My understanding is that “Rapture” wasn’t necessarily “one of the first rap songs,” so much as one of the first rap songs that got wide exposure. Debbie Harry and Chris Stein were friends with several rap artists, and wrote the song after attending several rap events in New York.
I’m not going to get into a big hijack on the subject but I strongly disagree with you. There are many songs that are popular at a time and make money but they are just plain bad. Generally these are the songs that make the Billboard list but a few years later everyone wonders “What were we thinking?”
Maybe I need a few more times watching that crap. Or are you kidding? (Serious question.) Uh huh honey.
I don’t know how much of it is his, but it’s solid.
I think that you may be confusing people you know and associate with with everyone, and assuming that everyone has the same tastes and opinions on music. Or even that there is an objective POV from which something can be declared as “plain bad”. Especially something that recently, many people thought was good. Things get overplayed and worn out and people may not want to hear them anymore, but that doesn’t mean that when they were fresh and new, they were already “bad”.
Anyway, I don’t think you disagreed with the entirety of my post, even though you quoted the whole thing and said as a blanket statement that you disagreed with it, as there were parts that I was in agreement with you.
It’s funny–I’m a 60s rock guy, pure and simple. I don’t particularly enjoy other types of music. Country, eh. Blues, eh. RnB, eh. Classical, eh. Show tunes, eh. Folk, eh. Disco, eh. Big band, eh. Grunge, eh. Etc, eh.
But I can tell you which artists in each of those sub-genres is a genius. I may not choose to listen to them, because I don’t care for their type of music, but if someone puts on a record by one of these geniuses, I’ll sit through it and appreciate it, even if I never choose to play another song by that again myself in the future. But rap and hip-hop just grates on me.
Did he write that? It has a melody, I will grant you that. But he certainly doesn’t perform much on that tune.
Maybe William Hung?
Seriously kidding (that’s the "jk 
" under the video). That song/video baffles me. Didn’t anyone ever tell him that maybe not all his ideas were good ones? The song and that video are both horrible. Top to bottom horrible.
Here is one of Kanye’s better known works:
Kanye West - Gold Digger ft. Jamie Foxx - YouTube
It’s a nicely produced pop-rap song with some clever word play
The only Kanye West song I would recognize is one he did with something called Dilated Peoples, and it includes a terrific couple of lines:
“I don’t know what’s better: getting laid or getting paid.
I just know when I’m getting one, the other’s getting away.”
In the serious scholarly tome Anthology of Rap (I bought it for my wife), West gets four entries, in the last chapter.
He reminds me of that Dave Chappelle skit about the blind KKK member who doesn’t know he’s Black.
Good to know. I thought I’d need to doubt your taste, or my sanity.
I’d like to know of one person that would step in to defend that song or video. Anyone?
I personally would say that it’s very possible, even likely, that his mental illness is affecting his actions. But it’s not the cause. It’s at most an intensifier
And even if it is a cause, the fact you can have the same mental illness and not say this stuff means it’s not a sufficient. But It can be the reason he lacks filters and an appreciation for why saying this stuff out loud is a problem. His mental vulnerability might be why those who prey on such were able to convince him.
I don’t blame the mental illness, but, at the same time, I suspect a medicated Ye would not be doing what he is doing now.
Even past his being bipolar, Ye (that is his actual name, and should be used) is way past being an asshole. An asshole cuts you off in traffic or makes a small disagreement personal. This guy is genuinely megalomaniacal.
Good on the kid for making a little hay while the sun was shining, but he didn’t make that much money. He might have sold about 200,000 albums, which is better than some acts, but I’d be surprised if he made $100,000 from it. Maybe as much in appearance fees on top. Not shabby, but pretty minor league overall for several years of work.
Still, you know what, the guy went on American Idol, made enough money to pay for his education, and had some fun. What a hero.
Well, he’s no spongemonkey, but I guess you do raise the point that on some occasions, qualities about a person other than their innate talent at what they are purportedly doing can bring them success greater than their talent would allow.
But I still think that’s more the exception than the rule, as has been implied.
I agreed with much of what you said it’s just a pain in the ass to delete a large amount of text while replying on the phone.
As for whether a song can be objectively bad or if as the saying goes “the audience is a genius*” I’ll leave you with this; “Disco Duck” reached #1 on the US charts.
*Quote from Billy Wilder: “Everyone in the audience is an idiot, but taken together, they’re a genius.”
Just at a quick glance, I don’t see anything wrong with this man that would lead to all this unbridled opprobrium:
Nothing.
Not a thing.
Carry on.