The Transmogrification of Kanye West

I miss when Kanye West was unequivocally and unapologetically black. I fear that we will never again see the full form of the "College Dropout," "Late Registration," "Graduation," Kanye. His school days appear to be over, and that makes this writer and avid music listener sad.

It was during his "school days" that Kanye's verses spoke the feelings of many of his black listeners. When Kanye said, "Drug dealing just to get by, stack ya money til' it gets sky high. We wasn't 'sposed to make it past 25, joke's on you we're still alive. Throw your hands up in the sky and say 'We don't care what people say,'" he was narrating the thoughts and feelings of several in the black community. Black people everywhere rejoiced and sang at the top of their lungs when listening to "Spaceship" or "We Don't Care" because the lyrics reflected our experiences.

Songs like "Crack Music" chronicled the happenings of some of our childhoods. Kanye paid homage to our black spokespeople with verses like, "How we stop the Black Panthers? Ronald Reagan cooked up an answer. You hear that? What Gil Scott was hearin'. When our heroes and heroines got hooked on heroin." Again, unequivocally and unapologetically black.

Now? We live in a world where Kanye thinks verse two of "New Slaves" is the "best rap verse of all time (he repeats "we the new slaves" 6 times in the verse.)  Kanye raps about a fashion industry where none of the participants look like him ("What's that jacket, Margiela?") He flows about cars that we don't drive and clothes that we can't afford, let alone wear ("Like there go the god in his Murcielago.") His flow doesn't represent the black experience like it used to.


I believe two things were the catalyst for the change in Kanye's artistry. 1) His mom died. That messed him up. 2) Kanye became too self-aware of Kanye's genius. Seems to me that similar to Jay-Z, Kanye lost touch with identifying with his audience. He doesn't flow for us anymore. His artistry has lost that identity.

In his post-Grammy rant, Kanye complained about respecting the artistry and craft, which I definitely do. I respect anyone's artistry because it's something that I can not do. But we got a brief glimpse of the old Kanye when he jumped onstage at the Grammy's after Beck was announced winner of the album of the year. It was an action that harkened back to the Kanye that said on national television that "George Bush does not care about black people." And for a brief moment, I had hope. I had hope that the backpacking Louis Vuitton Don we came to love in his early career would reappear. Then I came to my senses.

Kanye once quipped, "I ask 'cause I'm not sure, do anybody make real shit anymore?" Oh, the irony.

Will the real Kanye please stand up?