I realize that, at the moment, this isn’t exactly a popular position. Please refrain from the pelting with stones and the smearing with animal feces for just a moment, while I try to explain myself.
The past few days have been, well, unkind to Kanye West, and with good reason. I’ve publicly pointed to his antics at Sunday night’s VMAs as being downright douchey myself, and stated in no uncertain terms that I’m in total agreement that West is very much worthy of the backlash he’s experiencing. What Kanye West said and did was rude, childish, and completely out-of-line. None of that is in dispute. His actions were, in a word, indefensible.
HOWEVER.
Having said all of that, I must openly admit to having something of a soft spot for Kanye West. And it’s precisely because of his uncontrolled outbursts, poor impulse-control, over-the-top braggadocio, and what can only be described as EPICALLY BAD decision making — in other words, his naked, glaringly flawed humanity — that I find him sympathetic. That West so clearly appears to struggle with himself and is so often his own worst enemy… it’s hard for me to not empathize with that, even when he’s being a total freaking ass (which, indeed, he frequently is).
A good part of how and why I feel the way I do about West I think also relates to having an strong natural capacity for compartmentalization, whereby I’m able to easily separate out an artist — the person and persona behind the art, their life and what they do and say in it — from the actual art. And though by every possible measure Kanye West may be a jerk (I don’t know if I agree with THAT sweeping of a condemnation, but for the sake of argument), he’s also an extremely talented man who has been acknowledged by public, press, and the music industry alike as one of the important musicians of our day. He is, simply put, a complicated and contradictory individual: by turns arrogant to the point of absurdism (at one point calling himself the second coming of Christ, for example) and humble to the point of discrediting himself and his achievements (upon winning Video Of The Year at the 2007 BET awards, West took the stage and said, with apparent sincerity, that Outkast deserved the award and he didn’t, and then proceeded to try to actually give the award to them), among other things.
And it’s that complexity and tension that makes him all the more appealing to me, while unsurprisingly it’s a gigantic turn off to others. From my perspective, that West is a broken, imperfect man, a man who makes ridiculous mistakes with the unflinching obliviousness of a child, and like a child so often seems genuinely taken aback by people’s negative responses to him — these are things which suggest that in many cases West honestly isn’t trying to hurt or upset people, but rather that he simply lacks a particular segment of interpersonal wiring and emotional intelligence that most of us take for granted. I’m not even trying to defend him or excuse his behavior in saying that, because as an adult, yes, he should at some point have taken it upon himself to learn how to behave and control his impulses. But I do think he’s a more complex individual and artist than people give him credit for, and despite his anti-social behavior that complexity, coupled with his undeniable talent, are things I’m almost irresistibly drawn to.
But it should also be noted that I’m a person who has long stated that I would rather be friends with an interesting asshole than a boring nice person. I do realize I’m probably in the minority in feeling that way. Still, I’d like to humbly suggest, in this perhaps overly heated moment — when the furor regarding the events of Sunday night is reaching a fever pitch, and everyone is jumping on the Let’s All Trash Kanye West bandwagon — that we try to remember that Kanye West isn’t a role model, he’s an artist. And I am of the opinion that our wanting him to behave himself and be a Good Citizen and a Nice Guy in addition to being a great musician is not only misguided, but kind of irrelevant.
West is an entertainer, not someone you should point out to your kids as a hero to emulate on an interpersonal level. That he produces great music should suffice, because relative to his art who Kanye West is in real life doesn’t and shouldn’t matter. Need I even get into the reality that, historically speaking, a huge portion of artists in any and all mediums — one could convincingly argue a majority of the truly great ones, in fact — have not been what one might call Great People (or sane people, or stable people, or healthy people, for that matter)? And we could get into all the reasons why that’s the case, and debate whether or not great art is indeed almost invariably born of internal and/or external conflict, and argue about the idea that conflict and strife are in fact necessary for the production of great works of art, but I’m not going there. I’m merely suggesting we try to keep things in perspective. Just a wee little tiny bit.
And so, to that end:
Things I love about Kanye West that you should too:
[Comment: An emotionally complex, but also undeniably catchy song that, for all its vocoderyness, to me underscores West's inventiveness by way of its production.]
[Comment: This well-known bit of Kanye Tourettes alone is enough of a reason to love him. What strikes me most about this is West's demeanor -- he's so clearly genuinely upset, aghast, and (adorably) perhaps a little nervous about speaking on TV. Somehow, all of that put together, along with the simple, matter-of-fact delivery of what was easily the quote of the year that year, kind of makes me want to hug him.]
[Comment: Relatedly, I love him for his follow up to/explanation of that statement in this clip from Nightline, which reveals what people might consider an unexpected degree of self-awareness.]
[Comment: Objectively a completely kickass song. I won't even entertain suggestions that it's anything but.]
[Comment: Great, great song, made even greater by this video that West himself actually proposed to Zach Galifianakis, and Executive Produced. HILARIOUS.]
Other random lovable bits:
- Getting Murakami to do album graphics (albeit after Louis Vuitton had made Murakami a crossover name in the hiphop world)
- He’s cute (shrug. Just sayin’.)
- His blog is HYSTERICAL. And sure, perhaps not intentionally so, but genuinely hilarious nonetheless.
I’m not saying he doesn’t deserve a public shaming for Sunday night. He does, and it’ll probably be a positive, healthy thing for him in the long run. But I am saying we shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bath water, dig?
. . .
. . .
Psst! Kanye! Call me!
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PS: Something else to consider: The NYT’s The Ethicist on the question, Can you hate the artist but love the art?
