Con-ye West
Down with the douchebags

By Jacey Gibb

o Willem Thomas, I’m really happy for you..
Y Imma let you finish. But Kanye West is one
of most overrated people of all time! Of all
time.

Kanye West jokes from last year aside though;
there is a serious amount of truth to the line above.
It’s sad that in today’s world such a pompous prick is
able to rise to high up.levels of fame. It suggests that
unspoken laws enforcing common decency, such as
The Golden Rule, have failed to maintain the good-
to-douchebag ratio in the universe. Sigh.

I remember when Kanye emerged from the
creative uterus all those years ago and started
bringing something new to the rap/hip hop world.
‘He was fresh and interesting and worth all the praise
he was receiving. But just because you're one of the
hottest recording artists on the planet doesn’t mean
you’re vetoed from having to be a decent person.

Before we continue, I’d like to point out that this
isn’t a piece bashing West’s work. I have no problem
putting My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy on the
mantle as one of the albums of last year and I heavily
approve of all of his efforts before it, but my problem

lies with the man himself.

If you need a motive to hate the guy, simply pick
from the extensive library of reason’s he’s abundantly
provided to the general public. Aside for her looks,
I’m by no means Team Taylor Swift, but that doesn’t
mean I’m going to run up on stage and ruin a
milestone moment for her.

I guess Kanye has had several positive effects on
pop culture. Remember those shutter shades he wore
in the Strong music video? Yeah, that’s right, don’t
pretend you don’t. You can bury them as deep as you
want into your desk drawer but sooner or later that
ghost of fashions past will come back to haunt you.
“Mom, what are these things?” “Oh, they’re Kanye
West sunglasses” “So they provide you with UV
protection?” “No, but they’re able to make you look
like a fashionable blind person” Burn the evidence of
this fad while you still can.

Oh Kanye West, I loathe your musically-talented
person with so much passion, yet by ranting about
your ego, I’m only adding fuel to the PR hate fire.
The more the public disses him, the more popular he
becomes. Luckily, the moment he puts out an album
that isn’t mind blowing, his career will disappear
faster than Charlie Sheen’s sobriety.

 

How | learned to stop worrying and love Kanye West

By Willem Thomas

‘ \ Phen I was first approached (by multiple
\ international music publications) in

: regards to doing part of a segment
detailing the good and “bad” things about Kanye
West, I felt a slight feeling of initial trepidation. I
mean, does Kanye really require defending? We’re
talking about the same Kanye Omari West here,
right?

It took a few moments to clear my head of the
shear befuddlement at the idea that anyone other than
maybe a supercomputer, Cornel West, or Bill’ Murray
(the only human being allowed to use the statement
“T do what I want” in a non-ironic way) could try to
create a substantiated argument against Kanye West,
but after I had done so, I got to thinkin’ about all the
magical gifts, physical, mental, and metaphysical,
that Yeezy has bestowed upon us mere mortals.

It’s impossible not to acknowledge the fact
that he has done some admittedly silly things in the
public eye, and in most public situations Kanye has
been widely known to act, and then think. But once
he does start thinking, it’s probably about something
else not related to whatever brash decision he just
made. With Mr. West, that means progress. Kanye is
always one (or six) moves ahead of any other figure
in pop culture. While Taylor Swift was still crying
backstage, West was on to the next step in that year’s
thirty part, one year plan. The world is still digesting
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, yet Kanye and
Jay-Z’s much-awaited collaborative album Watch
The Throne is right around the corner, and Kanye
tweeted just the other week that he will be releasing a
new LP this summer.

What other human being of international
celebrity status has been as busy, omnipresént, or
as relevant as Kanye in the past decade? He does
more for the collective human consciousness than

almost any other musician, actor, politician, writer,
or other influential what-have-you’s in one central
way: He gets people thinking! Whether those
thoughts are “Kanye West, terrific dude” or “Kanye
West, absolute douche-tool”, the collective human
mind is very much aware of, and in a complicated
relationship with, Kanye West’s delightfully constant
ignorance and sense of self-preservation, whether it is
through his ingeniously well thought-out tweets, the
overwhelming attention paid to his every move, or
simply through his music.

Taylor Swift is a wondrous, hot piece of as-

...1 mean I think she’s a talented, inspiring young
woman. Some of her songs are fairly great also but
that aside, the backlash Kanye received from that
event (do I really need to say what happened between
them? Would you believe me if I say they’ve dated?
She’s been in more improbable relationships...) was
blown out of proportion to a laughable extent. Call
me a bastard but I call that grade-A entertainment,
and it only gave Taylor Swift more to write about, a
bigger and more supportive fan-base, and it further
strengthened Swift’s image as this tender, innocent
young blonde girl.

A wonderful work-out plan; the creation of
many now-classic sayings; the creation of a number
of once-classic internet memes; “Kanye West
Sunglasses”; giving Jamie Foxx a temporary music-
career resuscitation; single-handedly bringing Daft
Punk back into the musical stratosphere; his $180,000
watch with his own face in diamonds on the face of
it; “Maybe my skin’s not right”; comparing himself
to the student in the iconic photo from Tienanmen
Square standing before the tanks; his Rolling Stone
cover; his beautiful dark twisted ego. These are just
some of the gifts that this benefactor has given us.

Oh yeah, and I almost forgot. He makes pretty
decent music too.