Love him or hate him, it’s a little difficult to ignore him, let alone deny the fact that West is one of this generation’s most influential personalities.
Is he a misunderstood genius or just plain misunderstood? Apoorva Sripathi has a lot of questions
Kanye West’s fondness for controversy perhaps stems from his frustration of trying to ‘have it all’ (not to be confused with a phenomenon usually associated with women trying to achieve the ultimate work-life balance). Of course, he has famously sung ‘I Want It All’, which, if you look it up, does sound like women trying to rise up the ladder at work, while also raid the larder at home, and be a Nigella Lawson-esque ‘domestic goddess’, and be thin, beautiful and hold the feminist flag up high. Phew, I almost lost my breath on that one.
So, what is West up to? The fitting question, to ask, would be: what isn’t he up to? Here’s a concise list: tweeting up a storm, promoting his latest album, tailoring a successful fashion career, consistently maintaining a feud with Taylor Swift, calling for cheaper textbooks and higher teachers’ salaries, asking Mark Zuckerberg to invest “one billion dollars into Kanye West ideas”, filing separate taxes from wife Kim Kardashian... in spite of building a sui generis music career.
What makes West the person he is? Arrogance, straightforwardness, confidence, sometimes incoherence and confusion, and at other times, taking digs at fellow human beings and brands… Arguably, one of West’s covetable talents is his ability to convert people’s indifference and apathy into rage. Recall his fleeting announcement last year at the Video Music Awards, laced with the classic ‘mic-drop’ move (a signature move employed by rappers since the 80s): “I have decided, in 2020, to run for President”. To most, it sounded like a well-timed and calculated stunt, possibly a gaffe, which was laughed aside as yet another of his antics. If he did run, one can only imagine that his candidacy would be similar to that of Donald Trump’s — both making for good television.
Love him or hate him, it’s a little difficult to ignore him, let alone deny the fact that West is one of this generation’s most influential personalities. Understanding him, though, is a different ballgame. The best way would be through his music; picking up clues from lyrics would be an obvious start. Take his album Yeezus, which The Guardian called “dementedly contrary” and “an egocentric fit played out on record” — the lyrics are impressively provocative-meets-sly innuendo-meets-explicit messages, even if he is just expressing the unbearable angst of waiting for croissants at a French restaurant. In ‘I Am a God’, West sings ‘Even though I’m a man of God/My whole life in the hand of God/So y’all better quit playing with God’. On his Yeezus tour, West even had a man play a holy cameo — he brought Jesus Christ on stage. Might he possibly be an evangelist? For this, the album may not be well-loved, but isn’t vexatious art sometimes a product of greatness?
Earlier this month, at Madison Square Garden, thousands witnessed the Yeezy Season 3 collection. Gone were the usual olive greens and beiges and browns. Instead, the palette comprised bright blues, oranges, reds and nudes. But it wasn’t just a night for fashion; his diverse models bobbed and swayed to tracks from his newest album The Life of Pablo. So, what were the clothes like? Those who know their Balmain from their Balenciaga said they recognised a trace of 1980s Alaïa in close-fitting shapes, according to The Cut. Those like yours truly, who consider the baguette primarily a type of French bread, and as an afterthought, a type of purse, recognised a trace of charming homelessness that comes from putting not too much thought into one’s appearance. I’ve never claimed to understand runway fashions, anyway. While he did goad the crowd into booing Nike (a brand that has its roots deep in pop culture), West ended the show with a few poignant thoughts — “So many artists are defined by corporations, or public perceptions, or finances. But, if you’re an artist, you have to just dream,” hinting that maybe this show was conceived out of a hazy dream.
As a West fan, I’m quite late to his work. The first album I listened to was 808s & Heartbreak (2008), which he released following the death of his mother. The album was a departure from the usual, mostly because of his judicious use of auto-tune to create an against-the-grain distorted sound. From there to Yeezus, which is his most experimental and darkest, his fame took a trajectory that can be best described as unapologetically narcissistic. Julius Bailey writes in The Cultural Impact of Kanye West that “unlike many of his academic counterparts who feign an interest in race, class, and gender... Kanye West shows no remorse for being a Black man, or describing the world from this vantage point.” Even when critics and haters (to use a technical term) challenge his societal critique, West has remained unfazed and hardly remorseful. He has, in fact, always questioned why it’s wrong for a black person to celebrate success, and right when a white person does. Funnily enough, he’s equally comfortable in his methods of self-destruction.
His sexist besmirch of ex-girlfriend Amber Rose on Twitter only furthers this point. And that he stands by the innocence of Bill Cosby, even as accusations build up every day, is extremely daunting. Or claiming that he made Taylor Swift famous (and calling her the B word) makes him seem even more volatile than he actually is. Then again, misogyny and sexism in hip hop has always been a popular theme. Marriage to Kim Kardashian, and by that extent to the whole clan, isn’t exactly stabilising; West is seen in tabloids every other day. Perhaps, fatherhood has grounded him. However, that hasn’t stopped him from tirelessly plunging himself into madness. The task of figuring out who West really is, is a tricky one: he’s gifted, brazen and Black. He’s sometimes a cruel joke. He is someone Obama called “a jackass”. Nevertheless, who better than West to define West? I’ll leave you with lines from his song ‘Monster’: ‘Whatever I wanna do! Gosh, it’s cool now!’
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