The Confidence of Kanye

What would the world be like if we all had the level of confidence displayed by Kanye "There's a thousand yous, there's only one of me!" West? There would probably be peace on Earth, as we would all be so busy looking in a mirror or talking about ourselves that nothing would ever come to blows. This guy is over-the-top with how much he loves himself! But for some reason, I get a kick out of it and for the most part, I really like him. Maybe it's because he's from Chicago that I have a soft spot for his antics (though I can't say I feel the same about other Chicago-originating artists, such as Fall Out Boy - blech!). Or maybe it's because I think to myself, How harmful can a cocky hip-hop prepster be? He dresses like he is always about to whisk away for a round of golf! Come on!

It also doesn't hurt that I really like his music. Usually I find it hard to look past silly lyrics, but there are always a few exceptions - and Kanye's work land in the exception pile because they are so catchy. All Falls Down, Gold Digger, Jesus Walks, Heard 'Em Say, Stronger... I love all of these songs. So I can look past lyrics such as:

"The way Kathy Lee needed Regis that's the way I need Jesus!"
"You know how long I've been on ya? Since Prince was on Apollonia."
"He got that ambition, baby, look in his eyes... this week he's moppin' floors, next week it's the fries."

As it turns out, I'm not the only one who likes Kanye. Recently, Kanye and 50 Cent announced a "feud" of sorts - saying that when both of their new albums came out on September 11th, whose ever sold less records would retire. Well, we all know what "retiring" means in the music business - just look at Cher... or more appropriately, Jay-Z! No one ever retires. But let them have their fun - I'd rather have famous people fighting over their huge egos than overdosing and going to rehab and all of that crap. And besides, it looks like Kanye has won! Since the records have been released (does anyone actually buy entire albums these days? Don't you just download individual songs you like, like I do?), Kanye's sales are beating 50's buy a slim margin. I'm sure they're each going to demand a re-count.

Something that should help boost Graduation's sales a bit more is Kanye's appearance this coming Sunday on the Emmy Awards. Supposedly he is going to be performing with Dwight (Rainn Wilson) from The Office! That is going to rock!

Although he better start behaving himself - have you seen the video of the hissy fit he threw last weekend after not winning any MTV Video Music Awards? Most of the video is just dark with audio, but at the end you see him getting in an elevator (I think). Apparently he has sworn off MTV forever now because he's so offended. I have a secret for you Kanye... they TELL YOU BEFOREHAND if you're going to win at the VMAs - you should have had a clue when you didn't hear anything from MTV before the show began! Sorry. But like your most recent song says, "that that don't kill you, can only make you stronger!" (And you know you've got to be right now, 'cause you can't get much wronger - I love that line)

- e