Kanye West Voices His Displeasure With The Business of the Music Business
By superadmin on in blog, Hip-Hop Culture with 2 Comments
Now as far as blog post headlines go the one above is terrible. But… Everyone else is running with “Kanye West Rants… Kanye Ain’t Messing With Jay-Z’s Suit & Tie” and while those things were said (“I got love for Hov, but I ain’t fuckin’ with that ‘Suit & Tie’.”) and might be a draw for views which make the internet go round and round, those sentiments weren’t the most important part of his diatribe tonight in London at the Hammerstein Apollo.
Remind me again why we in this shit. Since when was making music about getting rich. Since when was making art about getting rich.
Ironically, when I listen to it again I’m not sure that he was ever talking about “suit and tie” Justin Timberlake’s comeback single featuring Jay-Z, that’s too obvious, that’s too trite. And be clear, this is just my opinion but most of the so called rant finds Kanye voicing his displeasure with the capitalism in Hip-Hop and how it affects the art. How the business aspect of hip-hop, touring, and endorsements etc. etc. truly vex him.
Look at the “rant” in context if you will. It’s very possible that Kanye West was speaking more about Jay-Z’s business acumen when referencing “suit and tie” and not the song. Jay-Z is Mr. “I’m not a businessman, I’m a business mannnn!” Jay-Z’s meteoric rise is well documented and people look to him as the ambassador of Hip-Hop Culture and its relationship with Corporate America. That’s the “suit and tie” Ye is talking about, he doesn’t want to get wrapped up in the business of it all, he just wants to make his art. He’ll hear about these blog posts and the twitter rants people went on and feel even more alone, more misunderstood. Damn!!! Tell me what you think. Was Kanye West sending shots at his “big brother”?
Update: The Kanye West Scream (you gotta love this guy)
I agree with you to a certain extent. In my opinion, Kanye has not properly dealt with his grief from his mother or learned how to cope. So when he acts out or says things that causes him to be shut out or unappreciated by society, the constant rejection is infuriating to him and so he misinterprets what the real problem. im not suggesting that he should ‘kiss up’ or not give us his beautiful art, but he needs to play the game. Hov learned this and it has worked well for him. He is a business…mannn. The quote you cited from his rant asking about when was making music about getting rich, poses an oxymoron from Mr. West. Kanye’s recent raps of the past years, although containing deep material, always reminds us how rich he is, whether in the form of where he’s been, his clothes, his lifestyle, etc. So one must wonder why he poses an issue now with the one thing that he most certainly likes to brag about. After all, it has always been about money. Making it out of poverty and reaching a level of success where you can share your art and profit off of it as well, no?
I agree with you Joski. At the end of the day we’re all flawed. Ye is surely a walking contradicting as you pointed out as am I. Fame is a disgusting drug, I’ll stick to alcohol.