Kanye West

Certain Songs #830: Kanye West – “POWER”

March 26, 2017 by Jim Connelly

Album: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Year: 2010

Of course, it’s always been a thing that Kanye West isn’t that great of a singer or even that great of a rapper.

But that’s never bothered me, because he’s always owned his technical limitations, and on a production as large as “POWER” they serve to humanize his otherwise outsized music, and his otherwise outsized public persona.

In fact, it would actually make his music worse if he were better, because there would be nothing to bring him back down to earth and reveal him as not just an insecure, arrogant asshole, but an insecure arrogant asshole who lives to make this music.

Certain Songs #829: Kanye West – “School Spirit”

March 25, 2017 by Jim Connelly

Album: The College Dropout
Year: 2004

One of the most polarizing figures in the current musical landscape, it’s almost guaranteed that Kanye West will be remembered by future generations — long after whatever stupid-ass shit he said and did outside of the music that he produced (or, I guess, in his lyrics) — as one of the absolute indisputable musical geniuses of the early 21st century.

To me — and this will probably piss off a lot of the folks who “just don’t like” Kanye — the musical figure he most reminds me of is Jimmy Page.

Why Kanye West is Such An Asshole

June 26, 2008 by Jim Connelly

Quick! What’s the question that is on everyone’s lips right now? You’d think it would be “Who is going to win the 2008 Presidential Election?” or “Are gas prices ever going to go down?” or “Should I buy one of them cheaper iPhones?” or even “What’s up with the Jonas Brothers?”

Nope, the question that is one everyone’s lips right now — again — is “Why is Kanye West such an asshole?”

I think that I have the answer, and it might be not what you think.