For those of you who don’t know, Kanye West is the best celebrity of our time.
He’s good at his craft, he’s hilarious, he’s (kinda) smart, he’s an entrepreneur and he says whatever is on his mind at any given time. Nobody keeps us entertained like Kanye does.
Still, the guy can’t catch a break. I hear it all the time: “Kanye makes good enough music, but he’s a d-bag and I don’t like him.”
Well, I guarantee you the music wouldn’t be what it is if West weren’t who he is. At the end of the day, what West does best is be himself; it’s his own actions that generally pull the most interesting headlines.
This morning, when I Googled “Kanye West,” the top three stories from Google News were:
“Kim Kardashian leaves Kanye West behind in New York as she arrives in Los Angeles,” “Kanye West visits Justin Bieber in the studio” and “Kanye West suffers wardrobe malfunction as he loses his pants during date with Kim Kardashian.”
Let’s review: Kim Kardashian, Justin Bieber and wardrobe malfunctions. That’s like the holy grail of American greatness.
But let’s not forget one of his most recent headline-clinching moves: releasing the song “Theraflu” — and not the cold medicine we all know and love.
“Theraflu” is the former title of the promotional single “Way Too Cold” from the forthcoming collaboration album GOOD Music, which is set to feature artists from his G.O.O.D. Music label.
After taking some heat from Theraflu (the actual cold medicine), West played with a few names, finally resting on “Way Too Cold.”
In the song, West takes overt digs only he could take, firing shots such as “Tell PETA my mink is dragging on the floor” and suggesting he could take revenge against Kardashian’s soon-to-be ex-husband Kris Humphries.
Backstory: Kardashian, now allegedly dating West, married then filed for divorce from Humphries, who plays professional basketball for the Brooklyn Nets, which Jay-Z, who is BFFs with West, partially owns.
Therefore, Humphries is “lucky (West) ain’t have Jay drop him from the team.”
But that’s not to say the guy’s only good for controversy. It’d be unwise to dismiss that all six of Wests’ studio albums have gone platinum — including two that went triple platinum — and his current ranking as the artist with the third most digital singles sold in the past decade. Should I mention his 18 Grammy awards?
Still, there are some who aren’t digging the cocky attitude (which I’d simply call confidence), his shots at celebrities (which I’d call humor), and the abundance of rhymes about his wealth (which I’d say is a mixture of the two).
But with “Cold,” West has created an antidote of sorts for his critics, as he wisely suggests: “If you can do it better than me, then you do it.”
Joshua Jamerson is a freshman studying journalism and a staff writer for The Post. Talk Kanye with him at jj360410@ohiou.edu.
