Pitchfork recently announced that Kanye West is back on the scene. Granted he wasn’t at the Grammy Awards, but he is back in cyberspace blogging away.
There’s nothing like stirring the pot to keep your name out. As usual, Kanye seems to be defensive; this time, it appears to be about some fashion criticism. And although Kanye seems to have a problem with coloring inside the lines, what I want to focus on is the beginning of his ramblings. He writes “REMEMBER THE DREAMERS, REMEMBER THOSE WHO REPRESENT THE GHETTO...THE FAIRY TALE OF NOTHING TO SOMETHING.” What I find interesting is that in this, he evokes two things that are, by definition, illusions—dreams and fairy tales. In particular the fairy tale of the nothing to something, the rags to riches story which, to me, is one of the great ideological fantasies, actually functions as a tool for entrapment instead of emancipation. The system benefits if we all think that by following the rules of the game that we will make it. However, it is the exception to the rule—the rule of work hard for someone else—that proves the rule. Who benefits from everyone working hard to make it? The owners of the means of production. Instead, we should be focused on how to change the system so that our hard work benefits all of us. The rules are stacked against us. Art should work to liberate us not to enslave us. Maybe Kanye is the new “OPIATE OF THE MASSES”?
Amen, Kanye West is a ridiculous cultural icon and, even more so, a perfect example of how much the quality of audio has given way to the quality of image in today's music industry. Kanye West is the same person who popularized, endorsed, and sought to make creative the industry's first use of auto-tune in recorded music, an invention that simply morphs the pitch of a singer's voice in real-time. The fact that he has exploited this cosmetic enhancement to such a degree is a good sign of just how sickly deaf the popular taste in music has become, so much so that it would not only tolerate auto-tune as a unique musical tool, but also that it would popularize and hail it as an almost necessary part of today's pop music. It's disappointing to know that people can keep finding reasons to pay attention to such a degenerative influence on the music industry, and finally, its a disturbing reminder of the pig-to-slaughter mentality that keeps culture moving in largely the same direction: away from candor.
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