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

love reading your thoughts.

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

love reading your thoughts.

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

love reading your thoughts.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.