This morning I went for a walk with my dog, as I do most mornings. Typically, I listen to music or podcasts on these early morning walks. Today, I felt as though I needed a pick-me-up. It’s cold outside. I stayed up a little too late last night. I hit snooze a few times too many this morning. Going for a walk was not something I was excited about.
So I scrolled through my phone for something to listen to that would get my blood flowing. When I got to the “K”s, I paused for a second over the name “Kanye West.” In the past, Kanye has been a go-to artist for me when I’ve needed musical pick-me-ups. I often listen to him at the gym (when I actually get off my ass to go to the gym). I often listen to him before embarking on a night out. I’ve put his music on when I’ve felt sleepy behind the wheel of a car. Etc.
But today I paused on Kanye and a part of me wanted to listen to him, as I have so many times before, but I just couldn’t. I’m afraid I spent too much time listening to Kanye talk yesterday, and, to put it bluntly, I’m kind of sick of him. Every time he opens his mouth of late it’s seemingly to contradict something he just said, or to proclaim himself the second coming of Jesus, Shakespeare, Andy Warhol, Steve Jobs and Walt Disney, among others. Kanye’s egomania used to be sort of cute and amusing to me. Lately, it’s become insufferable, to the point where I’ve started to view him as some kind of goddamn monster. Yesterday was a tipping point, of sorts.
I’m specifically referring to two radio interviews Kanye — who seems to be everywhere of late — did on Tuesday. The first was on New York’s Power 105, where Charlamagne the God, to his credit, said a lot of the things that I’ve been feeling about Kanye of late, only he did so directly to his face. Things like: “You’re such a walking contradiction because you’ll denounce the corporations, but then you’ll get on stage and say you need Nike and Adidas to back you. That makes no sense to me.” And: “Why do you talk so much about money nowadays, man? I used to look at you as, like, a real revolutionary. You know real revolutionaries didn’t need money to change the world?” And: “If you’re a genius, why do you feel the need to tell everybody? Why you just don’t show and prove with actions and deeds, and not words and lip-service?”
Kanye, despite briefly acknowledging some flaws, was largely defiant. If you have 40 minutes to spare, the entire interview is below. Being in a Zen-like state will probably help to get through it as well, FYI…
He also went on Sway’s Sirius show and offered up much of the same sad angry clown act. At around the 17-minute mark, after proclaiming himself to be some sort of creative God, Kanye berates Sway for daring to challenge him to empower himself rather than waiting on large corporations to give him the ass-kissing he thinks he deserves.
“You ain’t got the answers, man! You ain’t got the answers. You ain’t got the answers, Sway! I’ve been doing this more than you,” Kanye screamed like a petulant child deprived of his favorite toy. “You ain’t got the education…You ain’t spent 13 million dollars of your own money trying to empower yourself!”
Here’s the entire 34-minute interview…
My Kanye fatigue has been growing for some time. I still haven’t bought Yeezus, and I buy new music all the time. I’ve thought about buying it a lot, but I just haven’t. He’s also playing a show in my town in a few days and I still haven’t purchased a ticket. Again, I’ve thought about buying tickets to the show a lot, but I just haven’t. It’s like I’ve been subconsciously boycotting Kanye. What’s suddenly different now — after passing him over as a choice to listen to on my morning walk — is that I’m doing so consciously. This can’t be good, because if I’m feeling this way then there are certainly a bunch of other people likely feeling the same way.
I think we’ve reached peak Kanye. He needs to be stopped, or at least reigned in. Sadly, the only person who can probably stop or reign in Kanye is Kanye.
So Kanye, if you’re reading this, please, for your own sake, shut the f*ck up.
