The Billiken's Bluff

I started writing this as a comment, but it was getting too long, and we seem to be having a postage competition, so here we go... quantity, if not quality.



I think Kanye's songs are pretty decent. His beats are superior, in a jazzy, soulful, Pete Rock kind of way. And as far as his performance ... he's a straight diva.



He says ridiculous shit. Wears fur coats, aviator shades, diamond rings and leather pants. He's a showman.



It's his party and he'll cry if he wants to. That sort of thing. I kind of like it.

Award Shows are nonsensical,



it's not like Kanye is treading on sacred ground here.



So if Kanye West makes a wacky claim like:

"If I don't win, the awards show loses credibility."

or

"[My video] cost a million dollars, Pamela Anderson was in it. I was jumping across canyons. [I should have won the award]"

I don't feel that he is sacrileg(ing) some sacred institution. He's piling garbage upon garbage. He's throwing bad money after bad. And besides that he is earnest. Taking a cue from George W. Bush, whether you like Kanye or not, you can't really argue that he is lacking in faith and veracity. These men believe in things - seatbelts, Jesus, music video superiority, and the democratization of the Middle East. And despite sometimes lacking in the articulation, there is little double talk.



They shoot straight.




[[Speaking of Blood Diamonds. I thought the movie with Leonardo DiCaprio about diamond trading in Africa might be decent but the commercial/trailer has one excerpt that boasts:



"In the USA it's bling bling, over here its bling BLAM!!!"]]

Back to Mr. West... I wrote a term paper about him, to mixed, grade B- reviews, I've written posts about him, to somewhat better acclaim. I am almost fascinated by this guy.



His episode with Mike Myers during the Katrina Telethon cemented this. He might have been wrong about Bush and the federal government's hating of Black people. His rant might have been far-fetched, or offensive. But he believed what he was saying. He wasn’t trying to make the headlines, he wasn’t (at least during that appearance) from the school of all press is good press. He was nervous, nearly tearing up during the telethon. Other people were thinking what Kanye voiced. People were saying this in their homes from Queens to New Orleans. People said/say/will_say that Bush/Republicans/affluent_Whites do not care about Black people, minorities, that they continually exploit them and then fail to help them when in need. Right or wrong, accurate or not, this is how people talk. This is the dialogue that goes on just outside of the public sphere, inside the house. West believed what he was saying while on camera. It is impossible not to recognize - Bush, West, or otherwise - when someone truly believes what they are saying. Not John Kerry stumbling while awkwardly attempting his political stilt walk



- unable to tell joke or make anyone believe that he has a single belief - but true honesty, whether you agree or not. Bush is closer to this honesty, earnestness than Kerry, but then again, I would say, so is Bin Laden.

Kerry, Hussein and Puff Daddy in one camp ... Bush, Bin Laden and Kanye in the other.

Drafting teams for The Day of Reckoning game.



Anyway the Katrina Telethon shattered (awoke) numerous conventions of the time, place, medium Kanye was speaking/standing/living_in.

That's always valuable and respectable whether you are right or wrong. It made me think not only about if what he said might have had any truth in it, but also about why other people (celebrities, anyone in media) are virtually across the board - opinion-less tele-prompter-reading drones.





Anyway, Kanye is alright. And you might be too.