Wake Up, Mr. West!
It’s been three whole days since the latest Kanye West misstep. This time his well-documented egoism, his poor sportsmanship and his inability to hold his liquor have taken him too far off of the reservation. He’s no longer an amusingly eccentric and self-centered “genius” but he is now a tortured, broken maniac. Wake up, Mr. West. No more passes.
His fans have got to be the most appreciative, long-suffering or perhaps most deluded of any artist’s, especially of any rapper’s, on the scene today. Whenever he gate-crashes, speaks out of turn, puts on a poor show or breaks into a petulant hissy fit, we’re willing to let it slide (check out this ABC News link for the rundown of West’s poor conduct rap sheet). But this time is different.
West’s previous breaches in etiquette were often on his own behalf– particularly when protesting an award he’d lost to another artist. But this time he waylaid another artist’s moment to shine–in this case it was country-pop darling Taylor Swift’s moment of triumph–for no apparent reason. He sprang onto the stage and ripped the mic from young Swift’s hand only to declare that Beyonce had the greatest video of all-time in “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)”. He tarnished a moment that had absolutely nothing to do with him for no reason at all except that he felt like doing it. Perhaps that was why he did it: to insert himself into what would become the biggest moment of MTV’s 2009 Video Music Awards.
I was livid for at least 20 minutes and subsequently deleted his latest album 808s and Heartbreak from my Zune. I can no longer be counted a fan of Kanye West.
This moment serves as a great and unfortunate sign post of the times in which we live; a supremely uncivil and savage time in which people feel entitled to “keep it real”, saying how they feel just because they feel it. Hurt feelings and sullied reputations, be damned! We live in an age in which everyone wants to be the newest, wickedest reality show villain. Everyone wants to become famous on the heels of his snarky, poorly written gossip blog ala Perez Hilton. The times they are a-changing as we speak…and not for the better.
I am ashamed that I didn’t cease to be a Kanye fan after his previous displays of bratty behavior. We as a society continue to reward achievement often at the expense of goodness, grace, decency and manners, even. We’ve become a nation that values winners over champions. Winners are those that do whatever it takes to come out on top, just for the sake of being at the top. These “winners” are people who ‘roid up in order to bring home the gold versus a “champion” who stays clean, feels the pain, works hard and plays fair, maybe netting a silver (or a bronze) when competing against the “winner”, an abominable, performance-enhanced beast. Winners are obsessed with accolades, happiness, attention and status while champions have the grace, the heart and the strength of character to be their best not for the carrot at the end of the race but out of passion for the race itself. Winners do everything for prizes. Champions fight for love.
I don’t think anyone can rightfully deny that Kanye West works hard but what is he even striving for? Why does he have to punctuate every “loss” or every perceived snub with a temper tantrum? Why does he always have to be the snot-nosed kid who pumps his fists and shouts “I win” at the end of the board game (or, more aptly, the punk who knocks over the game pieces and pouts whenever he loses)? Most people want recognition and respect when they do a great thing but why does Kanye West feel the need to rob others of their moments in the sun? What makes him entitled to behave in such a fashion? Was he reared to be such a sore loser? Seriously, Kanye…what is your deal, homey?
Maybe he needs to sit in the corner by himself until he learns to play nice with the other boys and girls.
