A Criticism on the Narrative Criticism of Kanye West

A Criticism on the Narrative Criticism of Kanye West

By: Denzel Young

Many thoughts come to mind when people think of Kanye West, most relevant to this post is his arrogance that even dances on the edge of hubris. I used to think that he was just another celebrity, drunk on his own power, but after reading the interviews and watching the guest spot he did on Jimmy Kimmel, I found myself feeling a new found respect for him, and I also examined why it is that nearly everyone thought that he was, for lack of a better word, crazy. In the end, I discovered that the culprit, as it is in the perception of all celebrities, peoples, ideas, etc. was the media.

Kanye West is only a musician that is passionate about what he does, but it is the fact that his passion leads him to take steps that a more sensible musician wouldn't take, that causes him to be perceived the way that he is. In his interview, he connected his name to several major people within their given fields, like Steve Jobs and Michael Jordan. This was seen by some as him overstepping his bounds. Here we have a musician whose music is known world wide, he, as a person, is both famous and infamous in the same breath. Why is it necessarily so out of bounds for him to compare himself to those people that he has regarded as his heroes? He wants to be respected and have those that deserve respect to be respected as well. Is that so crazy?

While on the topic of his alleged insanity, I do partially believe that the fact that he is considered to be "cocky" is due to his race. In class, we stated that one of the things that made him a "round" character was his willingness to discuss race directly. Why is it necessarily "uncommon" for a celebrity to directly reference the system in which he lives? No one that has been alive in this country since its founding can say that there is no racial inequality, so what many referred to as him "pulling the race cards" or making excuses as to why he had never won against a white artist, what they, at least in my opinion, are saying is to leave the powers that be alone. Kanye is actively challenging the status quo, calling out things that he feels are wrong and standing up when people he feels deserve their due are over looked. Take the Grammy incident, he walked on stage, grabbed the microphone, and noted that while Taylor Swift had won the award, he felt that Beyonce deserved it. Now while he could have done so differently, many people felt the same way. A lot of people sat at home that day, heard that Taylor Swift had won over Beyonce and sighed in disappointment, powerless to change the outcome. Kanye West wasn't alright with doing that, so he got up and made his opinion known. That is all he is doing, making his opinion, his ideology, his creativity, and his music known. If that's "crazy" for a musician to do, then I think the insane asylum is going to be full, and the recording studios will be empty.