Kanye West was a huge celebrity long before he got married. Not sure why there’s any surprise that the news, desperate for stories just like this, is interested.
Maybe you forgot this back in 2009?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvaakT52RjQ
I hate to defend Kanye, but this isn’t fair or accurate. In addition to his antics, he’s had several hits, produced many more for other artists, and he’s probably the most critically acclaimed recording artist of the past 15+ years. He’s topped the Village Voice critics poll for album-of-the-year four times (tied with Bob Dylan for most ever) and his albums My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and Yeezus were placed at the top or near the top of several best-of-the-2010s critics lists, even after all the profoundly dumb stuff he’s said and done the last several years (supporting Trump, saying ‘slavery was a choice’). Which is to say there are many people, aside from himself, who believe Kanye is a legit ‘musical genius.’ Whether you actually like his music or his antics (have to think the latter is a hard “no,” this excluded) is another matter entirely, but to the extent fame can be deserved, his is.
That said, obviously it is totally fair to criticize what he chooses to do with his fame.
I have no idea how you are measuring “critically acclaimed”, but he doesn’t even show up on the list of top 100 most commercially successful music artists. Even when you limit it to digital singles, he shows up on the list, but behind a bunch of other folks.
“Critically acclaimed” as in acclaimed by music critcs. Here he is topping the venerable Rolling Stones’ 2010s list, here he is topping industry-business standard Billboard’s 2010s list, here he is placing second in millennial-favorite Pitchfork’s 2010s list.
He’s an extremely talented musician, which obviously has nothing to do with anything extra-musical, but it does help explain his celebrity.
This is the country that elected Donald Trump president, so of course people are talking about it. Why wouldn’t they? It certainly seems as if nothing will come of it.*
*Unless, of course, the intern who has taken over the simulation is determined to see how much she can get away with before all the tiny AIs finally realize someone is deliberately fucking with them.
Man, back then who would have picked correctly out of those two the one to turn into a crusader in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and the one to get chummy with white supremacists.
For real.
Kanye gets a lifetime pass from me for “808s and Heartbreak”.
Man, anyone who listens to ‘We Major’ and thinks ‘b-grade’… a chacun sa gout as they say.
I’m going to remove my post. It is just argumentative and it doesn’t really improve anything.
Hey, c’mon, we’re all grownups! We can handle someone slagging Kanye’s musical abilities. Besides, this is a silly thread to begin with.
then I will just quote Sturgeon’s Law:" “ninety percent of everything is crap.”
Hey, man, as far as I’m concerned, music has been all downhill since 1850. With a possible exception for “Long Tall Sally.”
I would hope most anyone would give Bob Dylan his due.
Just having a bit of fun
As am I :)
Yeah, I don’t like anything I’ve heard from him. A lot of people who are more into the genre consider him a genius or whatever, but I’ve always been in the “eh, I’ve heard better” camp.
I think part of it is knowing he’s a fucking idiot.
There you go! There’s the phrase I was looking for!
When it comes to art, I adhere to total church/state separation between a person’s artistic talent and their real world idiocy.
I mean, if you need reasons not to put any artist on a pedestal, even sticking strictly to their art, may I suggest putting Dylan’s Self Portrait on auto-repeat for a couple of days. With his Christmas album thrown in for good measure.