Term Paper on "Kanye West: His Influence"

Term Paper 11 pages (4130 words) Sources: 11

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Donda West has not lived to bear witness to the intensive notoriety of her son. Part of the notoriety that he has achieved as been in connection with the multi-faceted quality of his career: "No rapper has embodied hip-hop's often contradictory impulses of narcissism and social good quite as he has, and no producer has celebrated the lush and the ornate quite as he has. He has spent most of his career in additive mode, figuring out how to make music that's majestic and thought-provoking and grand-scaled. And he's also widened the genre's gates, whether for middle-class values or high-fashion and high-art dreams" (Caramanica, 2011). For example, no one can forget the year of the MTV Music Video Award when West grabbed the microphone during the acceptance speech of Taylor Swift and proclaimed that "Beyonce had one of the videos of all time." This was a moment when other celebrities even condemned Kanye's behavior, such as Kelly Clarkson, and he received serious criticism for his actions. In fact, even President Obama devoted criticism to Kanye's antics, and West ended up apologizing to Swift over the phone. However, in true form to his reputation for controversy, West has since removed his apology to Swift, saying that all of his actions are permissible and valid because of his own credibility and influential quality (Burbank-Douglas, 2013). "West, who drew controversy for interrupting Swift when she won the award for Video of the Year, beating out Beyonce, explains that he doesn't regret his now infamous interruption saying, 'It's only led me to complete awesomeness at all times. It's only led me to awesome truth and awesomeness. Beauty, truth, awesomeness. That's all it is'" (Burbank-Douglas, 2013). While one might want to dismiss this remark as again another example of a self-absorbed artist making yet another self-absorbed remark, given West's intelligence and desire to push boundaries, one needs to give it a more thorough examination. Essentially, all West is saying is that he felt like he was speaking the truth, and that while it may have offended some people, he was going to continue speaking the truth and that there's an inherent level of awesomeness present within speaking the truth. Moreover, this remark showcases influence, power and last-ability that Kanye has managed to maintain as a recording artist. His power is largely in the fact that he is so controversial. He maintains his popular status by being controversial, and by gaining the outrage and support of people all over America. His outspoken quality and the outrageousness of the things that he says ensures that people continue to talk about him. Furthermore, the fact that Kanye says that he is "so influential" turns out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. He tells America that he is "so influential" and America, whether the nation likes it or not, ends up agreeing with him. As one journalist reminds us, "Sure, he's known for the outrageous, but unlike so many celebrities Kanye's never been arrested, accused of cheating or known to have anything remotely close to a drug issue. He's reached superstardom just through making great music, great marketing and the occasional publicity stunt here and there. But Kanye isn't dangerous. Compared to, say, Lindsay, West is the model of good boy super celebrity" (Dennis, 2013).

Boundary Pushing and Mockery

It appears as though West pushes boundaries in all areas of his life, including in his romantic connections. The very fact that West is married to a white woman is another means of trumping the construct of race relations in America. America has a background of slavery and prejudice against blacks, one which goes back for centuries. There are still tremendous amounts of people all over America who don't support inter-racial couples. Thus, West being in a relationship with a woman who is outside of his race, is yet another way in which he is pushing the boundaries of the narrow constructs of society.

West recently spoke not only of his desires to debut in the world of fashion and design, but of his desires to have his wife grace the cover of Vogue. However, in this copy of Vanity Fair, the journalist essentially mocks all efforts of Kanye to get Kim into Vogue and essentially asserting how that will never happen. "This time, the rapper stopped by On Air with Ryan Seacrest to pitch his 'girl' as an obvious choice for a future Vogue cover story. "There's no way Kim Kardashian shouldn't be on the cover of Vogue," West said of the highbrow fashion magazine, ignoring the fact that Anna Wintour reportedly banned Kardashian from past Vogue events and her magazine unambiguously earlier this year. 'She's, like, the most intriguing woman right now. She's got Barbara Walters calling her, like, every day,' West continued, trying to boost her cred. 'And collectively, we're the most influential with clothing'" (Miller, 2013). Even bad press like this, which essentially ridicules Kanye's attempt to better his wife's career, is still something that West has managed to foray into good press. Negative or positive, West has still found a way to turn that ridicule into something which benefits both him and his wife: while he hasn't succeeded in getting Kim on the cover of Vogue, those remarks of ridicule were still delivered by Vanity Fair, a magazine which does deal with haute couture and the uppercrust. Part of the reason why West can bounce back from such criticism in such a lasting and meaningful way, is because he has that intensive career of unadulterated success in music to fall back on. While one can dismiss his desires and the things he says, as far as music goes, he's a complete giant and the power of his album sales and of his critical acclaim simply cannot be ignored. It's entirely possible that if West had less success as a recording artist, the ridicule that he receives from so many members of the press would probably be more harmful. However, with his tremendous success as a recording artist, this press really just ends up making him seem more like an eccentric artist, and making him appear even more enigmatic.

One of Kanye's remarks is the most telling, when he describes how Kim was on the cover of French vogue and how the editor of French Vogue allowed that to happen. "Carine Roitfeld supports my girl. That's a breakthrough,' he said during the "On Air With Ryan Seacrest" radio interview. 'There's a wall of classism that we are breaking through,' he said" (Miller, 2013). While this might again seem like yet another throwaway remark that Kanye is making about the power of him and his wife, the reality is that there's a tremendous amount of truth to what he is saying: for a reality star, a non-actor and a non-political figure to be on the cover of Vogue really does represent a certain degree of classism which is being annihilated. One can even argue that having the wife of a black man is ground-breaking when it comes to breaking down the borders of race and class. Thus, what appears to just be inconsequential hubris coming from Kanye's mouth, it's actually a bold commentary about the realities of society.

Kanye and Fashion

Kanye is in fact as influential in fashion as he says he is, as he's made a steady and consistent fashion evolution throughout the years. In fact, his emergence onto the hip-hop scene was special and different largely because his personal sense of fashion was so different from other rappers. He didn't wear baggy jeans and he didn't dress like typical gangsta rappers. Kanye continues to be a major player in fashion, but he does so with his standard controversy, as another means of keeping himself relevant. As one journalist says, it's difficult to keep track of who Kanye is fighting with. (Levinson, 2013). Kanye's fighting extends to fashion as well: "According to Kanye, when the vice president of Louis Vuitton, Yves Carcelle, wouldn't meet with him, the rapper dramatically urged all of NYC to boycott the label (executing his "power"). Kanye said: "I was made for this moment. What happened was while I was out in Paris I wanted to meet with the head of Louis Vuitton, he said, 'I don't understand why we need to meet with you.' I said, 'Let me explain to you why you need to meet with me.' Everybody in New York City right now don't buy any Louis Vuitton until after January. Now do you want to meet with me? Now do you want to meet with me? Influence. They think that I don't realize my power" (Levinson, 2013). Such a remark demonstrates the sheer timelessness of Kanye's remark: he reestablishes his own power, engages in a greater level of controversy, and ensures that people continue to discuss him, while getting his name associated with the Louis… READ MORE

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