OK - I have to do this. Sorry. Every Kanye bashing requires I post this. Now - I begrudgingly admit I like some of his song. But he really should stick to his element. Do not attempt to perform something like that on stage unless you can begin to pull it off. You will just embarrass yourself when you are compared to the original and the master, Mr. Freddie Mercury.
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I havenāt seen the clip, but I watched the original live airing and I remember Mike Meyers having a very uncomfortable reaction. I remember watching and thinking, āOh, god. Did he just sayā¦?ā and then e-mailing people and spreading the word!
Everything heās said since then has been a bit superfluous.
He is clearly a smart guy. On a moderate dose of mood stabilizers he could be brilliant.
Well, if you donāt pay much attention to him, how do you know heās not saying political things, especially in his music? Iād even argue that being an publicly arrogant black man is itself a political statement. For example, jack Johnson beat the white heavy weight boxing champion, had a monster ego, and cavorted with a series of white women:
Although he was a boxer, his actions were political because a racist society made them political. He was taking the privileges of a white man, and it eventually got him jailed. Same with the black power salute at the 68 olympics. We likely can read this now as a political act, but the discourse at the time in many mainstream magazines expressed dismayed at this supposedly āanti-whiteā symbol.
While, clearly, Kanyeās not going to go to jail for knocking up Kim Kardashian twice and carrying her across state lines for immoral purposes, his own actions can likely be read in a similar manner - as a reaction against a society still not too sure about the beauty of blackness.
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āWoo! ā¦hang on, did he say 2020?ā
Maybe the Washington Press Corp could finally get an answer to the question - does he like fish sticks?
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Yeah. Very classy, leaving the high notes for the audience and not even giving it a shot. Talk about planning for failure, and getting what he planned for.
Youāre absolutely right about societyās uncertainty about the beauty of blackness, and about Jack Johnson (one of my favourites), and the '68 Olympic salute was a proud moment. But Kanye, to many (myself included) is neither an example of beauty, talent, nor pride, but rather of arrogance and ego alone. He was correct in his assessment of George Bush certainly, but I think that was painfully obvious to many.
There have been many great black talents railing against the politics of the day, and he isnāt one of them.
Nina Simone (Peace be upon her) for example, had an ego that, whilst large, was outshone by her cutting lyrics, genius and gravitas. Her craft will live beyond generations, it remains to be seen whether Westās will.
ETA
On the other hand, if being in the running inspires more disenfranchised to sign up for the electoral roll, that can only be a good thing.
Kanye has a history of saying lots of political things, but also a history of being naive, insanely egotistical, and weirdly ignorant. Iām okay with the egotistical part ā it kind of comes with the whole ācharismatic public figureā thing that he cultivates ā but not the ignorance he revels in. This is a man who proudly declared himself a ānon-reader of booksā.
Hahaha, that video is amazing!
Although to be fair Kanye is a producer, not a vocalist - but yea that was painful.
He doesnāt come across as a bad guy though, so honestly at times like this, if anything, I just feel sorry for him. Heās not that smart, and heās doped up to his eyeballs - I probably wouldnāt do much better tbh! And heās hardly doing any harm. The money heās managed to funnel to good causes will likely eclipse any positive impact any of us have on this planet. Food for thought 
I donāt know that. Which is why I originally said āall I know isā. Because thatās literally the only political thing Iāve heard him say.
So are you calling me an asshole or Kanye?
I read it as kanye.
I think thatās what @jsroberts means, but I want to make sure. If heās calling me out, weāll have to have a throw down, though. I assume that angry gifs will be involved.
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