Kanye West: Turning You On or Off?

Friday, February 17, 2006

As an African American, I found Eugene Robinson's column about Kanye West troubling ["Lessons Taught by Grammy," Feb. 10].

Mr. West is remarkably talented. His "Late Registration" is on my playlist, and I thought his comment about the Bush administration's lack of concern for people of color was spot on. Yet while that comment may have given certain members of the Recording Academy pause when voting for album of the year, to hint that Mr. West's being "uppity" was the sole reason he didn't win was unfair. Mr. West turns people off for a lot of reasons.

At the American Music Awards show in 2004, for example, Mr. West, while nominated in three categories, didn't win anything, which had him feuding publicly with Dick Clark. He later had to apologize to country singer Gretchen Wilson and "my role models, including Denzel Washington," for the tantrum he threw after losing.

Mr. Robinson said that Mr. West's music is "cerebral," but listen to the deeply misogynist "You're My Type" as well as the profoundly anti-intellectual skits on "College Dropout," in which Mr. West makes fun of going to college. That's hardly the message that African American youth need to hear from such a talented and dominant pop music figure.

In other words, Kanye West gives people plenty of reason to both love and hate him. Mr. Robinson missed half the picture.

GEORGE JOHNSON JR.

Buffalo

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Regarding Eugene Robinson's judgments about rappers being "smart" or "nihilistic":

While Kanye West's song "Diamonds From Sierra Leone" may open a few eyes about so-called conflict diamonds, Mr. West has no problem with materialism as an essential of blackness with the lyrics:

"It's in a black person's soul

To rock that gold

Spend your whole life

Trying to get that ice."

Mr. Robinson's conviction that Mr. West is "smart, talented, political, uppity" is largely based on his "preppie" persona rather than comparison with other artists.

I also found Mr. Robinson's argument troubling because of Mr. West's creative interpretation of history. (AIDS was caused by the government; Ronald Reagan was responsible for the demise of the Black Panthers.)

Popular and intelligent rappers such as Nas and Jay-Z have long been offering political and social criticism. Sadly, I cannot shake the feeling that the real reason Mr. Robinson and others have taken a liking to Kanye West is not that he is a great or insightful rapper but that he sports an argyle sweater rather than a Thug Life tattoo.

ADAM SERWER

Washington