This.
Kanye is a media whore much more than a producer anyway. He once made some ok beats. But he since gave up on that to try to become the most obnoxious media mogul since Trump.
Um no. Actually not true particularly in the case of music. Pop music is âpopularâ because it gets played the most on the most accessible outlets.
Context is king in music. If you hear âXâ EDM song on a loud system at a big festival you will most likely think it is more of a âbangerâ than other songs.
If you hear a song 934329423984 times on TV/Radio/Commercials it MUST be popular right?
Remember when âCotton Eye Joeâ was considered a Pop song in the early 90s⌠Yeah that happened. Most popular song ever right?
Think a bit more critically. The âgatekeepersâ are not the public⌠Especially in the case of popular music.
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Yay! First time in my life that I got 100% correct without cheating.
The secret is knowing the difference between the manic egotism that goes with mental instability and the narcissism that comes with successful businessmen.
Every time I hear something like that, I think of this:
Rhyming âsayâ with âsayâ? Câmon, my kids could do betterâŚ
I was sure the Answer Key was going to read:
Answers â 1: Kanye, 2: Kanye, 3: Kanye, 4: Kanye, 5: Kanye, 6: Kanye, 7: Kanye, 8: Kanye, 9: Kanye, 10: Kanye, 11: Kanye, 12: Kanye, 13: Kanye
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I had been trying to forget, damn you.
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"I am not a fan of books. I would never want a book's autograph. I am a proud nonreader of books."
Rampant narcissism I can shrug off. This, though, is sad and only serves to enforce an already huge problem with ignorance in America.
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No, no, no. Heâs a phenomenally talented entertainer. Phenomenally! Says so right there in the description.
âI am the voice of a generation!!â-- Charles Manson
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Huh? Thatâs exactly what I am saying.
When I refer to the class of gatekeepers/curators I am necessarily not talking about the public but a select few who dominate the primary channels of media.
I know exactly what Lennon meant and the full context of when he said it, and I think itâs hard to argue it wasnât a statement made from an inflated sense of his own popularity.
Kanyeâs remarkable number of haters is definitely due to his huge popularity - the more people know you the more are going to dislike you. Lots of people hate arrogant people - as you say, people think Gene Simmons and Liam Gallagher are assholes; I think they are assholes. I donât think that Oasis or KISS are hated enough to garner a petition against them playing in my hometown, but I could be wrong, and it could just be that not enough people would care about them.
But if you are asking what my point is, to borrow from the incredible Kanye point about: âI just told you.â
That is my point. I am suspicious because it sounds like calling a successful black man uppity. I donât think we live in a post racial world or that I am above racial stereotypes. I think noticing that is a good idea.
I donât take responsibility for the layout since I copy/pasted from a lyrics site, but itâs more like âskyâ is a semi-rhyme with 25 and alive and âand sayâ is a little aside afterwards. âWe donât care what people sayâ doesnât rhyme with anything.
I know exactly what Lennon meant and the full context of when he said it, and I think itâs hard to argue it wasnât a statement made from an inflated sense of his own popularity.
But The Beatles actually had talent, so even if they did have enormous egos, at least it was justified. Kanyeâs remarkable number of haters have a deep well to draw from for which to fuel their hate, not only is he an idiot with a massively inflated ego, heâs also a shit musician.
Iâm not sure what your objective standard for saying someone is a good or bad musician is. Lou Reed has said a lot of things and he said heâd never heard anything like Yeezus:
http://thetalkhouse.com/music/talks/lou-reed-of-the-velvet-underground-talks-kanye-wests-yeezus/
And it works. It works because itâs beautiful â you either like it or you donât â thereâs no reason why itâs beautiful. I donât know any musician who sits down and thinks about this. He feels it, and either it moves you too, or it doesnât, and thatâs that. You can analyze it all you want.
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Have you heard Lou Reeds final work? Any respect I might have had for his opinion disappeared after that godawful collaboration. I also doubt Lou Reed had much knowledge about hip hop, especially the more experimental end of it where it crosses over with electronic music. So when he says he never heard anything like Yeezus before, I believe him, but not because thereâs nothing out there that sounds like it, he just didnât know it was out there, and that it was done much better the first time. I respect some of the producers on Yeezus: HudMo, Lunice and Arca in particular, glad they got paid at least. But adding Kanyeâs second rate rhymes over experimental beats is nothing special, just makes the music sound worse. If you want to listen to some genuinely innovative hip hop, check out something like Shabazz Palaces.
I donât know if I confused the issue by picking Lou Reed out as a single example of someone who raved about a single one of Kanyeâs albums. If you wanted to talk shit about everyone who had written about how great Kanyeâs albums were youâd be here for a long time.
Maybe you are actually an excellent evaluator of the quality of music - enough so that I ought to trust your opinion over the vast majority of music reviewers - I wouldnât have any way of knowing that. Generally, when I hear people say âKanye is a shitty musicianâ it sounds to me like they are taking their dislike of him and projecting it onto his music - itâs not enough to not like something, it has to be objectively bad too. I just donât see how that case can be made.
If you wanted to talk shit about everyone who had written about how great Kanyeâs albums were youâd be here for a long time.
Iâm here all day, whoâs up next?
Generally, when I hear people say âKanye is a shitty musicianâ it sounds to me like they are taking their dislike of him and projecting it onto his music
I didnât think much of his music before I realised he was insane, I had no opinion of him personally at that point, he just seemed like another run of the mill uninspired pop hip hop artist (commercial hip hop hasnât really had anything interesting to say since the late 90s, Kendrick Lamar is the only possible exception I can think of at the moment, and thatâs mostly because of the involvement of Flying Lotus and Thundercat on his last album). My levels of dislike now are certainly influenced by the scale of his delusions and ego, and probably also by the fact that so many people seem to be fooled by it all, but primarily itâs musical.
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Metacritic will point you to 25+ reviews per album. Google should find even more.
Do you mean, âSo many people love his musicâ? This is what the issue is, in what way are these people being fooled when they listen to music that they enjoy? If you donât like Kanyeâs music, then thatâs a personal opinion, shared by millions. If a larger number of millions do like his music, why do they have it wrong? Whether or not a musician was good seems like something for historians to settle at least a few decades after.
The Beatles had some talent behind their big egos, but they couldnât have known that at the time. From what I can tell their most popular song of all time is Hey Jude, if they were thinking they were great on the back of that then I donât know what to say.
Anyway, I think Iâve eaten up enough space talking this point out, I guess final word goes to you if desired.
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Do you mean, âSo many people love his musicâ? This is what the issue is, in what way are these people being fooled when they listen to music that they enjoy?
Iâm not talking about the general music listening public so much as the critics, who should know better. People whose career is to know about music shouldnât be able to use ignorance as an excuse. And Iâm not saying people are being fooled into liking him, they are being fooled into thinking heâs some kind of musical genius though, because heâs not, objectively speaking, all matters of taste aside.
All music written after 1935, with the exception of coltrane, Wilco and the decemberistsâblessed be their namesâis rubbish.
