Kanye West: Still Crazy after All These Years.
New York, NY –
First, let me begin by saying that Kanye West has done some good things. He has a foundation named after himself, one for his mother, and he has performed at some benefit concerts. He also donated a huge Black Jesus pendant covered in diamonds for a charity auction that never took place, so he returned it to its place among his other diamond Black Jesus pendants . And, in September of 2005, he took part in the televised Concert for Hurricane Relief after Hurricane Katrina destroyed so much of the gulf coast. More on that in a bit.
But last night’s MTV Video Music Awards fiasco was not a surprise. The only thing Kanye has been in the news for lately is his odd choice of girlfriend (that Amber Rose is an interesting character), and the little man clearly needed some attention. Someone was going to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Do The Glasses Make It Difficult for Kanye To See Reality?
When 19 year-old Taylor Swift won the award for Best Female Video, she was so shocked that it was actually a sweet moment. Then she took the stage and started to talk. Out of nowhere, here comes Kanye, ripping the microphone out of the blond teenager’s hand, and saying, “Yo, Taylor, I’m gonna let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time.” Then he echoed himself (“of all time”). Taylor Swift looked like a girl stood up by her prom date. She was crestfallen. The camera panned to Beyonce, who looked a little horrified. Beyonce later saved the day by giving up her speech for “Best Video of the Year” to let Taylor Speak. Awwww…(and great PR for the diva).
But about that Hurricane Relief concert in 2005…Americans sitting in front of the television, watching that concert, saw Mike Myers and Kanye West—an odd pairing if ever there was one; close in nature to Busta Rhymes and Martha Stewart presenting an award together—getting ready to introduce the next performer. Then Kanye opened his mouth and said, “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.” Viewers all cocked their heads to the side like confused golden retrievers and wondered if we really heard that right. Whether he was right or not wasn’t the issue. It was, for the world-at-large, our first glimpse at Kanye West’s borderline Tourette’s. There is speculation that copious amounts of Hennessey were involved. Maybe he drank some, but that boy’s just got The Crazy.
In December of that same year, Kanye made a statement prior to the announcement of Grammy nominees that he would “have a real problem “if his album “Late Registration” didn’t win Album of the Year. He also stated that all of his albums (that would be 3 at that point) were “classic”. Then he compared himself to Tom Cruise. This was at a performance at Santa Monica High School. That’s right. At a high school. The Crazy, part II.
In December of 2006, when his video for “Touch the Sky” lost to Justice and Simian’s “We Are Your Friends” at the MTV Europe Music Awards, Kanye whipped out the crazy again (once again lubed up on Hennessey, it has been said) and jumped onstage while the duo accepted their award. He grabbed the microphone and argued that his video was better because it “cost a million dollars and Pamela Anderson was in it.” Backstage (why he didn’t get thrown out of the venue, I don’t know) he told members of the press that “…it took a month to film. I stood on a mountain. I flew a helicopter over Vegas…I did it to be the king of all videos.” The King of All Crazy, maybe. And now the Tom Cruise comparison is starting to make sense.
What Kanye can’t get into his oversized head is that Whitey did not prevent Beyonce from winning Best Female Video. The Man didn’t keep the black woman down. The VMAs are determined by viewer voting. Taylor Swift’s light complexion and blond hair did not guarantee her a prize of any sort. The reality is that a whole lot of people really like her music.
But, clearly, reality is not something Kanye West is in touch with that often.
Apologize all you want, Kanye. Post it on your website, and—by all means—blog about it in all capital letters with many misspellings. Call Taylor’s mother, father, grandparents, and make a video for her unborn children if you want to. It won’t change the fact that you’ve got The Crazy, and it doesn’t make you cute, charming, or funny. Black leaders want you speaking for them as much as the Screen Actors Guild wants Ron Jeremy to represent them.
Shut up, man. For realz.