Kanye West!

  

"My greatest pain in life is that I will never be able to see myself perform live." Kanye West ladies and gentlemen! Where do I start with this man? For starters, he is one of the most influential rappers in the hip hop game right now. The way Kanye portrays himself makes him stand out from the rest of the hip hop artist. Kanye over and over lets us know how great he is and how he is the voice of this generation. And I kind of have to agree with him, not him being the voice of this generation,  but the music he’s made has always made an impact in the music industry. Kanye can get his point across effectively in his songs, no matter it be an agenda he’s pushing, racism in our society, or even some ideologies. For those of you who don’t know, ideologies are a systematic body of concepts especially about human life or culture. Here are some of the ideologies he portrays, machismo, individualism, rags to riches, and consumerism.

Machismo ideology, a strong or aggressive masculine pride, is the more popular of the ideologies used by hip hop artist. In the song “Famous” by Kanye West, has a great amount of machismo. Line after line he reiterates this ideology. The first part of the verse Kanye talks about how he is the reason why Taylor Swift is famous. He shows his dominance over Taylor basically saying that she would be irrelevant and nothing without him being in the picture. The other parts of this verse also show his masculine Pride.

Verse 1:

For all my Southside niggas that know me best
I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex
Why? I made that bitch famous (God damn)
I made that bitch famous

For all the girls that got dick from Kanye West
If you see 'em in the streets give 'em Kanye's best
Why? They mad they ain't famous (God damn)
They mad they're still nameless (Talk that talk, man)

Her man in the store tryna try his best
But he just can't seem to get Kanye fresh
But we still hood famous (God damn)
Yeah we still hood famous

Individualism ideology, a principle of being independent and self-reliant. Kanye uses this ideology in his song "FML." There are many examples in the first verse which I have highlighted.

Verse 1:

I been waiting for a minute
For my lady

So I can't jeopardize that for one of these hoes
I been living without limits

As far as my business
I'm the only one that's in control
I been feeling all I've given

For my children

I will die for those I love

God, I'm willing
To make this my mission
Give up the women
Before I lose half of what I own

I been thinking

About my vision

Pour out my feelings

Revealing the layers to my soul, my soul

The layers to my soul

Revealing the layers to my soul

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6RsAidpHK8

One more ideology Kanye uses is Rags to Riches, meaning that you start from nothing, work hard, and achieve your dreams. In this song "We Don't Care," is talking about how he got to where he is in life by working for everything and did not have anything handed to him.

Verse 1:

If this is your first time hearing this 
You are about to experience something cold man
We never had nothing handed took nothing for granted
Took nothing from no man, man i'm my own man
But as a shorty i looked up to the dopeman
Only adult man i knew that wasnt a broke man
Flickin starter coats man, Man you ount no man
We don't care what people say
This is for my niggas outside all winter
Cuz this summer they aint finna to say next summer im finna
Sittin in the hood like community colleges
This dope money here is Lil Treys scholarship
Cause aint no to tuition for havin no ambition
And aint no loans for sittin your ass at home
So we forced to sell crack rap and get a job
You gotta do something man your ass is grown

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKqVhcp51qM -We Don't Care by Kanye West

Kanye West all in all is great artist who will say and do things to catch an audience attention. He is a perfect fit in our society today because he says things that no one will. Like the one time he said, "George Bush doesn't care about black people," on national tv. This stirred up a big controversy on the importance of black people to President Bush. Maybe it's a great thing Kanye West is running for President in 2020, he also said this on national tv,  at the 2015 VMA's. Yea I know, I was surprised too, but i'll guess we'll have to find out.

-Riley S.E.