Don’t Be Kanye West
If you have not heard of Kanye West’s latest stunt at MTV’s VMA’s, I will assume that you have been giving your life to missions in a completely remote, cannibalistic land, or you are a card carrying senior citizen.
The news of Kanye upstaging 19 yr old Taylor Swift to yell unintelligently about Beyonce’s video being the “GREATEST VIDEO OF ALL TIME” rocketed through twitter like a highschool cheerleader avoiding the chess club in the school hallway. (Side Note: Have you seen Beyonce’s video? Its three girls dancing in unflattering one piece bathing suites for 4 minutes. I think the greater issue here is Kanye actually thinking that video is the greatest of all time).
At first viewing of Kanye’s intrusion I brushed it off as the yearly egomaniacal rant we have come to expect from Kanye, but as I thought about it through the night I got more and more angry, livid, actually. Thats when I determined the 3 aspects I will never be like Kanye in, and if you have read this far, I invite you to continue reading about the three areas you shouldn’t be like Kanye West.
Area #1. The Ladies.
Other than Kanye being piss drunk, I cannot determine why he would ever make such a big deal about Beyonce. Jay Z is her actual husband, and I didnt see him crying on stage (I dont see him making a full album of autotune either). Maybe Kanye felt like he was doing Jay Z a favor, standing up for his crew or something. Either way I have determined to never put a lady in the predicament he put Taylor Swift into. I recently saw an interview with the living intellectual Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson where he stated “Id like to see Kanye come up and try and take my award”. Firstly Fifty, Id like to see you actually get an award, but the statement he made is absolutely correct. I’d love to see Kanye swagger on stage to steal Eminems spotlight, we would get a live UFC fight between the two. Lets see the little man that Kanye is pick on someone who isnt a female.
Females innately are looking to men for protection, and it is our God mandated purpose to never put a female into a position where they are fearful, degraded, and most of all dishonored. A man is called to lay down his life for his wife, and it starts by first putting your sisters (ie anyone of the female gender) safety and well being before yourself. Where is your sense of honor Kanye West? The nation was shocked not because what you did was rude, but because deep in our core humanity knows evil when it sees it. What we witnessed was more than a man stealing a womans spotlight. We witnessed a man holding up a mirror to our culture, and the depths that the concept of being a man has fallen too.
Area #2. “Jack***” – President Obama
I would love to write out the full word, but I have a feeling I’ll get called in Pastor Marco’s office if I do. The shock of what Kanye did climbed all the way to the Oval Office, and in an interview a couple days later audio was leaked of our president calling Kanye the above statement. In the past 5 months this statement is the first from Obama’s mouth that both Republicans and Democrats fully support Obama on (now if he can only get Kanye to insult Healthcare he might actually get somewhere). You know you have hit rock bottom when the President of the Free World (who is also black if you didnt know) calls you a “Jack***”.
Lately in our culture we see the pervading “logic” that “peoples opinions mean nothing”, but when viewed through the above circumstances we see how that statement is false. Though we will all screw up at certain points in our lives, it is important that we watch our words, our actions, and our responses if we ever desire to be viewed as a leader or impact others in a positive way. I recently read an insightful statement from Bono on his work w. ridding Africa from abject poverty, it said “Being a celebrity is currency, and I intend to spend mine wisely”. Kanye’s outburst cost him more than his pride, it cost him dearly in his celebrity status and standing among the Americans that buy his albums and support his causes. If your desire is to affect the world around you in a positive way towards change, make sure you never do something where those who look up to you will think in their minds “Jack***”
Area #3 Let Go My Ego
If you dont get the above play on phrase, you must not be from the 90’s. We all know Kanye has an ego the size of Saturn (there are pictures of his ego taken w. the Hubble Telescope posted on Nasa.com), but that has always been put up w. for….well…I really dont know why we have put up with it for so long, maybe because “Graduation” was a good album. Kanye isn’t the first person to let his unfiltered view of himself get the best of him, and certainly wont be the last, but I beg you to use the opportunity to check yourself to see if people are repulsed by your lack of humility. Like the old saying goes “Pride comes before a fall”, we see politicians, preachers, and recently talk show hosts fall from public grace from outbursts or affairs gone embarrassingly public.
The scariest place for someone with influence to find themselves in is one where they are untouchable. If no one is able to talk to you straight or call you into account w. certain areas in your life then take that as your first sign of a major problem. Some of the most annoying people to be around are those that you have to tip toe around eggshells in every conversation hoping to not say the wrong word, phrase, or opinion that will set their ego spiraling into an awkward argumentative state- those people have gotten that way because they have not understood the same thing Kanye West has yet to understand: YOUR NO BIG DEAL! It does not matter what you have done that is so great! Know this reader, whatever you do will always be outdone in some way at some point by someone else, whether ruling the world of Hip Hop, the Church world, or the intellectual high ground it is all fleeting.
So Kanye, why dont you come back down to Earth, bow your head, and live like someone who doesn’t deserve whatever good is in his life- only then will you begin to understand why you exist, and who you exist for.
