Kanye West (the world’s most petulant child) recently claimed in his ‘groundbreaking’ and ‘first honest piece of media’ interview that “Rap is the new Rock’N’Roll, and I’m the number one rock star on the planet.”
Yeah, right…
Kanye West, excels at about two things:
- Name dropping in songs (and everywhere else for that matter.)
- Surrounding himself with brilliant producers.
He is no where near the biggest rock star on the planet, nor is he even big enough to boast a top 40 appearance in sales. However, with the help of Jay-Z, Kanye did barely squeak into the Top 10 grossing tours a year or so ago…
Unfortunately for Kanye (and rap), only about 7 rap albums make the top 40 over the last several years; and even worse, since the beginning of time, only 4 rap albums have been the best selling albums of the year.
Kanye would also be interested to know that Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds sold more records than Kanye’s eponymous My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. (Which seriously lacks comma usage.) He might also be surprised to know that Adele, Lady Antebellum, Taylor Swift, Mumford and Sons, and a Josh Groban Christmas album beat the piss out him in sales.
I feel horrible for his ego. It’s so misguided he probably needs to drive a big truck to re-align it.
It seems to me that at some point, Americans (in particular) stopped being shocked at the outlandish nature of rap music. It was all fluff and puffed out chests, and eventually… America got bored. A few music reviewers (on the fringe) still exist to try to add legitimacy to this dying ‘art’, but for the most part, people that still enjoy rap as a valid form of music are few and far between. Many artists have stolen heavily from past rap artists, and employ some of their techniques to create wildly successful and poignant music (see Lana Del Rey or Frank Ocean). But in the end, people respond to music that makes them think. They visceral nature of rap, heavy metal, punk, and several other sub-genres make them perfect to entertain the angsty youth of the world. However, good music is still defined by quality song structure, good instrumentation, and lyrical content that makes you think or illicit a feeling inside of you.
Rap is dying. Kanye, you can make a giant social scene and be the biggest ass the world has ever known; but you will never be a rock star. I would let you flip a burger for me though.
And just to add insult to injury, Johnny Cash is still richer than you, and he’s dead.
unfortunatelycommon 