Kanye West Tickets—The Ego That Devoured Hip-Hop By Andrew Good At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

A good MC is a braggart. This is build into the very fiber of being an entertainer—but when you’re spitting rhymes flawlessly, rhetorical flourishes serve to impress your audience even more. It’s no surprise, then, that for plenty of MCs, the cost of success is humility.

There’s countless examples of rappers claiming to be the biggest thing ever (it’s only a wonder more of them haven’t appropriated John Lennon’s famous assertion that The Beatles were bigger than Jesus). If would be unfair to single out Kanye West for being having a bit of an ego issue, as anyone who has followed Lil Wayne’s claims in the music press can attest to. With Kanye West tickets at http://www.stubhub.com/kanye-west-tickets selling the way they do, his fans clearly share the sentiments of critics. But Kanye West—who, it should be noted, is one of the most talented working rappers, and continues to redefine what hip-hop sounds like—definitely has a big head.

Quotes to the press claiming he’s “the voice of this generation, of this decade, I will be the loudest voice” suggest the due praise he’s received from critics have helped build that messiah complex. Other quotes, such as the infamous pounding of keys on his MacBook Air (so hard he could break it) in response to “squid brains” who were displeased with his tardy arrival at Bonnaroo in 2008 made him a bit of a punch line.

It’s not surprising that comedians actually started using Kanye as a punch line. In early December, fake political pundit Stephen Colbert, host of The Colbert Report, began Operation: Humble Kanye, a tongue in cheek attempt to communicate that, possibly, maybe, Kanye was taking himself too seriously. Calling him a “sun glasses mannequin” probably didn’t earn Colbert any love from Kanye, but what really irked him was Colbert’s suggestion that everyone buy his Christmas album at the same time that Wednesday, effectively pushing Kanye’s synth- and Auto-Tune-laden record 808s and Heartbreak out of the number one spot on the iTunes chart.

The public missive clearly reached Kanye, who responded on Twitter with “Who the **** is Stephen Colbert?” The blogs picked up both, making it an even more public disagreement. But it must have hurt even more the next night, when Colbert remarked that Operation: Humble Kanye was a success. Though Colbert’s Christmas album (which he had been shamelessly plugging on his show) moved up to number four on the chart, Kanye’s record slipped below it.

Colbert responded on air by holding up a cardboard cut-out of comedian Mike Myers and claiming “Kanye doesn’t like Colbert people,” a reference to yet another controversy West incurred after Hurricane Katrina hit (he had originally claimed the slow response of the federal government was because “George Bush doesn’t like black people,” while a visibly pained Myers tried not to react).

Will any of this go to Kanye’s head? It remains unlikely. An ego is somewhat necessary to create great art—and if a good or even great popular music album is art, than that is surely what Kanye West makes. But hopefully as he grows older, he can develop a taste for humble pie, as well.

Published At: Isnare Free Articles Directory http://www.isnare.com
Permanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=333157&ca=Entertainment

Important Notice DISCLAIMER: All information, content, and data in this article are sole opinions and/or findings of the individual user or organization that registered and submitted this article at Isnare.com without any fee. The article is strictly for educational or entertainment purposes only and should not be used in any way, implemented or applied without consultation from a professional. We at Isnare.com do not, in anyway, contribute or include our own findings, facts and opinions in any articles presented in this site. Publishing this article does not constitute Isnare.com's support or sponsorship for this article. Isnare.com is an article publishing service. Please read our Terms of Service for more information.