There use to be this guy we all use to know. Came up on the southside of Chicago. Changed hip hop from simple boom clap hearings to soulful music. He made just about every urban kid trade in their jersey for a polo (Ralph Lauren to be exact). This guy showed the world how to American Express themselves. When Jay-Z almost turned into just another artist, this guy produced the album that made Hov a living legend. Dude mite be the reason you can't "wait til you get your money right". When bama's were in the mall purchasing size 38 jeans when they wore a 34, son taught them how to rock their shit the fresh way. Fellas, when your girl is in your ear about money because she doesn't understand the dream, the homie made it easy to say, "baby I'm going on a air plane and I dont know if I'll be back agane" (and that last word isn't mispelled, he really said agane). Remember Kanye West?
Now I admit, Kanye is on some other ish. The new hair, auto-tune singles instead of raw beats with the ill ass verses, Louis Vutton lows over the retro Jordan raptor 7s, and 808s and Heartbreak rather than Good Ass Job. The world is effin confused, but it shouldn't be.
Kanye is doing what artists has done for years...staying ahead of the curve. Instead of making music different for music, Kanye made it different for himself and music. He's doing what a lot of artists out want to do but don't have the courage to pull it off.
If you look at the albums he's put out, each one is ahead of its time. The concepts and messages are so dope that even when it's not suppose to be relevant, it is. And being that 808s and Heartbreak is more of personal music than it is people music, at the end of the day its still...people music.
See the world is afraid of what it doesn't understand. When Reasonable Doubt debuted, it didn't too well because people didn't understand what that lifestyle was about. Now it's damn near the most popular hip hop album mentioned.
I vouch for Kanye, because he's not letting himself fall into the common setting of a rapper. When artist were dropping lines in huge tees and tims, he said, "I'm going to throw on this pink polo, slide on these slippers, and spit just as hard as these niggas". Rappers were sampling the same soulful records from back in the day, and Kanye was mixing it up with the likes of Coldplay, Daft Punk, or Elvis Presley.
There has to be a point in your life when you have to step outside yourself and look at what someone else is trying to do. Kanye lost his mom, him and his fiancee' broke up, and no telling what else went on with dude personally.
So when he's onstage performing songs like Welcome to Heartbreak, Love Lockdown, Robocop, Coldest Winter, and Heartless. And he's doing it wearing something you might only find over seas. Don't knock him because you don't rock wit it, accept the fact that he's doing something for himself and something for the culture. Its not wrong that he's not driving in the same lane as the rest, but it is wrong for people to hate, knock, or disaprove of what he's trying to do.
