Allow me to humbly explain something to you. I was giving it some thought after much needless exposure to Kanye West. And I kept asking myself... why is Kanye West a such a defect?
What did the 50's 60's 70's 80's and even 90's have in common? Rebellion and Art, and they went hand in hand. The 1950's through 60's had greasers... the 1960's through 70's had hippies, the 1970's through 80's had punk rock, and even the in 1990's amidst the corporate glamor, fashion, and fascism, we had the leftovers, the people who coasted the rebellious wave of good ol' fashion thinking for yourself an giving authority and majority a big middle finger. Maybe all those people were just a conglomeration of greasers, hippies, punks, metalheads, skaters, goth's, even hoods. But there was an art, a fire in the belly that connected them all in some way. They respected an art. The respect for the art conquered the influence to be "cool". True art is anarchy because it is an emotional expression and there is no order to emotions... they just ARE. Unfortunately somewhere along the way market bought art, and the art became the market. Selling you "coolness" and you all bought it. We have money, we have cool clothes, and a lot of people like us.
First maybe it started out as just a recycled idea which can still be quite harmless. But then it grew bigger and uglier and HUNGRIER and became the addiction. The addiction for the look, the look that got you accepted into the crowd. Joey Ramone... man that guy is so cool... he really doesn't give a fuck... I gotta look like THAT! His jeans are SO cool! Don't gt me wrong Joey Ramone is fucking cool. But that doesn't imply that every person that who wears ripped jeans and has messed up hair IS.
So why is Kanye West a defect? well getting back to my original point... Kanye West a real brat... always pissin' and moanin' about who REALLY deserves to be rewarded for their personal artistic expression. Kanye is the sad unfortunate side effect of what happens when too many people care about being cool. He fell in. He is autoimmune... attacking his own craft, a craft HE chose to express his voice.
Let's use the word "fight" to stand in place of the word "art" for a moment... while the two are very different things- the common ground they share is ... standing up for what YOU believe. To stand up you must stand against whatever is opposing you. I use this metaphor as kind of a homage to SLC Punk... and allow me to quote the movie "Fighting is to establish power, power is government and government is not anarchy" In our case we would say "Creating art is to express your true self, your true self is to stand up against conformists, government was created to get you to conform" Rebellion is key, it's being you... because being you is to NOT being everyone else.
How can you find your true self in this world if anyone who wants to speak for themselves is ranked out? Kanye West wants to be classified, he wants to be cool, he wants others to think he is cool, he wants to be loved and accepted by ALL. He is a true conformist whether or not he uses controversy as a tool to get heard or just plain bullying, he is just an insecure awkward little chipmunk cheeked kid who desperately wants to be cool. And there is nothing cool about it.
The millennium failed us because it fell in line, it's a time that only cares about fashion, a fashion that represents "cool" but in itself is not "cool". You cannot simply look the part, you must be it. Maybe let's just take a page from Bill Hick's and don't let "the man" speak for you or even worse... create your art for you. And DON'T give a fuck WHO in this tiny little sheepish world may or may not think your "cool". Because as we all know cool doesn't happen from trying to be like everyone else. That would be poser.
I think Billie Joe Armstrong said "A guy walks up to me and asks 'What's Punk?'. So I kick over a garbage can and say 'That's punk!'. So he kicks over the garbage can and says 'That's Punk?', and I say 'No that's trendy!
