Kanye West Grammys 2015…more about it! Another guy talking about Kanye West on my news feed? WHEN WILL IT END!? Was this perfectly engineered by Kanye West to up his personal brand stock before the new Yeezy’s with Addidas drop? Is Kanye just an asshole?
How about a question that isn’t asked…and from a Kanye hater…is Kanye the only power player figure standing up for African American music? Yeah, yeah we have Azreila Banks tired ass beefing with everyone without offering a solution, while Kanye has time and time again not only stood up for his race and also for artist rights and creative expression. I personally went from a Kanye fan (College Dropout-Graduation days) to a Kanye hater (rant-rant-rant-rant) to an incredible fan of his creative process (but not so much the personality). Yet the more and more I hear Kanye I actually get less tired of him and more of a fan…as much as I want to hate. There is flat out no other artists or celebrity figure on his level that speaks out the way he does. As much as critics want to say he speaks from ignorance he speaks out a lot of well thought out truth and offers solutions (although not always the greatest) while risking his career (thankfully he can back it up with groundbreaking music). Look at it this way, if you are the only person speaking out in your demographic, there is no way you will not be met with hate and could be committing career suicide. Yet Ye continues to use gigantic platforms and his illustrious status to take a legitimate stand for not only his beliefs but the rights and respect for his culture and craft.
I can’t say I spent a ton of time with Becks album, or really anytime at all, but I can tell you Beyoncé’s album was amazing. The song structure and depth was incredible and she held a true meaning behind the music. Beyoncé used her status and platform to empower women via a popular catchy album and executed with nothing short of an amazing complete project. Not to mention she out sold everyone…with no promotion…so the people have already spoke right? Beyoncé not winning the Grammy for best album can be looked at from a social aspect as well. She comes from a background as being labeled as ‘urban’ and having to fight her way to the ‘pop’ category simply because the color of her skin and while great momentous strides have been made, their is still some racial issues at play. While Kanye decided not to play the race card, he brought attention to the topic and has created yet another conversation, although I do fear it will be lost in by bypassing conversation and living amongst the ignorance of social media.. Hell, most of the Grammy’s black performers did subtle notions to keep the conversation about social injustice alive.
These are just some thoughts on Kanye and his Grammy antics but I would love to openly discuss the Grammy’s, social injustice, and anyone’s thoughts and options on the topic! Hit us up on Twitter or drop some comments below. Even with Kanye fighting the world is not a perfect place…as we see “Club Going Up On A Tuesday” was nominated…
