grounds for impeachment.
Saying you can’t testify because it would incriminate yourself means you aren’t fit to be president.
It’s sometimes hard to remember why we have the 5th Amendment. Historically, allowing governments to compel testimony from witnesses hasn’t worked out well. “Compelling” rapidly turns to “pressuring”, then “torturing”.
On the one hand, it seems like the President should be the person with the least to fear from the government pressuring him to testify; after all, he runs it. On the other hand, he is in favor of torture, so maybe he’s afraid he’ll be subjected to the torture he wants to allow the government to use?
Okay the standard is just not a fair standard. Like the only musical geniuses we have are old white guys from a specific time period, so not Elvis, not Prince, not Michael Jackson… none. I don’t know if you guys are just unaware of what Kanye does, but he’s not just a celebrity and a rapper, he has and has been part of a musical empire.
I know he is conceited. He presents himself poorly and sounds crazy a lot lately but his position in the music industry is not… ordinary. He’s extraordinary, not just in his talents but elevating the talents or of others, but no, he’s not Mozart.
Taking the 5th is what mob bosses do. And Dennison is most definitely a type of mob boss.
But no, I specifically mentioned that Prince could legitimately be called a genius. I dunno about elvis.
That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s a genius either.
Whatever though, this is just a subjective thing. I personally don’t think he merits that description, but it’s not just because he’s not an old dead guy from the 18th century.
Then again, he did make yeezy slides.
https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/987087935978614785/photo/1
Seriously though, Kanye’s “genius” seems an awful lot like the “genius” me and my buddies had when we were really, really, really fucking stoned in college. Like sure, the shit sounded deep and awesome… while we were on drugs.
That Trump quote makes it pretty much inevitable that he will indeed take the Fifth Amendment when brought before a grand jury. I mean, he’s literally done every single other thing he chastised someone else for over Twitter, taking the Fifth would be like a final Achievement unlocked.
I’d agree. Heck, the use of his music sold me on Saints Row 3.
As for genius? Chuck D. Now everybody get off my lawn.
Well Kanye does some of what Prince does actually, including producing and writing songs for other artists. It is subjective, but then again I’m not the one that made the initial judgment.
The guy in the video said he was a geninus, I’m assuming based on his success which isn’t just tied to the number of albums he said or hundreds of awards he’s received. It’s not just populism here though. So if he is going to be dismissed, then at least acknowledge he’s not just some popular rap artist right now his reach is a lot… bigger an the industry itself recognizes him.
Tons of people produce and write songs for other artists. That’s not why Prince was a genius though.
Ya, this is what caused my initial reaction… although largely because he was far from the first one to say it.
There seems to be this weird acceptance by everyone that he’s some sort of genius… and I just don’t think that’s true. None of his art rises to that level, in my opinion. He’s just a reasonably talented artist. But he’s not nearly as special as folks have built him up to be.
And I think that part of that is what is causing folks’ minds to break, now that he’s saying profoundly stupid shit. Really, he’s always said profoundly stupid shit. I think that a lot of folks just gave him a pass on a lot of it, thinking that it was some sort of indicator of eccentric genius like Howard Huges. Nah man, he was just a dumbass, saying dumbass things, because he was dumb. The emperor’s got no clothes.
Like when he took the mic from Taylor Swift… that was something that a dumbass does. It wasn’t merely eccentric, it was stupid.
I didn’t say that was the only reason Prince was special anymore than MJ being a genius was because he moon-walked.
Yes, he’s always been unusual, not just because of his background and the weird way he just does stuff but because he just says the weirdest shit sometimes, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t extraordinary… and he really is.
My cats are extraordinary too, but they also both have brains the size of walnuts.
Hey folks - not to be thread cop, but maybe take the discussion about musical geniuses and Kanye to a separate thread? Seems like we’ve discussed all the ways it has to do with politics.
While I agree with the sentiment, having brains the size of walnuts seems in line with current politics (or politicians, at least).
Genius is one of those words, like hero, that is used too often to describe people that really just do what some people do only better.
Yeah not taking a music genre dominated by black artists or treating those within it differently could not at all be related to any issues we have today with politics and the way American’s treat each other. Pop culture and the way it is perceived has nothing to do with it… except, it does.
And whether anyone likes what he does or how he does it, Kanye has a loud voice, and his support of Trump is not only weird, it’s impactful. So in order to combat that, you have to do it in a way that doesn’t just dismiss him or the people who listen to him, are not going to listen to you.
I just want to say that there are, at minimum, two living persons who are Mozart-level musical geniuses:
Al Yankovic and Yoko Kanno
Kayne is a massive musical talent, whichever way you look a it. As for “genius” I dunno, it will probably take decades to figure that out, lets see how his music holds up. he is one helluva business man thats for damn sure.
Oh and in the spirit of derailing the thread I know of only two people I regard as musical geniuses who are alive today. Aphex Twin and Traumprinz , both of whome are electronic musicians (maybe geniuses only arise when a genre is young or maturing?) and both also work under many aliases which is interesting. Fight me! :)
@Nesrie, you seem to be conflating Kanye’s perceived genius-hood with his identity as a black man in modern America, and posters’ unwillingness to give him that title as an implicit statement that black people can’t be musical geniuses.
I am 100% on board with the fact that rap/hip-hop is a musical form as valid as any other, and that there are plenty of people out there who for various reasons (some of them undoubtedly racist) struggle with this obvious fact. However! Here, in the context of Qt3, this line of argument w/r/t the intentions of other posters in the thread is disingenuous at best. Please stop.
It just depends what you mean by ‘genius.’ If John Lennon and Paul McCartney are geniuses, then certainly so are Chuck Berry, Marvin Gaye, Prince – to say nothing of Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Scott Joplin, Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, etc.
I personally have tried to set a very high bar on that particular word. And in that way I haven’t seen many musicians, if any, outside of the European classical tradition I would comfortably apply that label to. (Disclaimer: I have probably actually heard .000000000000001% of the music that has ever been composed.)
But that’s probably a little too restrictive. I’m reasonably comfortable saying that Monk is a genius and Kanye is a talent.
I know, I know. White people like jazz.
See my list is Devin Townsend, Arjen Anthony Lucassen, and Daniel Gildenlow.
But no matter how you slice it, I think one important aspect to be deserving of the label is song writing as well as performing, and the ability to compose and deliver in multiple styles and genres.
I have no interest in judging Kanye as a performer, I don’t know his stuff and I don’t care for the style.