Posted on 09/05/2005 7:52:32 AM PDT by Chi-townChief
Context is required to understand Kanye West's latest outburst -- criticizing President Bush on national TV during telethon
Kanye West's outspoken criticism of President Bush's response to Hurricane Katrina has become one of the most controversial statements by a popular musician since Sinead O'Connor tore up a picture of the pope on "Saturday Night Live" in 1992.
Like that incident, in which the Irish singer actually was making a complicated critique of the Catholic Church based on the teachings of the Rastafarian religion, the Chicago-born rapper's unscripted comments on live TV were no ill-considered outburst -- and they can't be understood divorced from the context of West's work.
A week after being hailed as "the smartest man in pop music" on the cover of Time magazine, and four days after the release of his second album "Late Registration," which is expected to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard albums chart tomorrow with sales of nearly a million copies, West appeared beside comedian Mike Myers as one of several entertainers who urged Americans to donate to relief efforts during a telethon broadcast live on NBC and its affiliated networks Friday night.
West did not perform, nor did he deliver the statement that had been written for him, which visibly shocked Myers. Instead, in a nervous and emotional voice, the 28-year-old rapper first criticized the media's portrayal of African Americans in the devastated city of New Orleans and the warnings issued by President Bush and Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco that looters would be shot on sight.
"I hate the way they portray us in the media," West said. "If you see a black family, it says they're looting. See a white family, it says they're looking for food. ... They've given them permission to go down and shoot us."
As Myers returned to the script, West added another impromptu and even more incendiary line -- "George Bush doesn't care about black people" -- before the network quickly cut to comedian Chris Tucker. That line aired live on the East Coast, but was cut from West Coast broadcasts.
"Nobody, especially the president, would have left people unattended on the basis of race," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the administration's highest-ranking African American, said on Sunday while touring damage in her home state of Alabama.
NBC started distancing itself from West minutes after his appearance. Telethon host Matt Lauer noted that "emotions in this country right now are running very high. ... We've heard some [criticism] tonight, but it's still part of the American way of life."
The network later issued a statement, saying, "It would be most unfortunate if the efforts of the artists who participated tonight and the generosity of millions of Americans who are helping those in need are overshadowed by one person's opinion." But West's view that the federal government is set up "to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off as slow as possible" is not merely one person's opinion.
Many prominent commentators and newspaper editorialists have made similar charges since Katrina tore through the Gulf Coast. In an article Sunday criticizing NBC's decision to "censor" West's comments, the Los Angeles Times noted, "You can be sure those remarks would have been cheered more than anything else in the program by the black parents and children still trapped in the New Orleans Convention Center."
Nor was West the only performer on "A Concert for Hurricane Relief" to make such a criticism, although others were more veiled. Another African-American performer and a resident of New Orleans, Aaron Neville, performed Randy Newman's soulful ballad "Louisiana 1927," which includes the haunting chorus, "They're trying to wash us away."
But with his comments on Friday, West emerged as its new political firebrand, with a larger audience and more access to the mainstream than any rapper since Public Enemy's Chuck D, who declared in the late '80s that rap music "is the black CNN."
Like Chuck D, West grew up in a middle-class family that did not turn its back on the harsh realities of life in the ghetto but viewed political action and education as the paths to reform. His mother, Donda West, recently retired as chairwoman of the English Department at Chicago State University. His father, Ray West, is a former Black Panther active in the South Shore neighborhood, now serving as a Christian marriage counselor.
Unlike Public Enemy, which was famously criticized for embracing some of the anti-Semitic views of the Nation of Islam, West's beliefs reflect those of millions of mainstream Americans strong on family values, the merits of hard work and Christian teachings. Indeed, the message of "Jesus Walks," the phenomenal hit from his 2004 album "The College Dropout," is that anything is possible with the help of Christ, a theme that allies him with many of Bush's core supporters.
But Friday, West's statements were much closer to those being made by critics of the Bush administration from across the racial and political spectra. And while he is being criticized by many on the right -- and will no doubt pay a price with some lost album sales and less radio play in more conservative markets -- he did Americans a service by putting the issue on the table for national debate.
Perhaps the most striking evidence of this came on Sunday during CNN's "Late Edition" when host Wolf Blitzer quoted West when asking Mississippi Congressman Bennie Thompson whether the response to Hurricane Katrina has been racist. Thompson, a Democrat, said the government had failed and "someone has to be held accountable." He cited the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security.
The most revealing part of the exchange, however, was the fact that Thompson mistook the comments from West as a statement from Princeton University professor, theologian, author and activist Dr. Cornel West. In one fell swoop, the rapper and college dropout has earned a place in the front ranks of this country's best-known and most respected African-American activists.
Contributing: AP
mailto:jderogatis@suntimes.com
As do I. But I don't see the kind of repudiation from NBC that such drivel should receive.
Hoof Hearted: Yeah, I know. Not like the good old days in Watts before hip hop came along when the thugs were singin' Soul and RnB, huh?
~~~~~~~
Hoof Hearted: Read these Kanye [c]rap lyrics and get back to us on that...
Just to get by
Nigga I sold coke, nigga I pushed lah
Carried a fo'five
Claimed I was ready to die
Promised never to cry
Held it all inside
Reality was too much to take so I
Kept my mind fry
Slimmed for most of mine
Soon as I closed my eyes
Then I woke up behind
Nigga either I load up these nines
Or blow up with rhymes
cause this flow of mine is like blow up but lines of coca
And your folks think Hov' just wrote stuff to rhyme
Nah, I'm a poster for what happened seein your moms
Doin five dollars worth to work just to get a dime
So pardon my disposition
Why should I listen to a system that never listened to me?
Picture me working McDonald's
I'd rather pull a mac on you
Sorry Ms. Jackson but I'm packin
Nothing there to encourage what we've all witnessed this week, right?
You were saying...?
~~~~~~~~~
BTW, notice any words in there that would get us white folks instantly labeled, "Racist!"??
bump
I wonder how many people who thought about giving are not going to give now because of what he said.
>>>"If you see a black family WITH A TV IN THEIR HANDS, it says they're looting. See a white family WITH WATER AND CHIPS IN THEIR HANDS, it says they're looking for food. ... They've given them permission to go down and shoot us."
That is not true in all cases because there were plenty of black people who were not looting for anything but food, and plenty of white people who were also taking advantage of the situation and stealing merchandise, but HE is the only one not seeing the difference.
What I couldn't figure out was the next line in the review which said the declaration was met with boos. I am not sure if the boos were directed at the dopey singer or the President. I would assume the latter considering the crowd that Green Day attracts but hopefully I am mistaken.
Wow. Read the lyrics to "it all falls down". A true racist moron. If a white entertainer had voiced similar sentments about blacks, he would be on the cover of time, but not to accolades.
""I hate the way they portray us in the media," West said. - (With an outburst that reinforced the portrait.)
Off Topic Side note. NBC knew she was going to tear up a picture, and they were happy with it. She had told them it would be a picture of the sitting President, George the Elder. They flipped when they saw it was the Pope.
the funny think about all of this the very people they are calling racist are the ones they are looking to for help the best think to come of all of this is some of those people will get a real job and not depend on the gov.
The one about group sex is actually the most tasteful - no exaggeration. Why in the world would anyone spend their money on this garbage? Why in the world would anyone think this guy is to be taken seriously?
Could only stomach reading the one. What happened in NO was due to the fact that the people who stayed look to a$$hole$ like this as heroes and leaders.
He made "Jesus Walks", so he can't be all that bad. And what's so bad about "All Falls Down"? He did bash black people for being materialist, after all.
very upset with this outburst..never been a big fan of rap and hip hop and i just recently bought his cd's... in fact kanye west was the first rap/hip hop cd i have ever bought. once i heard this outburst though i gave my cd's to my roomate..
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.