MIND INVERSION

I wasn’t originally going to put this up, because people always say any publicity is good publicity. I am also pretty much positive that every single person in the Blogosphere has already touched on this topic. I do, however, feel that I must voice my opinion on Kanye West (as I have many times in the past) in a more professional manner.

Many of you that read this blog might feel that I am way out of my element. This is totally fine, because living in America we are all entitled to our own opinions. What I am posting here is an Opinion Editorial that I was required to write for one of my classes in school. I worked hard on it, and I truly mean what I say in this Op. Ed. Follow me after the jump to read my thoughts.

What Kanye West pulled on Sunday night, again (yes it has happened before), is something that I will never forget. I have been watching Kanye West deliberately demolish the art form that I love more than life itself, Hip-Hop, for the last 3 years. Everything that he does rubs me the wrong way. His ego has risen to new heights; some may say that it may be measured by the Equator itself. His music has become generic and recycled garbage that seems to be readily regurgitated through stereo speakers and televisions everywhere in America. I am simply sick of hearing about the ignorance of an individual who seems to think he is above the rest of America. As I mentioned, last night wasn’t the first time that he used his image and status to deliberately disrespect someone on National Television.

I must make a distinction to all of the people reading this article. I am talking about Hip-Hop Music, not Gangster Rap, there is actually a huge difference between the two. See, Mr. West identified himself with people like Talib Kweli & Mos Def when he released his first album The College Dropout. Now although Mos & Kweli would probably give Mr. West props in many ways, I can assure you that they would never do anything like what Kanye pulled on the Video Music Awards. In its purest and most raw form, Hip-Hop is a beautiful thing that has no boundaries. But when artists (can’t believe I called him that) like Mr. West decide to let their arrogance show through and blatantly disrespect other artists, Hip-Hop is going to get a bad reputation. Up until yesterday it truly hurt me to sit back and watch people degrade and nay-say the music that I love so much. After I saw the antics that Mr. West had crookedly conjured, I finally understood why people had felt so negatively about Hip-Hop.

Taylor Swift is a talented artist, but she is also an innocent kid that would never think about doing something so disrespectful. When I saw the look on her face, I immediately felt so bad for her, what was she supposed to do? Some arrogant jackass decided to storm the stage, steal the microphone from Taylor’s hands and told the world that she didn’t deserve to win. The first thing that should be pointed out is that the fans vote on the categories. Taylor’s win was completely legitimate, there were no strings attached. Second, even Beyonce Knowles, the artist Kanye was speaking out for, couldn’t believe how stupid Kanye’s actions were. I was relieved when Beyonce pulled Taylor back on stage so that she could soak up the moment that Kanye had the nerve to destroy earlier in the broadcast.

With people like Kanye West constantly tainting the image of Hip-Hop, it’s not hard to see why the human public has such a natural obsession of complaining. Don’t take this as me giving up on my true love, but as more of an understanding. I think in the past I was so obsessed that I would just ignore any negativity. In 2007, Nas told us that Hip-Hop was dead. It is now 2009, and I don’t think that Hip-Hop is dead… like Geo of Blue Scholars said, I just think that “it’s malnourished and underfed”. Artists like Kanye west are the ones taking away the food and nutrients that Hip-Hop needs to live. If they aren’t stopped now, a truly beautiful art form will shrivel up and wither away like a flower deprived of water.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 15, 2009 at 9:24 am and is filed under Life Perspectives, Music News with tags Arrogance, Gangster Rap, Hip-Hop, Kanye West, Mos Def, Overly Large Ego, Talib Kweli, Taylor Swift, VMAs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.