Over the weekend, Kanye West streamed the live event for his new “Famous” music video. And I wasn’t excited. If you pressed rewind on my life you would find that ridiculous. In 2007, I was a stan of epic proportions. The Louis Vuitton Don, as well as a few other characters I will mention, were extremely important (in my opinion) in birthing the intersection of my childhood nerd culture, rap music, and the style of hip-hop that they lived. Somehow, that seems to have been lost during the journey.
Kanye West is, without a doubt, a black nerd.
He created the “Dropout Bear” avatar of himself influenced by Japanese animation.
And then made a pilot episode in the disguise of a music video. He literally named the fictional city and everything, fam (which was lit).
Not to mention the fact that he argues about anime on Twitter like a real fanboy.
Akira and There Will Be Blood are equally my 2 favorite movies of all time.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 10, 2015
There is an overwhelming amount of proof to support the fact that Yeezy is a blerd. Ye and guys like Pharrell Williams (both in The Neptunes and N.E.R.D.) are very responsible for inserting a style of black nerd sensibility that’s been replicated for years after. There’s even one creative that perfected it (for me). And I really wish that Kanye could find his way back to that place.
Watching Kanye’s career since then has been difficult, especially because of the problematic statements. But creatively, it also seems like Mr. West has been making departures further and further away from what grounded him – his childhood experiences. Many people speculate about the affects that his mother’s passing has had on him as a person. I’m not an educated professional in that space, so I would never do that. However, if any of his work in the past five years hasn’t been, the “Famous” video is a clear indication that this is not the same Kanye. His artistic eye is aimed in another direction.
We still see glimpses of the blerd ‘Ye peek out on occasion.
My next album is titled “Turbo Grafx 16” as of now…
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 27, 2016
just on some super nerd vibes… one of my favorite gaming systems when I was a kid…
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 27, 2016
Blazing Lazers was probably my favorite game on that console …
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 27, 2016
But I don’t anticipate that the magic will ever really return all the way. Too much has changed in Kanye’s world and ours. There’s a disconnect we might never close. I’m still intrigued when I see things like his video game demo. They seem like Kanye’s attempt to regain a grasp on things he left behind. We’ll always have the good times to look back at, and we can hold out hope that there’s a light at the tunnel’s end. “Wake up, Mr. West!” I miss the blerd Kanye.
Leave a comment, I read and reply to all of them. And please tag somebody on Facebook that needs to see this post.
