Alas, devoting a paragraph to the life and accomplishments of Kanye West would be like devoting a paragraph to the solar system--way too much there to encapsulate with a handful of sentences. Suffice it to say, West started out as a hip-hop producer extraordinaire before becoming a rapper in his own right (believe it or not, West had all kinds of trouble finding a label to finance his first album--since he came from a comfortable middle class upbringing, many felt his image wouldn't play in the world of hip-hop), releasing eight albums (of which the first six debuted at #1 on the Billboard album chart), having umpteen top 20 singles, won 21 Grammy Awards, and performing otherworldly concert tours. I originally thought of claiming that West was the Bob Dylan of hip-hop until I realized that Dylan didn't even come close to accomplishing--at least commercially--what West has accomplished in the last 20 years. He is probably the music artist of the 21st century--at least thus far.
All of West's accomplishments have not come without controversy. West is a horrid loser at awards shows, tends to let his mouth move without checking with his brain first (welcome to the club!), and runs the gamut politically from compassionate activist to just another rich asshole. His marriage to Kim Kardashian, a woman who has no discernible talents and basically became famous because her family is rich, is something of a head scratcher, too, but like the song says, the things we do for love....
It's not often that a forty-five year old man will be sitting in his living room flipping channels late in the evening and a when a video for a previously unknown hip hop artist appears on his TV (and a song about spirituality to boot), sits up and says, "Man, I've got to hear that one again..." but that's exactly what happened with me the first time I heard "Jesus Walks." Fortunately, the Beautiful Girl was already a fan and burned me a copy of his debut CD, The College Dropout, which I would listen to for the next couple of months. The song would go to to reach #11 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, win a Grammy Award for best rap song, and appear at #273 on Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs of All-Time. "Jesus Walks" is one part military cadence, one part gospel song, and one part angry young black man ranting about the fucked up world he sees. In the end it's an acknowledgement of both his real and perceived faith, which, while not my cup of tea, one certainly has to respect for bringing a heretofore untouched subject matter to the world and music of hip hop. It's a tour de force in the pantheons of pop music: unforgettable, passionate, and startling.
Rap Sheet: "Yo, we at war/We at war with terrorism, racism, and most of all we at war with ourselves/Jesus walks..."
Enjoy:
Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee
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