The question sometimes enters our mind: Does Kanye West care about blackpeople? .And more often than not, we find ourselves asking whether hecares about them as much as he cares about validation from white men.
Kanye is the same. Having grown up with a mother who was an Englishprofessor at Chicago State University, he never had to struggle withloving a parent who was addicted to crack like 2Pacdid. Despite his household income, he never came off as acast-your-bucket-where- you-are nor even apull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps rapper. Instead, he's always shotfor something more regal. He never intended to remain backpack, butrather to play with the big boys -- the Diddys and Roc-a-Fellas --though even that wouldn't be royal enough. Hip-hop artists havehistorically taken the tropes of American prestige -- the Ralph Laurenuniform of life -- and flipped it to fit an urban aesthetic. Kanye takesthese prestigious uniforms and wears them as is, as if to prove he'sabove the urban aesthetic.
Still, Ye never relinquished the role of the quasi-nerd who never getsthe prom queen because she only dates jocks. He's since become a jock,but he no longer seeks merely to win the prom queen, but rather to runthe whole prom court . In doing so, he's become infatuated with the old(exclusively white) boys club, which runs the courts of hubris, pomp,privilege and capital -- social and financial capital and arguably moreof the former.
His apology to Taylor Swiftsignified a certain racial deference, given that there was no Tweeted"sorry" also to Janet Jackson, the person who was supposed to be thecenter of attention at that year's VMAs for her moving tribute to herdeceased King of Pop brother -- all of which was overshadowed by West'santics.
According to blogs, the Swift apology was encouraged by Cassius Clay, though this is in dispute. But let's talk about Clay, who comes from a family of wealth, and how he suddenly became the Jerome to Kanye's Morris Day,holding a mirror up to the rapper, co-signing on his beauty. It's abro-mance of the highest order. As the story goes, Ye peeped Clay'sStubbs and Wootton slippers in Barney's and came over to compliment him.From there, Clay went from fashion adviser to confidante, persuades byYe to drop out of Yale and hired to be a Bentley Fonzworth to the Nthpower -- more like Ye's Rahm Emanuel. Why this guy -- an easy stand-inin any Tommy Hilfiger ad in Vanity Fair -- is bestowed such importancewhen Ye barely knows him is anyone's guess.
But we've seen early glimpses of this strange obsession with avatars ofwhiteness. Ye's first Rolling Stone profile portrayed a somewhat naivecelebrity who gloated about his diamond chain with a bust of Jesus,while Jay-Z clowned him because the Jesus was white. In virtually everyinterview with every magazine afterward, he'd go out of his way to pointout his affinity for European art, furniture and fashion. When he begantelling the public that he was seeking an internship with LouisVuitton, it smacked less of humility but rather European Idol worship.
After months of hangin' with Clay and buying a stake in Stubbs and Wootton,it was revealed that Kanye "loves crests" in fashion. The rapper isbecoming the inversion of the Kehinde Wiley painting, where roughnecksfrom the hood pose in front of backdrops of family crests, Victorianfloral prints and other symbols of European royalty. Instead, Ye isdraped in the European crests and uses the hood as his backdrop.
Which brings us to his non-validation of black women, a trait that heunfortunately also shares with Ali, at least in the boxer's early years.Did Kanye ever allow Amber Rose to be seen as anything other than anaccessory -- a golden-haired, golden-skinned "dime piece" to go with hisgold neck piece? In 'Power'Ye says "Ma'fucka, we rollin'/with some light-skinned girls and someKelly Rowlands/ In this white man's world, we the ones chosen." Thislyric suggests that only women with near-white complexion are worth"rollin'" with, while only a specific darker complexioned woman -- onelike Kelly Rowland -- is acceptable, and likely because of herconnection to Beyonce.
But yet in the 'Power' remix,he calls Beyonce his "lil' sister" despite the fact she's sold way morealbums than him and has a career much longer than his. It doesn't stopthere. In the leaked 'Lord, Lord, Lord,' he rhymes, "I only hang aroundwith white boys that like black sluts." What it all adds up to is a guywho puts a high premium on associations with random white guys that fewin the hip-hop generation can relate to, while black women -- no matterhow mainstream -- are downgraded to smaller siblings, if not randomjump-offs.
How did he get here from courageously raging against the George Bush machine after Hurricane Katrinajust five years ago? Thing is, we expect someone like Bush to not careabout black people and hang with Yale elites of the skull and crossbonesvariety. As for Kanye? Yes, we're so appalled.
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