"I'm really happy for you, and I'ma let you finish": A Critical Analysis of the Kanye West-VMA's incident

Seeing as how everyone on every social networking site is calling for him to be lynched (no, seriously, some people are calling for him to be lynched. Go on twitter and search the terms “Kanye West” and “lynch”), just as Kanye West defended Beyonce (whether she needed it or not is another story), someone needs to come to the defense of the fallen (by societal standards) 808s and Heartbreaks star. There are a number of issues that are so pervasive that no one is addressing, let’s call them the “Elephants in the room”.

The first elephant is simple: in the category of Best Female Video, 19 year old Taylor Swift’s video for “You Belong to Me” beat out videos by Pink, Lady Gaga, and finally Beyonce. The elephant lies in the ridiculous claim by the MTV VMAs that Taylor Swift’s video was better than Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” video. The fact that the dance for the video has been redone and reworked (even making its way into a Saturday Night Live skit) is testament to the fact that it was indeed the Best Video of the year, or as Kanye rightly stated, one of the best videos of all time. In a category like that Beyonce should have easily taken home the prize but she did not. She also didn’t take home the price for Best Pop video. That accolade went to Britney Spears for “Womanizer”. Again, nowhere near the accolades that were showered upon “Single Ladies” were showered upon “Womanizer”, yet Britney’s video bested Beyonce’s and she stood 0 for 2 on the night. Now, many will contend (I like to call this group, the Appeasers) that since Beyonce won Video of the Year, that all is right with the world. Still many (again, the Appeasers), will contend that Beyonce allowing Taylor Swift to come out and finish her acceptance speech after she won the Video of the Year award is further proof that Kanye was completely wrong and that Beyonce felt that Kanye was wrong. It only proves that Beyonce felt bad about the situation and wanted to smooth things over on her end, which is a legitimate concern of hers. Some have even gone further to defend Beyonce’s defeat by saying that MTV did the fair thing by giving everyone one award. However, minor research shows that just last year MTV gave Britney Spears, Best Female Video, Best Pop Video, and Video of the Year, for “Piece of Me”. Which leads me to my next poi--, err, elephant: race.

There are many who are going to immediately stop reading this because of the insistence upon some racial focus here. These people, I like to call, Post-Racialists. To their claim, I argue that to deny that there is no racial significance in Beyonce, the only woman of color who as Kanye West argued, one of the Best Videos of all time, being rationed awards to the appeasement of two white artists, is to deny the still consistent racial overtones of our society. To deny that there is no racial significance in the backlash at Kanye West that has manifested itself in racist language (a simple Twitter search of the terms “Kanye West” and “Nigger” produces astonishing results) is to deny the pervasively racist society in which we live. To deny that the there is no racial significance in the demonization of West by mass media and society a la social networking is to deny that the pseudo-scientific racial theories of inferiority and savagery that were prevalent throughout the 16^th, 17^th, 18^th and 19^th centuries, the legacy of which was felt in the 20^th century, has had any effect on the 21^st century. In many ways, having Kanye West, this powerful image of Blackness, verbally “attack” Taylor Swift, the All-American “Aww-Shucks” image of Whiteness, is unsettling to a lot of people, many of whom are calling for the star to be lynched. What is left out is the forced appeasement at the sacrifice, whether accepted or not, of Taylor Swift and Britney Spears (both white females) at the expense of Beyonce (a woman of color). There is a precedent in the previous year of one video receiving all three awards, and a video of the viral magnitude of Beyonce’s should have easily repeated the “hat trick” trend. I, unlike my Post-Racialist friends, am not ready to simply write the offense off as a coincidence. Finally, the demonization of Kanye West by everyone from Perez Hilton to Barack Obama, leads me to my third and final elephant: societal priorities.

We are still fighting two wars. We are engaged in a major healthcare reform debate. Yet, Kanye West’s statement (I refuse to lay the negative connotation of “outburst” on his action) has taken front page press. When Joe Wilson yelled that President Obama was a liar, it did not receive anywhere near the public outcry as did Kanye’s statement. This problem I attribute to those whom I will call Tweeters. I won’t belabor this point, but It’s a sad sign for a country when celebrities or athletes (lest we forget about Serena Williams’ weekend) are held to a higher moral standard than our elected officials. There is an alternate explanation for this phenomenon (what I term the Perez Hilton Paradox). This alternate explanation, however, will upset my Post-Racialist friends. But for the sake of scholarship, let’s just say it involves the traditional image of whites in superior conditions to blacks, and so we are socially conditioned to the image of Joe Wilson questioning President Obama. In fact, some of us are confused as to why his statement wasn’t more of an imperative (i.e., “You stop lying boy”). But that’s a topic that has been semi addressed already.

I would be remiss to finish this without taking a serious look at the fact that Kanye West apologized to Taylor Swift…more than once. The apologies, Swift has stated were sincere, but it’s the apology on the Jay Leno Show that I want to look at a bit more. Jay Leno, in a very provocative moment, asked Kanye West what his mother would think of what he did and for the first time since the death of Dr. Donda West, Kanye West was forced to get off the rollercoaster ride that was his life and see the person he has become. When Dr. West passed, Kanye was hurt. When his fiancé left him shortly after, the world that he had known and appropriated had been snatched away from him and so he placed all of his heartbreak into the one place that was left, his music. Kanye West’s Heartbreaks led him to his 808s. Since the passing of Dr. Donda West, we have seem what happens when genius and pain cohabitate. We are given the gift of a great product (808s and Heartbreaks is in my eyes a classic because of its groundbreaking concept) but the curse of the tormented soul behind the product not being nourished. Once the 808s were turned off, the beating of the heartbreak persisted. Kanye West’s decision to take some time off is probably not ideal for Hip-Hop, but it is necessary for West. In order to retain the College Dropout, we must give him his Fall Break.

Jay-Z's "Death of AutoTune"

So I have to comment on Jay-Z’s “Death of Auto-Tune”. The night it came out, I listened to it about 18 times just to get the feel for it. I can’t front, I like the song. Its catchy, but it also carries the message well. As Jay says “Holdup, this ain’t a number 1 record/ This is practically assault with a deadly weapon”. He really goes hard from the first verse with this lyric:

This is anti-autotune, death of the ringtone
This ain’t for Itunes, this ain’t for sing-along

I mean, he attacks the way in which the music industry has changed so dramatically as of late. Especially hip hop. It has its place, but when the market is saturated by Ringtones and no one is buying albums anymore, thats a major problem. I mean, artists like Drake and Kid Cudi, have to release mixtapes in order to be heard. Jay’s point here is valid.

Another part of “Death of Autotune” criticizes the Hipster culture that has taken over hip hop. Jigga writes (or doesnt write actually, lol):

No lyin, your niggas’ jeans too tight
Your colors too bright, your voice too light

I’m not doggin the Hipster brand, but damn come on. Stupidridiculous pointed out to me how most people on Tumblr are talking about sneakers and shit like that and how “guys wont even talk to girls who dont know about sneakers and Jay-Z, even if they have a phat ass” lol. Shits getting out of hand. Everyone cant be a hipster. And, if you are, cool, but don’t come up to me talking about how I’m late hearing about this artist (I know, a common debate on Tumblr and in the world).

Finally, from his last verse:

You niggas singin too much,
Get back to rap you T-Pain’n too much
Ah, I’m a multi-millionaire
So how is it I’m still the hardest n—a here?
I don’t be in the project hallway
Talkin’ bout how I be in the project all day

Two things I want to point out in this pericope (if you dont know, look it up, lol). The first thing is this, his criticism of T-Pain and those people out there singing via Autotune. Especially, T-Pain. lol. Its true, every rapper, singer, artist, is using Autotune as a crutch. I saw someone comment about Wayne and Kanye using it as a crutch. I have to disagree. T-Pain’s entire career is based off of Autotune. Lil Wayne was hot (arguably) before his use of Autotune. Kanye’s career is still hot, even with his use of Autotune. Not to mention, Kanye explicitly stated that 808s was a concept album, and to be honest, it was used well for the album. The problem comes in when people like Jamie Foxx, who actually has talent, believes that he has to use Autotune because thats what the market is feening for. No. Sorry, not ok.

The other thing I briefly wanted to point out was his criticism of people “talking bout being in the project hallway”. Honestly, he’s right. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with living in the projects, but to think that somehow your credibility is magnified if you are constantly living your life in the projects is a sad thing to think. I mean, hip hop was never originally about living in poor circumstances and loving it. It was about pointing out those circumstances for the world to see and trying to get out of them. I mean, Jay-Z is someone who has show that you can develop and grow as a person and as an artist and still be successful. I mean, Reasonable Doubt was a street classic and everyone loved it, but when Jigga shows growth and produces Kingdom Come, people think he sold out.

With that said, there’s really only one way to finish this:

La Da Da Da, Hey Hey Hey, Good-Bye!

Radical Islam and Christian Privilege

Am I the only one who finds it upsetting to hear stories on CNN, FOXNews and MSNBC, talk about Radical Islam? I mean, I study religion, and I know that there have been way more Radical Christians out there. Don't take this as an attack on Christianity, I "used to be" Christian (I'm currently exploring Unitarian Universalism) and I'm currently pursuing a Master of Divinity from a Methodist seminary. With that said, why is there never any talk about Radical Christians? I'll tell you why. Because America is a country of Christian Privilege. Thats right Christian Privilege. Think about the "National" Holidays, and their proximity to Christian holidays. I'm not indicting Christianity. I just think its weird that Muslims are "Radical", while Christians are "Fundamentalists". Something to think about.

Breaking the Silence...

And so it seems that I return to my blog for a couple of reasons. The first, there are a number of people who have recently created blogs, and I must compete. Its in my nature. Besides that, however, there is a more legitimate reason: Chris Brown and Rihanna. I know that everyone and their mama has an opinion on the goings on between those two, however, I'd like to offer something a bit different in my analysis of the situation. So lets get to it.

Most people start here either with an exposition on how Chris Brown is awful and things of that nature, or how Rihanna is ruining her life by staying here, or even how Rihanna is ruining Chris Brown's career. While the latter is extremely ridiculous (he hit here, therefore he "ruined" his career), I'm going to ignore this whole thing. I mean, the blame lies on Chris, he allegedly hit her, no matter what degree of provocation she may have used for him to do it. But, the judgment on what happened does not fall into my lap, but into the courts (I can't help but think that some people thought I was going to say God. Why is America, despite its declining belief in Christianity a country that constantly tries to spiritualize everything? Random, I know.) So before I get myslef further entrenched in a topic I wasnt going to discuss, let me move on.

Many of you may be wondering "If you're not going to place a judgment on the case then why should we read this?" Well, to answer you, I said I wasn't going to judge Chris Brown, or Rihanna. I'm going to judge our society. There are some major issues in our society and this case with Chris Brown and Rihanna, bring light to them. One of them is that we hold celebrities to an incredibly high standard. While I personally believe that people in the limelight should operate under the assumption that they are always watched, I'm old enough to realize that celebrities are human and they screw up at times. So do we "regular folk". Its really a matter of how we react to the situation. Chris gave the stereotypical response: flowers, candy, diamonds, and apologies. Who can fault the guy for thinking this would work? He's only 19, which leads to my next topic.

An incredible amount of stress anguish and pressure have been put on a 19 and 20 year old. Some may say that they are celebrities and should know how to act in the public eye, but we must not forget the way in which these celebrities have grown up. From 16 onward, Chris Brown has been lauded as the best R&B artist out (although I could easily argue against it). Society has placed Chris Brown on a pedestal because of his talent and its always tough when an artist falls from grace. Especially when its happens as quickly as it has for Chris Brown. With that said, I must, in many ways, commend Rihanna in this whole thing. People have commented about how seeing Chris Brown in court was sad to see. But let us not forget that before everything became extremely public, there was just word that Chris Brown had assaulted a woman. Seemingly overnight, the hazy details became clear and we became privy to the information that the woman was Rihanna. Then, because of some guys screw up, the pictures from the police report became public. Still throughout it all, Rihan--, actually Robin has been incredibly strong and displayed incredible courage and elegance throughout this endeavor which, with the incredible involvement of the media, is admirable to say the least. Which leads me to them: The Media.

I am amazaed still that this story has gotten so much airtime. First the media couldn't believe what was going on, and broke the story so that all the world would hear. Then when it was finally known that Robin was the woman, there was an uproar with mixed reactions. Some didnt believe her and thought she was trying to ruin Chris' career (yeah, thats believable) and others just as upset at Chris Brown, with little or no regard to the woman whom he had hit...allegedly. In a matter of days, the media had swarmed the story and everyone and their mama had some sort of advice for the star-emblazoned couple. Here's why I have not said anything in the way of what the two of them should do: ITS NOT MY BUSINESS! I mean, honestly, I can say all I want what I think they should do, but if my knowledge serves me correctly, neither of them have asked me my thoughts on what they should do, so why should I just volunteer my opinion to them and then have the nerve to be upset when its not followed? For those who don't know Robin asked the judge to allow her boyfriend to see her while they were going through the court proceedings, and everyone was upset. I think its not only her business but smart. Its clear the two of them, at the very least, have some feelings for the other. So why would she not want to see her boyfriend so that they could work it out? I doubt everything, in terms of their relationsip, is immediately going to go back to the way it was, but if it does, the key thing to remember is that its THEIR relationship. Not America's. Rapper Drake has a line at the end of the Barry Bonds Freestyle on his "Comeback Season" mixtape and it goes "Keep your two cents, I ain't tryna leave you broke". Wise words that we should follow.

Finally, probably my biggest problem with this whole thing. As a result of Chris Brown allegedly assaulting Rihanna, everyone and their mama (in this case, the mama is Oprah) wants to do a show focused on Domestic Violence. Where the hell were all these shows before this? BET (whom I truly disdain from the bottom of my soul) is dedicating some time on 106 & Park towards domestic violence. First of all BET, I dont know what makes you think you're qualified to hold a show on domestic violence when you couldn't even properly handle a dispute between the male host and female host of your flagship show 106 & Park. In fact, after Terrance had verbally abused Rocsi, you sent both of them on a vacation, allowed Terrance to continue to verbally abuse her through the end of the week (when there was a guest host, he made a comment about not having to worry about the guest host having an attitude), and then made him give some sad apology accompanied by, oh what do you know, flowers. In fact, I think I now know where Chris Brown got his apology idea from. All in all, what I'm saying is this: Domestic violence should not become an issue because Chris Brown allegedly hits Rihanna. It should be an issue because for all the woman who are subject to the abuse but not platinum recording artists, their voices need to be heard as well. In fact, the irony of this whole thing is that here at Emory, I've heard some people say they will boycott Chris Brown's music from now on, which I'm completely cool with. But when I push them further and say, "why not attend the Vagina Monologues, an event where the proceeds goes towards women of Domestic Violence?", the response is that they don't have time, or don't see how that would connect.

Maybe now, we can understand that domestic violence is a raceless, classless epidemic. Maybe now, we can take a stand. But for the sake of all that is right, lets not break our silence (kind of like I did) because Chris Brown hit Rihanna...allegedly.

For more information about V-Day, a Global Movement to end Domestic Violence and also where the Vagina Monlogues in umbrella'd (no pun intended) under click here.

New stuff coming soon!!

Its been a while since I've posted something and some of you make think that I've just shirked The Redmond Report. Just a quick note that I havent. I'm still adjusting to this whole graduate school thing. I'm probably going to cut back to once a week and probably on Fridays, so watch out for an entry soon!!!