This Kanye interview really fucking angers me

[Lord Funk]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2008/nov/12/kanye-west-hip-hop

Hip-hop's too easy for Kanye
You get a sample, loop it, ask somebody to shout "throw your hands up in the sky" over the top and "that's 80 per cent of it right there". Kanye West no longer finds making hip-hop challenging, he told a gathering of hacks at an Argentinian steakhouse in the O2 Arena last night, so he's moved on; moved so far, in fact, that he's been forced to create a new musical genre.

The genre is called "pop art" and Kanye is its only practitioner (we asked Andy Warhol for comment on this nominal development, but he was, sadly, dead). It's the sound showcased on his forthcoming fourth album, 808s & Heartbreak. Brought forward for release at the end of this month, 808s got its debut UK play last night and ... hip-hop it ain't.

Washed in synths, underpinned by the kind of tribal drums heard on single Love Lockdown and featuring, by my count, only two raps (guest spots from Young Jeezy and Lil Wayne) it's certainly new. This is mainly because Kanye has such a depth of production elements at his disposal that a sound or phrase might go in resembling something from Alexander O'Neal, only to come out both polished and oddly distorted at the same time.

Kanye was interested in saying two things about the album. Firstly, that it shows he wants to be remembered like "those artists in black and white photos", the McCartneys and Jaggers of this world; he wants longevity, huge crowds and tight trousers. This is certainly ambitious, but perhaps also a little disheartening. Kanye is a hip-hop producer whose music has forced millions of people who might not normally listen to a rap record to change their opinion of a genre. Now he's saying hip-hop's too easy and the real challenge is to make music like Phil Collins did. So much for hip-hop for life.

Presumably as a result of his masterplan, Kanye's second point is that he doesn't want to rap, he wants to sing. And in doing so he wants to use Autotune. A whole lot.

This consistent remodelling of his voice, on every track of the album, makes Kanye sound like a reedier T-Pain. He describes this as being the Heartbreak element of the album. Which, I have to say, I can understand. On up to half a dozen occasions last night he said that the break with both rapping and a recognisable voice was a "fuck you" to the haters, the critics, the bloggers and, perhaps, even Cher. "Artists are like suckers," he said, elaborating on his point. "They listen to Radiohead all day but go and make just another rap album. I say: don't let society box you in."

That certainly hasn't happened on 808s & Heartbreak but, at the same time, it's hardly revolutionary. It seems unlikely there'll be fans shouting "Judas!" or causing a Stravinskian riot when the album is released. After all, it might lack rapping but it's not short on the sheen and aural bling that has helped Kanye become a stadium- (or Dome) sized artist.

Kanye West may have grown bored of hip-hop (though Jay-Z's Blueprint 3, produced by Kanye, is only just around the corner), but he commands an audience big enough to follow him out of the genre. It's just a shame he thinks the only way he can leave a lasting legacy is by aspiring to create a 21st-century Sussudio.



Essentially, what Kanye is admitting here, although he doesn't have the balls to put it this way, is that he's lost the inspiration to make hip-hop music. That's fine - no one said he had to make hip-hop forever. But instead of being a man about it and just saying he felt like branching out, he's tried to turn it into an attack on hip-hop itself, claiming it's as simple as looping something and saying "throw your hands in the air" over the top. That's such a fucking disrespectful thing to say about the music and culture that made him who he is it makes me sick. I can name tens upon tens of hip-hop albums from this year alone that acheive a complexity in the production, concept and content that Kanye West can only dream of. Just because he's made his own career from looping breaks, doesn't give him a right to subtly criticise the entire artform like this.

Fuck Kanye West. Dude should have his hip-hop pass revoked. Alternative records are one thing. But to claim that the fact it's alternative alone makes it better than "just another rap album" as Kanye puts it, shows what a dickhead this guy has become. 

[Laconic]

Fuck Kanye and his pretentious self.

[Nima - Dubcnn.com]

That's wack. I'm a Kanye West fan but i just lost a lot of respect for him...

[MoodMuzik]

wow i just lost alot of respect for him aswell....fuck him if hes gun trash hip hop like tht

[the ghost]

Kanye = hip hop Paris Hilton

[--Vance--]

I listened to his album once... and all I can say is he has not the right to say shit like this. The kanye "rapper" was 100 times better.

[MoodMuzik]

I listened to his album once... and all I can say is he has not the right to say shit like this. The kanye "rapper" was 100 times better.

ima listen to it wen grouprip drops but hopfully no1 buys his shit...stick to college dropout shit not ur homo shit kanye

[Lunatic]

got a feelin this album 'bout to suck BAD so he can stop talkin' down on hip-hop and makin' shit up for why his new album is 'bout to be pop at its finest and its all to sell records, no other b.s. reason (like rap is too easy, or he bored or wants to make a new genre)

- he knows an album filled of auto tune/singing is going to sell records and thats the 1 and only reason he doin this

[--Vance--]

Nobody would say anything, if he wouldnt' be so ignorant. I mean he's the artist, he can do whatever he wants to.. Some tracks are not that bad.. But he really lost some respect after this bullshit talking.

[T-Dogg]

Man, fuck Kanye's new bullshit "pop art" album. And fuck him for reducing Hip-Hop to looping a sample and saying "throw your hands in the air."

Oh well. Kanye's always been a cocky mofo, so nothing's changed there. I guess he feels he's somehow "beyond" making another Hip-Hop record by sticking to a tried method. Too bad, I would've taken a Kanye record with his signature sound over most records coming out these days than his "pop art" shit with his God-awful, worse-than-listening-to-the-devil-fart-into-a-microphone singing.

Hopefully he gets his ego in check and comes back to what he does best.

[Muhfukka]

when this cd flops he's going to throw a little bitch ass temper tantrum and cry about how no one understands his genius. then hes going to go spend a million dollars on scarves so he feels better

[OchoCinco]

he has mad talent but is such a goddamn diva its disgusting

[coast2coast]

wow i just lost alot of respect for him aswell....fuck him if hes gun trash hip hop like tht

werdd

[Al Bundy]

he has mad talent but is such a goddamn diva its disgusting

for real.

[Chamillitary Click]

thats gay! i think dude ran out of shit to rap about & he wants those Wayne type fans. hes seein that the "rappers" with auto-tune & shit are sellin like hot cakes in the stores. dude is keepin up with the times & what the buyers  want to here. but Kanye can suck a fat one with a comment like that!