Kanye West Speaks His Mind: On The Media, Michael Jackson, George Bush & Being "Cheated" From Winning At Award Shows

Kanye West is one of the most creative minds that we have in the music industry.  He constantly challenges the antiquated concepts that restrict us as artists and people.This blog post is in response to a video interview in which Kanye West speaks on many of his most memorable media moments including the infamous Taylor Swift stage crashing incident.  However, I wanted to concentrate on the portion of the interview where he discusses the  influence that society and the media has had on his career and the industry as a whole.  Kanye speaks of his struggle to stay creative while the media and society encourage us to conform to the standards that they deem appropriate.  In the interview he recites these thought provoking lyrics from one of his songs:

"Jesus died for our sins.  Michael [Jackson] died for the sins of our media.
Jesus had the bible, [Michael Jackson] had Wikipedia."

He goes on to explain how he fights the same battle that Michael Jackson and other brilliant minds have fought, only he does it with explanations.  And in doing so he feels as though he speaks for all creatives.  He talks about being subjected to the scrutiny of the media as well as the blogs and how that has impacted him as a person.

"I don't base my taste level on the what the trends are or what the common perception is."

In my opinion,  Kanye's non-conformance is what has made him so successful as an artist.  After all, the main goal of an artist is to be creative but the industry allows for some artist to experience success by following a certain formula or presenting the public with concepts that are not necessarily unique.

He goes on to explain his frustration with the music industry award system and how many artists do not get the recognition that they deserve.  He provides some very interesting insight into his perspective as a well respected artist in the industry and his take on the inequities that he has experienced in the industry.
He feels that his recent experiences have made him a much more expressive artist due to the fact that he has had so much taken away from him and ultimately has relieved him of the fear that suppressed his creativity.

Kanye West is a true genius.