Hacker News Reader

Comment by ssharp | Hacker News Reader

I'm not sure what fallacies my post was riddled with. Yes, some of it was opinion. And I never said Kanye West couldn't produce well. I'm not really sure what you're trying to say with the Rick Rubin comment either. Do you have a high opinion of Rick Rubin? I'm pretty sure Rick Rubin has a high opinion of Kanye.

I make music as a hobby, am fairly decent at it (IMHO, anyway) and listen to a lot of music. Kanye puts together songs, particularly on Yeezus, that are different than what else is out there and I have little doubt that Yeezus will influence a lot of rap over the next few years.

I never tried to equate Kanye West to Lou Reed.

View on HN

I think part of the reason a lot of people don't take Kanye seriously as an artist is that he behaves like a petulant twit. In this day and age of pop musicians being embroiled in controversy after controversy, Kanye gives them all a run for their money. From interrupting someone who was getting an award and voicing his thoughts on who he thinks should have won, to having no sense of reservation and calling himself the "greatest living rockstar", and handling himself the worst possible way when he gets criticized (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB9dk66ICVQ), he's in the frontline lowering the bar. The man has absolutely no class, I'd rather he just abandon the scene. Similarly, I don't care if Chris Brown is really talented or not -- he's bloodied up women, his misogynistic behavior should have him set aside so that he no longer has a platform.

"I think part of the reason a lot of people don't take Kanye seriously as an artist is that he behaves like a petulant twit."

But the thing is, people DO take Kanye seriously as an artist. His albums are constantly praised over and over again by critics. Even in places you wouldn't really expect it, there is a general acceptance that Kanye is leading the pack when it comes to innovation in pop music.

If we start to question artists morally then very quickly a lot of significant work and artists should 'abandon the scene'. From Lennon to Wagner, Ferdinand-Celine to Bill Murray, Polanksi via Woody Allen, to Chris Brown to Kanye (probably the mildest on this shopping list).

What's different this time around is that the pop stars' life details are part of their shtick more than ever before. Chris Brown is a 'bad boy', this is how he's packaged. What is of concern is that, this kind of behavior is being normalized in society at large when it's reigning a significant portion of the pop media cycle.

The common criticism with Lennon was that he was a bad husband and father in his first marriage -- but this part of his life was never publicized, indeed, it was actively suppressed by his PR managers. And for whatever it's worth, Lennon was in the process of making amends in his final days anyways.

That's all just myth-building, and he's done a brilliant job of it. Take this very message thread for instance, on a technology forum thread about Lou Reed of all things, the conversation is dominated by Kanye West.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com