Kanye West Has The Blues
The other night, when I saw Kanye's performance at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, I was more than a little disappointed by what I heard. I was livid, and if you haven't read so, you can click here to check out exactly what I thought of "Love Lockdown" in my Live Blog. That same night I posted my critique, my main man (and VIBE's Music Editor) Sean Fennessey, wrote a blog calling "Love Lockdown" the most important song Kanye West has released since "Jesus Walks." Needless to say, I disagreed with everything he wrote.
At the time, my main point of contention with the song was not how it sounded. I actually didn't mind what I was hearing. The lyrics are on point and true to my life right now. The way the beat builds with its pulsing bass line, and creeping piano vamp, then hits you in the chest with a barrage of drums fit for battle, it all makes for a sonic tour-de-force filled with emotional depth. So as a song, "Love Lockdown" is good, but what irked me so much was Kanye West felt the need to sing instead of rap. As I mentioned in my VMA blog, this was a man who has cared so much about being respected as one of the best MCs in the game, and was actually getting there. But instead of continuing his momentum, he went the Andre 3000 route, even though he hadn't built up the resume of, you know, Andre 3000.
But after two days of listening to the song, and reading the lyrics courtesy of Elliott Wilson's transcription via his Facebook profile (request to be his friend if you haven't, he accepts everybody), I have to say I not only agree with Fen's assessment, but I will also say that right now, "Love Lockdown" is the most important song in my life. Not only that, but in my analysis of Kanye's decision to "sing" his lyrics rather than rap them, I have come to the conclusion that when you think about all Kanye has been going through this past year, rapping just isn't going to cut it. The man has the blues, and as somebody who's in a similar place, I understand that he needs to go beyond rap.
As an artist who uses his music as a way to vent his own thoughts and feelings, Kanye must've seen the emotional limits of ripping a microphone. Very, very few rappers have been able to tote the line between keeping it real and keeping it skilled.
Now some artists can do both. Jay-Z, Eminem, and Scarface are three who immediately come to mind. But Kanye West is nowhere near these guys in terms of MC maturity, and therefore, he sees the limits of rapping. It just doesn't allow the room for a wide range of emotions that he may perhaps be feeling at this point in his life.
Whenever I'm going through some things, whether it's at the job, with a woman, or some other BS, R&B can sometimes be a little too soft for my taste, so I tend to go for rappers like 2Pac and Young Jeezy - two guys who are often recognized moreso for how they keep it real, rather than their skills.
On the flip side, artists like Biggie, Lil Wayne, and I don't know, let's say, Nas, are applauded for how nice they are on the mic, the way they flip words and metaphors and create quotable lines for days on end.
Unfortunately, it's this flip side that has forced so many of our favorite lyricists to go West, so to speak. Andre 3000, Cee-Lo, and you might even be able to say Jay-Z judging by his latest verse on Raphael Saadiq's "Oh Girl", are all extremely talented MCs who might've felt limited by a genre that rewards lyrics off the top of the dome rather than from the heart.
In the past year, Kanye "lost the only girl in the world who knows him best." He also lost his fiancee´, and even though I saw some things at his Knitting Factory show that could be construed as a reconciliation between them two, as the old song says, "breaking up is hard to do." Add that all up, and you begin to understand why the man has entitled his upcoming album 808's and Heartbreaks.
Sometimes music needs to make your heart pump more than your speakers.
de.licio.us
digg
Furl
Reddit
YahooMyWeb
Comments
There are no comments on this entry. Be the first!