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THE MO'KELLY REPORT: Kanye West - Take Your Meds as Prescribed
*There are some general truths in life. They aren’t “laws” necessarily and they can’t be validated in an empirical sense. Yet and still, we just know them to be true. There’s an old science axiom that says not all things that matter can be measured and not all things that can be measured, matter.
Nevertheless, some things just are.
Along those lines, although we can’t quantitatively measure ‘crazy’ we know for a fact it exists and has a stranglehold on Kanye West.
Kanye West - musical genius…maybe. Superstar producer…absolutely. Mentally stable?
Not likely.
From the inexplicable awards program behavior over the years to his ongoing inability to peacefully coexist with the paparazzi…Kanye seems to be a few drumsticks short of a bucket of chicken.
Don’t take Mo’Kelly’s word for it…take Kanye's.
Last week in an interview, Kanye was quoted as follows…
"I realize that my place and position in history is that I will go down as the voice of this generation, of this decade, I will be the loudest voice," he said in an interview last Wednesday. "It's me settling into that position of just really accepting that it's one thing to say you want to do it and it's another thing to really end up being like Michael Jordan."
Really Kanye?
This would be the same Michael Jordan who was a 14-time all-star, 10-time all-NBA 1st team, 9-time all NBA Defensive team, 6 NBA championships, 6-time NBA Finals MVP, 5-time NBA MVP, 2 Olympic gold medals,1 NCAA championship, 1 NBA Defensive Player of the Year and a Partridge in a Pear Tree.
THAT “Jordan?”
Are you sure you didn’t mean Jordin Sparks or maybe the basketball player Adonis "Jordan?"
But “Michael” Jordan arguably, arguably is without peer in the world of sports. Some could make a case for Bill Russell and his 11-rings. Others may mention Muhammad Ali. And we’ll see about Tiger Woods when all is said and done. Regardless, Jordan is in each and every discussion about the greatest athlete in history.
Every single one, irrespective of sport or era; Jordan is in the discussion.
Kanye West isn’t even in the discussion of the greatest rapper of the past 10 years, much less all-time. He’s not even in the discussion of the “greatest” producer of the past 10 years, much less all-time.
And in terms of CD sales?
Of the 181 top-selling artists of all time (i.e. those who have sold at least 50 million records) Kanye West is NOT one of them.
See HERE
Of those 181 (and likely more who presently have outsold West), the list includes names like:
The Spice Girls
Destiny's Child
New Kids on the Block
Jay-Z
Eminem
Mariah Carey
All, with the exception of NKOTB are generational contemporaries of West. In truth, West doesn’t even measure up to “Jordan” Knight of NKOTB, much less Michael “Jordan.”
That “Jordin” Sparks comparison is looking more and more reasonable with each paragraph that passes.
Let’s be clear, Michael Jordan hits near the top of every statistical list in basketball that matters, not #182 or lower. It’s a bit disingenuous to call oneself the “voice of a generation” and you’re not even in the top 181 most popular voices in the first place. Take your meds as prescribed by your doctor Kanye.
Now that we’ve already established that Kanye’s not even NEAR becoming the top-selling hip-hop artist of the past 10 years and isn’t even close to being the biggest star in music, past or present, let’s continue to look at his comments through the prism of common sense. And what does it say about West’s “ voice,” given his music is not even known primarily for being “conscious” in nature?
What does it say?
It says you’re off your meds Kanye. Please take them as prescribed and do not miss any more doses.
Being “a voice of a generation” implies having said something meaningful, continuously and consistently over the course of that generation. Just doing so “on occasion” for 4+ CDs doesn’t satisfy that requirement. He (like Nas) is occasionally conscious, in the way that Shaquille O’Neal occasionally hits a free throw. With every shot (or Kanye West song), it could go either way. Might be conscious, might not be. Shaq might make a free throw, he might brick. It could go either way.
Nobody (in their right mind) would call Shaq a great free throw shooter and likely nobody is calling West the voice of this generation either…other than West.
"I realize that my place and position in history is that I will go down as the voice of this generation, of this decade, I will be the loudest voice.”
Having the biggest mouth doesn’t equate to the “loudest voice” either. They’re not the same thing. Take your meds Kanye.
Let’s look at this from another angle.
Despite Kanye’s ego which would have you believe he should have won EVERY award ever; to date West has won only 5 Grammy Awards. But…for the sake of argument, let’s just assume he’s “right” and we grant him another NINE gramophones for ego sake.
A Grammy total of 14 would STILL put him behind the following individuals:
George Solti 31
Quincy Jones 27
Pierre Boulez 25
Vladimir Horowitz 25
Stevie Wonder 22
Henry Mancini 20
U2 17
Ray Charles 17
Alison Krauss 17
Leonard Bernstein 16
Eric Clapton 16
Aretha Franklin 16
Vince Gill 16
Pat Metheny 16
Robert Shaw 16
Paul Simon/Art Garfunkel 16
Sting/Police 16
Yo-Yo Ma 15
Itzhak Perlman15
Al Schmitt 15
Chet Atkins 14
David Foster 14
James Mallinson 14
Jimmy Sturr 14
Voice of a generation? Jordan-esque? By what measure? Neither sales nor accolades, nor resume validate such a claim.
OK, so what about cultural impact?
Unequivocally Jay-Z and 50 Cent have had far more of a cultural impact than Kanye West. That too is not even up for debate. Kanye may have sold more CDs than Fiddy this last time out but from a cultural standpoint, Fiddy owns West in terms of overall sales, brand-awareness, business acumen and longevity. Jay-Z crushes Kanye in that respect too. Jay-Z is an icon. Kanye on the other hand is a “star” and there’s a world of difference in between the two.
Eddie Murphy, icon. Steve Harvey…star.
Sidney Poitier, icon. Terrence Howard, star.
See the difference? There’s nothing wrong with “only” being a star, except when you stop taking your meds. Martin Lawrence, he stopped taking his meds (or took too many) and ended up in his robe, slowdancing with a gun in the middle of an intersection. Terrence Howard stopped taking his meds and didn’t even realize he released a horrible music CD or had been released from Iron Man II.
Kanye, take your meds as prescribed by your doctor. 2 pills, every four hours, with food. Do not mix with alcohol or operate heavy machinery.
HISTORY decides one’s place within it; not the person in question. History will decide just how poorly President Bush will be remembered, not Bush. Historians will have the last word on where Kanye ranks in the pantheon of musical artistry, not Kanye. Slow your roll. Make history first, then let history do its thing. There’s an order here and Kanye’s way ahead of himself. He still hasn’t even made history yet.
In keeping with the underlying sports theme of this discussion, sports fans argue year-in and year-out as to who should be in the Hall of Fame in any respective sport.
For Mo’Kelly, it’s very simple. If you have to make an argument for someone to be inducted… then that’s the best argument as to why they shouldn’t be inducted at all. If you have to somehow convince Mo’Kelly that Kanye West is akin to Michael Jordan…then that’s the best argument as to why he isn’t. Kanye West is the latest in the string of talented, successful, inventive music minds. No more, no less.
But so was Teddy Riley (The ‘Kanye West’ of yesteryear)…and nobody was “crazy” enough to compare him to Jordan either. And by the way, the King of the New Jack Swing is broke in 2008.
History had the last word.
Take your meds as prescribed by your doctor Kanye and leave the ill-conceived statements of self-aggrandizement alone…please…once and for all.
The Mo'Kelly Report is an entertainment journal with a political slant; published weekly at www.eurweb.com. It is meant to inform, infuse and incite meaningful discourse...as well as entertain. The Mo’Kelly Report is syndicated by Newstex and Blogburst. For more Mo’Kelly, http://www.mokellyreport.blogspot.com.
Morris W. O'Kelly can be reached at mokellyreport@sbcglobal.net and he welcomes all commentary.
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