Saturday, February 21, 2009

Kanye West, so Gay

I got my issue of Details magazine today...ok, I don't know when it actually came, since I haven't checked my mail since last week. Anyway. I had already read rumors all over the internet about Kanye West being gay, or Kanye coming out, Kanye gay this, Kaye gay that...whatever.

It appears he is not gay, but he has plenty of nice things to say to and about the gay community or at least the connotation of the word "gay." I almost feel bad now for dropping him from my myspace friends, but good Lord, anybody that sends out a thousand bulletins a day gets dropped from my myspace friends! Who wants to sort through all that crap to find bulletins from their real friends? Not me! I don't mean to single Kanye out for this; after all, I dropped Kat Deluna for the same damn reason!
Anyway back to the whole "Gay Kanye" news...

Says Kanye: "Titles are very important. I like to embody titles, y'know, or words that have negative connotations, and explain why that's good. Take the word gay—like, in hip-hop, that's a negative thing, right? But in the past two, three years, all the gay people I've encountered have been, like, really, really, extremely dope. Y'know, I haven't, like, gone to a gay bar, nor do I ever plan to. But where I would talk to a gay person—the conversation would be mostly around, like, art or design—it'd be really dope. From a design standpoint, kids'll say, 'Dude, those pants are gay.' But if it's, like, good, good, good fashion-level, design-level stuff, where it's on a higher level than the average commercial design stuff, it's, like, gay people that do that. I think that should be said as a compliment. Like, 'Dude, that's so good it's almost . . . gay.'"
Adds Details: "West's friends and professional adjuncts, who quietly pass in and out of his loft throughout the day, start cracking up, and he leaves his chair for a bit of stand-up: 'Dude, that's so good it's almost gay!' 'Dude, you pay real attention to detail—that's almost, like, gay!' 'You had a whole conversation with that girl without bringing up sex? That was, like, gay!'"
West also had something to say about his previous comments about being the voice of this generation:
"If not me, then who? Someone could be a better rapper, dance better. But culturally impacting? When you look back at these four and a half years, who's the icon at the end of the day? Who broke down color barriers? What other black guy would a white person use as a fashion reference?"
West may be a bit overly self loving, but he may be on to something about the 'That's So Gay' thing...
Okay, back to reality...Kanye, I quit loving your music after hearing you sing about crack in "Crack Music." Crack destroys families, you fool! I sure don't want to hear songs about it, let alone sing along to it. And your use of the "N" word (dare I say it, since I am white) does not make your music very appealing. I don't want to sing along to those kind of lyrics either!
I could care less, if you are gay or not, but I hardly think you can change the meaning of the word gay. Just like the "N" word, it will always be a slap in the face, when used to hurt people. I applaud your efforts though to make it a more positive adjective though, so thank you.
Keep on doing things like "American Boy" with Estelle, and you can't go wrong! That is one of the best songs of 2008! But if you are gay, just come out. It's okay, really! You don't have to beat around the bush.

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4 comments:

H. Lewis Smith said...

Your analogy about the use of the n-word is right on target the following supports your viewpoint:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP2U0jmZjec

John said...

Thanks H. Lewis Smith, that was a great video...and I especially loved reading the youtube comments!

Mary Ellen said...

I've never been a fan of rap music because of the constant references to rape (as if it's a sexy thing to rape some girl).

I also have to say that I thought his sudden epiphany that gays aren't all that bad after all, that they are actually "dope" was just a bit weird. I wonder how he would feel if after talking to him, I would say, "Hey...you black people aren't all that bad after all, I met three or four of you and you're pretty "dope"! I don't know...it just seemed like a very bizarre thing to say and I'd probably be called a racist if I said it. Or am I off the mark here?

John said...

Hi Mary Ellen! Thanks for your comments! Yeah, changing the meaning of "dope" is definitely a bit weird! Glad you brought it up! Who says "dope" like that (besides bad rappers)? Another word that Kanye will probably claim as his own!

You really have to refer to urbandictionary.com to interpret much of what is being said these days!

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