My good friend Antoinette hipped me to this shot from Jak & Jil Blog. Yes, that's homeboy and his crew at the Comme Des Carcon show.Say what you want about Mr. Kanye West, and his ego, but I like a brother who keeps his mind squarely focused on the abstract. I also like the fact that he redefines so-called hardcore rap fashion and embraces and endorses change and makes no apology for his taste in clothes and art. But his detractors seem to want to give him a hard time for it. Recently, a rumor involving Kanye wanting to do bi-porn hit the internets and Kanye posted a disclaimer on his blog, attributing the rumors to hackers who got into his My Space and gmail accounts:
YOOOO WHY WON'T YOU LET ME BE GREAT!!! I HAD THE TWO GREATEST DAYS OF MY LIFE AND WHEN I GET BACK FROM THE LOUIE SHOW I READ SOME SHIT CLAIMING I SAID I'M DOWN TO DO PORN AND SOME BISEXUAL PORN!!!! I CAN'T BELIEVE THE AVN WOULD POST FIRST PEOPLE BELIEVED THE TWITTER/STEVEN COLBERT THING, ROLLING STONE EVEN PRINTED IT!!!! NOW SOMEBODY HAS BEEN HACKING INTO MY MYSPACE AND SOMEBODY'S ACTUALLY HACKED INTO MY PERSONAL GMAIL ACCOUNT AND HAS BEEN EMAILING PEOPLE FROM IT... HEY WORLD I NO LONGER HAVE A GMAIL! I FOUND OUT I HAD TWELVE UNAUTHORIZED SKYPE ACCOUNTS UNDER MY NAME!!! THIS ALL IN THE PAST FOUR DAYS. WELCOME TO KANYE WEST WORLD! .... IT'S NOT OFFICIAL. I JUST GAVE THE PERFORMANCE OF MY LIFETIME FOR OUR NEW PRESIDENT ... THEN I FLEW TO PARIS AND THEY DEBUTED MY NEW SHOES THAT I DESIGNED WITH LOUIE VUITTON WHICH WAS A DREAM COME TRUE. PLEASE I BEG YOU, GIVE ME A BREAK!!!!! PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LET ME BE GREAT!!! WHO HAVE I HURT SO BAD THAT THEY WANT TO DESTROY ME? WHO HAVE I EVER SPOKE ABOUT SO NEGATIVELY?
Why Can't You Let Me Be Great?! You gotta LOVE a motherfucker who has the temerity to make such a statement in the blogosphere, especially in this, The Age of Snark. And I will say this: Not since the heyday of Prince has there been a major black artist who gives you the unexpected, isn't afraid of innovation and evolves with each recording project, like it or not. So thanks, Kanye for at least having the BALLS to be different. It takes a real man to pull it off.
That said, I also have a bone to pick. I don't think that he makes it easier on himself by being so dramatic about this shit. A lot of forward-thinking rock and pop stars like Prince, David Bowie and even to some extent, Michael Jackson, didn't give a good goddamn what people thought about bisexual and gay rumors, and although there was some strong evidence against them in some cases, I believe they had fun with it. In fact, I'll bet they even encouraged it. The women ate that shit up. Maybe it's harder for him since he's in the rap game, which is historically homophobic and relies on a strict set of paramaters when it comes to defining and portraying one's manhood. But perhaps it's time to bust out of that box and breathe some new life into a genre that hasn't really evolved or shown any substantial innovation since the advent of gangsta rap, in my opinion. If you're going to portray yourself as someone who doesn't follow the status quo, then just relax and go with that shit. Your audience as a whole might not like it, but most of them will eventually accept you for what you are as long as your producing good art. I've been quite bored with the last 10 years of the same shit said over and over and over and again, so it's great to be surprised once in a while.
So do what you do and chill, man. You know peoples are gonna get all ill about colors and clothes that be fitting. What did you expect? Stay true to you, and those who get it, will, and those who don't, will fall by the wayside. In time, perhaps, they'll look back and acknowledge that you was ahead of the game. And if they don't, fuck them.
BONUS BEATS:
Concrete Loop gots some dope pics of Kanye and Marc Jacobs debuting some fresh Louis Vuitton sneakers.
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