Page 18 - Jan 2019 Embrace Your Best Self
P. 18
P O L I T I C S
By Major Williams
I t was August 30, 2005, and I had just Fast-forward to 2018 Kanye, bipolar and
broken the packaging on the new Kanye
medicated Kanye, the "slavery was a choice
West album titled "Late Registration".
I was in Los Angeles, California cruising down Kanye".. Yea, I could go on and on if you catch my
drift. I must admit though, even though many
La Cienega Blvd with my windows up and my around me traded Kanye off in exchange for
volume loud anticipating what favor Kanye someone white that had more black qualities
West had to offer hip-hop as a solo artist. Then than he had seemed not to display during those
boom, I pressed play and the rest was history. ranting moments at TMZ, Twitter and Instagram.
Tracks 1 to 21 were well crafted like a beautiful Still, when it came to his music I was a fan. I
piece of art. I was drawn in like a shark to started paying close attention to the media and
blood, yes I know, that analogy may be a bit too others more carefully on how they portrayed Mr.
much, but you get my point. The songs were West. As soon as I heard them calling him "crazy"
inspiring, motivational, witty, cool and fun. something shifted my perspective. I remember
The album had all the makings of a classic reading many books that spoke about being
masterpiece and to this day I deem it as such. disruptive and it spoke about when a
That day I got my total fix of really a good hip- breakthrough is about to occur often times there
hop album. is uncertainty, un-comfort, and people are called
"crazy". Then it hit me like a ton of leftover steel
from President Trump's wall in the making.
Maybe Kanye isn't crazy, maybe this is out of the
Matrix rationale. Maybe we are crazy. So I begin
to dissect what he was saying versus how he was
saying it. He said "Democrats should be earning
our votes", I agree. He said "it is ok to be a free
thinker and not go with the status quo", I agree.
He said "the Maga hat is his superpower", I only
agree because Ye, I feel is using it metaphorically
no different than crafting rap lines for a hit
record. So, I agree. The Maga hat is simply a hat,
no different than the word "Ni&&a" being a word,
but how it is used and by whom becomes
something else to many. Haven't black people
always made the best out of tough situations,
harsh circumstances and somehow always
survive.
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18| TNE MAGAZINE | JAN 2019
