Why WE Love to Hate Kanye (Black Middle Class Blues)

On Sunday night, Kanye West once again burst into the limelight with his interruption of Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at MTV’s video music awards. His interruption and hyperbolic declaration of Beyonce’s video as the best of the decade caused the twitterverse, facebook, and likely nights and weekends minutes to explode. The cries of  “he’s so”:  foul, without class, self-centered, ______ (fill in your blank) rang out. These cries are the same ones that we’ve all made about West in the past. Despite these cries, somehow he remains at the center of the music universe and Black America and almost universally recognized as spoiled. I began to think, “how can a man that is so disliked remain in that position?”  Well, I think the reason he remains is that he reflects a perfectly spoiled Black middle class identity. That’s right, you can’t disavow Kanye anymore than you can disavow yourself or the folks you went to school with or your fellow readers of this blog.

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In a strange way, Kanye represents the dreams of many from the suburban and urban fringe who grew up listening to Hip-Hop but never spent a night in the South Bronx or stepped over crack viles on their daily path to the schoolhouse. Instead, West flaunts his emergent middle class style, penchant for the preppy, and his difference as a positive identity in a hyper-masculine performatively hood-centric rap industry. Whether it’s a glow in the dark or a shag, he uses his late bloomer status to demand all the attention that he thinks he deserves, but was not afforded earlier in his life. Whether he’s talking about his hard times when he moved North when he had to put his Ikea bed together “by himself” or repudiation of formal education/reading, his arrogance publicly displays the markings at a child who had enough, but not all he wanted. Now Kanye is out to have it all and on his own terms. Kanye’s roots capture the new Black middle class, his late mother Donda West, held a PhD and was a college professor and his father, who was non-custodial, is a photojournalist. I’m always amused and repulsed at watching West’s antics, much like watching teen angst … kind of with “contempt and pity”. West insists that he and comrades are being overlooked and rendered invisible within the music world, despite their contributions. Never mind that Kanye and his imagined damsel in distress Beyonce, are hyper-visible. His outbursts and conversations about his class, race, and sexuality could be pulled straight from a Beverly Tatum book. For so long, the Black middle class has been at the margins of our discourse of Blackness and America at large, Kanye wants to set the record straight (pun intended) though in classic fashion,  he’ll start with making himself known.

After his outburst, West apologized via his blog (mind you in all capitals, which was later revised) which resulted in so many hits his site was temporarily shut down. The blog, a arguably middle class tech tool, allowed him to reach out to his fans and foes who wanted to know what the outspoken artist had to say about his outspokenness. The blog, when not home to apologies, is the locale of conspicuous consumption and the flaunting of extravagant cars, shoes, design projects and other aesthetic porn. The blog itself has a huge following because we too understand West’s concern for the material and the exclusive but dually want some form of legitimacy among the larger Black population. Whether blogging, publicly guzzling Hennessey or battling paparazzi Kanye represents what many feel and desire, but simple don’t enact. His brash mockery of the traditional education route, which is a luxury of having highly educated parents, allows us “college kids” to get out of out angst of following the straight and narrow. His outbursts about his greatness, which are laden with overtones of self-doubt, remind us that we too are something special even if we aren’t the rose that grew from concrete. Kanye West is not a person, he is a verb and a metaphor for the lives of the clamoring Black middle class. I feel like the day that we’re ready to deal with our own issues around race, class, and identity will be the same day we’re ready to tell Kanye “ENOUGH!” and mean it. Until then, I’ll expect more tweets, more album sales, and more tragic outbursts that result from a life of living betwixt and between the color and class lines.

Filed under: Black Men, Boundaries, Class, General, Hip-Hop, Race, Sexuality

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  • http://www.southsidescholar.com/ AMB

    not sure if I buy it. I do agree that on some level Kanye is trying to act out his middle class angst through his conspicuous consumption (particularly around the more obvious markers like hennessy, louis vuitton, etc…).

    But i'm not sure if i buy the argument that this particular moment was about his middle class search for legitimacy within the larger black population. Instead, i would argue that this moment is less about west's class position (because if we are going to be honest, at this point, regardless of upbringing. jay-z, kanye, ludacris, etc… all now share the same class position).

    This moment was about the performative nature of hip-hop (and most popular culture outlets). All of these artists (Kanye more conspicuously than others), are constantly trying to create and recreate a fiction about who they are. In this frame, linking his katrina moment and vma moment makes sense… in both, he is attempting to depict himself as a voice of truth in the “madness.” He is recreating a specifically “hip hop trope,” the unwillingness to be constrained by what the powers at be deem appropriate. His choice to channel wu-tang at the 1997 vma's reinforces this point.

    Ultimately, I think this is less about class and more about an artist's [backfired] attempt to resurrect an image of hip hop as a voice of truth without restriction.

    peace.
    a.

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  • http://www.southsidescholar.com/ AMB

    not sure if I buy it. I do agree that on some level Kanye is trying to act out his middle class angst through his conspicuous consumption (particularly around the more obvious markers like hennessy, louis vuitton, etc…).

    But i’m not sure if i buy the argument that this particular moment was about his middle class search for legitimacy within the larger black population. Instead, i would argue that this moment is less about west’s class position (because if we are going to be honest, at this point, regardless of upbringing. jay-z, kanye, ludacris, etc… all now share the same class position).

    This moment was about the performative nature of hip-hop (and most popular culture outlets). All of these artists (Kanye more conspicuously than others), are constantly trying to create and recreate a fiction about who they are. In this frame, linking his katrina moment and vma moment makes sense… in both, he is attempting to depict himself as a voice of truth in the “madness.” He is recreating a specifically “hip hop trope,” the unwillingness to be constrained by what the powers at be deem appropriate. His choice to channel wu-tang at the 1997 vma’s reinforces this point.

    Ultimately, I think this is less about class and more about an artist’s [backfired] attempt to resurrect an image of hip hop as a voice of truth without restriction.

    peace.
    a.

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  • dumilewis

    and not surprisingly, i don't buy your “it” either. Let's start here, the at the VMAs is a moment, it is a reflection of a greater need for visibility and the creation of identity. The VMAs were a moment that reflected this ongoing quest. Unlike Jay and Ludacris, Kanye has repeatedly struggled for an identity that was validated within hip-hop, America, and Black America because he came from “outside of the ghetto.” Thus him always referencing how different he is relative to everyone else. Yes, braggadocio is common in hip-hop but kanye's goal is saying “I'm different and thus special” because everything's he's not made him everything he is. He doesn't hinge on, nor quest for, the same type of “realness” that other rappers often employ which draws on street legitimacy. Instead his realness comes out of his “voice” and his emphasis on the validity of his voice comes, in part, from his class position, he's privileged. But you can see that it's all shaky because just like after the Katrina moment West ran away with his tail between his legs. This time he was forced to apologize despite him saying things like “don't ever fix your lips like collagen/ say something where you gonna end up apologin.” The reality is that Kanye finds his voice to be important but doesn't have the mettle to stand behind it. Kanye claims to be bigger than Hip-Hop and beyond Hip-Hop, so I doubt that he's that tied to being the voice of “truth” in Hip-Hop. Not to mention he interrupted the speech of a country singer to vindicate an R & B singer. Got lots more to say, but would love to hear your take.

  • dumilewis

    and not surprisingly, i don’t buy your “it” either. Let’s start here, the at the VMAs is a moment, it is a reflection of a greater need for visibility and the creation of identity. The VMAs were a moment that reflected this ongoing quest. Unlike Jay and Ludacris, Kanye has repeatedly struggled for an identity that was validated within hip-hop, America, and Black America because he came from “outside of the ghetto.” Thus him always referencing how different he is relative to everyone else. Yes, braggadocio is common in hip-hop but kanye’s goal is saying “I’m different and thus special” because everything’s he’s not made him everything he is. He doesn’t hinge on, nor quest for, the same type of “realness” that other rappers often employ which draws on street legitimacy. Instead his realness comes out of his “voice” and his emphasis on the validity of his voice comes, in part, from his class position, he’s privileged. But you can see that it’s all shaky because just like after the Katrina moment West ran away with his tail between his legs. This time he was forced to apologize despite him saying things like “don’t ever fix your lips like collagen/ say something where you gonna end up apologin.” The reality is that Kanye finds his voice to be important but doesn’t have the mettle to stand behind it. Kanye claims to be bigger than Hip-Hop and beyond Hip-Hop, so I doubt that he’s that tied to being the voice of “truth” in Hip-Hop. Not to mention he interrupted the speech of a country singer to vindicate an R & B singer. Got lots more to say, but would love to hear your take.

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  • http://www.southsidescholar.com/ AMB

    i feel like there is an inherent contradiction in that statement. how can you say that kanye simultaneously “searched for an identity that was validated by hip hop” and still argue that what he is actually trying to do is position himself as bigger and better than hip hop?

    like i said before… i do agree that this moment is definetly about creation identity. but i think its shaky to try and argue that kanye is trying to make a different kind of “i'm different and special” arguement than other rappers. after all… how else are we supposed to interpret lil wayne's recreation of his exterior self, common's ever changing persona, jay's “grown man” album or even diddy's multiple television shows… the entire genre is about an ego motivated attempt to show why they are the “best,” “special” or what have you… again… this is less about class and more about a cult of personality where everyone is constantly trying to one up the other.

    i agree… kanye's attempt at personality creation is shaky to say the least… but one important factor you keep ignoring is this. if this moment was about kanye differentiating himself vis a vis his class privedge, why create a ODB moment verbatim?

    peace.
    a.

  • dumilewis

    I'll answer from bottom to top:
    1) Why do we keep bringing up the ODB episode without acknowledging he was on drugs. Drugs people!! Drugs induced that behavior, sure Kanye drank but he was not doing the stuff ODB was. I mean dude, ODB used to make his kid watch him smoke rocks… Kanye wasn't channeling rocks, nor ODB.

    2)Kanye's attempt at identity is an attempt at saying, I was born different, raised different, and from a different world from ya'll, thus I am different – every album, barring 808s, hinges on this constructed identity. Not just that he's individually different in tastes but that the context he came up in was completely different. All artists go through transformation, it's called being an artist. But even with these late metamorphises they still have to at the end of the day say, I'm from the hood. Kanye prides himself on saying, “I'm not saying we was from the projects.”

    3) Kanye is a contradiction, as are most Black men, I would argue but a coherent contradiction. He wants validity in the space of Hip-Hop so he can say, “I came, I saw, I conquered” and moved on to an iconic status that is not defined by genre. Thus his quest for new “titles” that are variations on the greatest, not the “best rapper alive.” His authenticity and his grail will come from transcending Hip-Hop not by-passing it.

  • http://www.southsidescholar.com/ AMB

    i feel like there is an inherent contradiction in that statement. how can you say that kanye simultaneously “searched for an identity that was validated by hip hop” and still argue that what he is actually trying to do is position himself as bigger and better than hip hop?

    like i said before… i do agree that this moment is definetly about creation identity. but i think its shaky to try and argue that kanye is trying to make a different kind of “i’m different and special” arguement than other rappers. after all… how else are we supposed to interpret lil wayne’s recreation of his exterior self, common’s ever changing persona, jay’s “grown man” album or even diddy’s multiple television shows… the entire genre is about an ego motivated attempt to show why they are the “best,” “special” or what have you… again… this is less about class and more about a cult of personality where everyone is constantly trying to one up the other.

    i agree… kanye’s attempt at personality creation is shaky to say the least… but one important factor you keep ignoring is this. if this moment was about kanye differentiating himself vis a vis his class privedge, why create a ODB moment verbatim?

    peace.
    a.

  • dumilewis

    I’ll answer from bottom to top:
    1) Why do we keep bringing up the ODB episode without acknowledging he was on drugs. Drugs people!! Drugs induced that behavior, sure Kanye drank but he was not doing the stuff ODB was. I mean dude, ODB used to make his kid watch him smoke rocks… Kanye wasn’t channeling rocks, nor ODB.

    2)Kanye’s attempt at identity is an attempt at saying, I was born different, raised different, and from a different world from ya’ll, thus I am different – every album, barring 808s, hinges on this constructed identity. Not just that he’s individually different in tastes but that the context he came up in was completely different. All artists go through transformation, it’s called being an artist. But even with these late metamorphises they still have to at the end of the day say, I’m from the hood. Kanye prides himself on saying, “I’m not saying we was from the projects.”

    3) Kanye is a contradiction, as are most Black men, I would argue but a coherent contradiction. He wants validity in the space of Hip-Hop so he can say, “I came, I saw, I conquered” and moved on to an iconic status that is not defined by genre. Thus his quest for new “titles” that are variations on the greatest, not the “best rapper alive.” His authenticity and his grail will come from transcending Hip-Hop not by-passing it.

  • http://www.southsidescholar.com/ AMB

    (my bad for all the typo's in the last response i was sleepy lol)

    that makes NO sense… the better question to ask is… why would kanye… allegedly NOT doing drugs in the same way ODB was… mimick him pretty much play by play? there is no way you can convince me that kanye wasn't thinkin about ODB when he staged that stunt… there is no way you can credibly make that argument…

    honestly i think your stretching your this lol. because the more we have this conversation the more i don't get why class has anything to do with it. EVERY rapper is trying to argue that they are different and we could even argue that every [significant] rapper is trying to transcend hip hop… what did lil wayne say on that ludacris track? “hip hop didn't die, it just had a heart attack, so just call me carter or lil cardiac.” for wayne (and every other rapper) hip hop literally needs them to survive/evolve/transcend/whatever…

    kanye is repeating a common and overplayed track. he's no different then eminem who played his white boy card to death, or tupac whose entire identity was constructed around him being from the west coast, lupe who constructed a very midwest identity (and admittedly middle class), or shit even big pun and fat joe. every single one of these artists (1) constructed an identity (2) raps on every album about how that identity is different/BETTER than everybody elses identity.

    at the end of the day… kanye's difference really isn't that different at all.

  • dumilewis

    Yeah we totally disagree: 1) ODB's rant was crack induced, if you don't see how that's different than drinking Hennessey I can't help you. 2) ODB was speaking up for his group losing, not for someone else. 3) Kanye base's his difference on his non-hoodness and his knowledge of yet disassociation from college. You can't get thru 2 songs on an album without him bringing in a black collegiate or middle class referent. 4) The transcendence is a goal of many musicians, that doesn't negate that Kanye's trying to do it as well. 5) You're right, Kanye is overplaying the track but it's a track that hinges on his class identity.

  • http://www.southsidescholar.com/ AMB

    (my bad for all the typo’s in the last response i was sleepy lol)

    that makes NO sense… the better question to ask is… why would kanye… allegedly NOT doing drugs in the same way ODB was… mimick him pretty much play by play? there is no way you can convince me that kanye wasn’t thinkin about ODB when he staged that stunt… there is no way you can credibly make that argument…

    honestly i think your stretching your this lol. because the more we have this conversation the more i don’t get why class has anything to do with it. EVERY rapper is trying to argue that they are different and we could even argue that every [significant] rapper is trying to transcend hip hop… what did lil wayne say on that ludacris track? “hip hop didn’t die, it just had a heart attack, so just call me carter or lil cardiac.” for wayne (and every other rapper) hip hop literally needs them to survive/evolve/transcend/whatever…

    kanye is repeating a common and overplayed track. he’s no different then eminem who played his white boy card to death, or tupac whose entire identity was constructed around him being from the west coast, lupe who constructed a very midwest identity (and admittedly middle class), or shit even big pun and fat joe. every single one of these artists (1) constructed an identity (2) raps on every album about how that identity is different/BETTER than everybody elses identity.

    at the end of the day… kanye’s difference really isn’t that different at all.

  • dumilewis

    Yeah we totally disagree: 1) ODB’s rant was crack induced, if you don’t see how that’s different than drinking Hennessey I can’t help you. 2) ODB was speaking up for his group losing, not for someone else. 3) Kanye base’s his difference on his non-hoodness and his knowledge of yet disassociation from college. You can’t get thru 2 songs on an album without him bringing in a black collegiate or middle class referent. 4) The transcendence is a goal of many musicians, that doesn’t negate that Kanye’s trying to do it as well. 5) You’re right, Kanye is overplaying the track but it’s a track that hinges on his class identity.

  • Ashwini

    One of your best posts yet Dumi!

  • Ashwini

    One of your best posts yet Dumi!

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  • Educatedblkman06

    Dude…now you KNOW normally I'm the kat hollerin' PREACH! But I gotta say…Iiiiii don't know on this one. In low tones, with head kinda ducked down and with mad respect…I think I must say, that this seems kind of a reach to me. Kanye became hot and remains so because in all honesty, the kat's production skills are nice. Just from the perspective of the growth and evolution of hip hop, he did things stylistically, starting with College Dropout, that were creative and fresh.

    I guess the part that I'm missing is how you make him a representative of the Black Bourgeoisie and capitalistic consumptive patterns. I just don't think it's that deep. For me this is an Occam's razor moment. Simply put, Kanye is a kat with a personality disorder that makes hot beats.

    Just my .02

  • Educatedblkman06

    Dude…now you KNOW normally I’m the kat hollerin’ PREACH! But I gotta say…Iiiiii don’t know on this one. In low tones, with head kinda ducked down and with mad respect…I think I must say, that this seems kind of a reach to me. Kanye became hot and remains so because in all honesty, the kat’s production skills are nice. Just from the perspective of the growth and evolution of hip hop, he did things stylistically, starting with College Dropout, that were creative and fresh.

    I guess the part that I’m missing is how you make him a representative of the Black Bourgeoisie and capitalistic consumptive patterns. I just don’t think it’s that deep. For me this is an Occam’s razor moment. Simply put, Kanye is a kat with a personality disorder that makes hot beats.

    Just my .02

  • dumilewis

    Educatedblkman06- No need to worry, I don't need members of the choir, most of ya'll off key anyway ;) No but for real, on your first point. Kanye is famous because he makes hot music, no argument here. On the latter point, I think that ANY social interaction can be as simple as it is or taken prima facie. In this case, I think when we look at Kanye in his whole and the ways he draws the spotlight it's in a particularly classed and raced way. Kanye's obsession with college, design and designer wear, and the privilege with which he interjects his voice are emblematic to me of his background. His “notice me” is emblematic of some psychological stuff too, but I think we can't just ignore the context that produces the crises. Or at least we should consider it as more than a random pattern of spotlight hunting.

  • dumilewis

    Educatedblkman06- No need to worry, I don’t need members of the choir, most of ya’ll off key anyway ;) No but for real, on your first point. Kanye is famous because he makes hot music, no argument here. On the latter point, I think that ANY social interaction can be as simple as it is or taken prima facie. In this case, I think when we look at Kanye in his whole and the ways he draws the spotlight it’s in a particularly classed and raced way. Kanye’s obsession with college, design and designer wear, and the privilege with which he interjects his voice are emblematic to me of his background. His “notice me” is emblematic of some psychological stuff too, but I think we can’t just ignore the context that produces the crises. Or at least we should consider it as more than a random pattern of spotlight hunting.

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  • dina b.

    “blue middle class blues” …interesting take dumi. class identity is definitely an underlying factor in so much of our behavior as PEOPLE. and then fold in race, industry, etc… you get a whole bunch of stuff happening. i especially like this:

    “his arrogance publicly displays the markings at a child who had enough, but not all he wanted.”

    love reading your thoughts.

  • dina b.

    “blue middle class blues” …interesting take dumi. class identity is definitely an underlying factor in so much of our behavior as PEOPLE. and then fold in race, industry, etc… you get a whole bunch of stuff happening. i especially like this:

    “his arrogance publicly displays the markings at a child who had enough, but not all he wanted.”

    love reading your thoughts.

  • dina b.

    “blue middle class blues” …interesting take dumi. class identity is definitely an underlying factor in so much of our behavior as PEOPLE. and then fold in race, industry, etc… you get a whole bunch of stuff happening. i especially like this:

    “his arrogance publicly displays the markings at a child who had enough, but not all he wanted.”

    love reading your thoughts.