for a while, you
have probably run across quite a few tweets of mine in the past year
dissing or making jokes about hip hop’s self-proclaimed “Louis Vuitton
Don” and his political shift. This is because for years I have been one
of these loyal stans myself. I’ll explain….
From the minute I bought and listened to his first album “The College
Dropout” as a teenager, I pretty much was hearing what any geeky white
kid wanted to hear from a rapper (but wouldn’t dare admit it then)… an
average joe who shares zero traits in his personality, wardrobe, or
musical content as a macho, gangsta, hardcore, violent etc etc whatever
stereotype was a “requirement” to be a successful rapper before this
guy. Not only that but his style of soulful production was a breathe of
fresh air and reminded me of music I listened to as a little kid. The
bottom line is, race aside, he reminded me of myself. An outsider. A
wallflower. Someone who never had an interest in sports, let alone
playing them at his school’s gym class, and wasn’t interested in fitting
in at all. He embraced being different and made that cool again (no
doubt inspired by De La Soul’s message and overall look when they
emerged back in 1989).
Just like I said in my two-part Eminem post, there was also a
parallel between me and Kanye throughout my teenage-to-college years and
the first few years of his career. But the difference was, unlike the
case with Eminem (specifically during his pill addiction-fueled hiatus),
this blurred parallel line was happening simultaneously. His next
album, Late Registration came out during the fall of 2005. This was my
final school semester transitioning from being at a school exclusively
for kids on the autistic spectrum to finally going back to a mainstream
school in my hometown, which finally happened full-time the following
January. But I REALLY felt like the album was loosely about what I was
going through at that same time, obviously in a very general way. All of
the ambition, optimism and self congratulatory content backed by epic
instrumentals was how I felt then. Like I was entering a world I have
been trying to hitch a ride to for years with no luck. Kanye says in one
of the songs that the title “Late Registration” means “taking these
motherfuckers back to school”. All I could think of was going back to a
real school finally but being officially registered in my own district
extremely late.
Shortly after I graduated from high school in 2007 while feeling on
top of the world, I would find out ironically Kanye’s upcoming 3rd album
would be titled “Graduation”. And months later while still for the most
part feeling on top of the world in college as a freshman, hearing that
album was exactly that. Someone who felt he “made it” and (quoting the
title one of the album’s singles) was finally living the “good life”.
The whole album was less conscious and more of a celebration pretty
much.
But within the next year, when my years of numb depression would
begin to unfold, not only would Kanye’s music and life change forever,
but my whole outlook on the world, myself and effects of past traumas
from childhood would…once again run parallel.
To be continued….
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