Gift Rapped?
Kanye West's "Late Registration"
Dave Crofts, 24th October 2005
As if we were in any doubt, Kanye West's second album, Late Registration, has confirmed his place as the foremost hip-hop artist in the world, and one of the most important and influential men in the world of music full stop. Time Magazine even included West in a recent list of the 100 most influential people in the world. The album has followed its predecessor in attracting vast critical acclaim and accumulating impressive sales figures for what, in the British album charts at least, is often a minority genre.
Part of the appeal of West's particular brand of hip-hop - and one of the secrets to his success - is the intricacy and sheer musicality of his work. His skills as a rapper are no better than most, but his use of diverse samples (Shirley Bassey to Simon and Garfunkel...) and keen ear for melody set him apart from the bullets-and-bling fare of artists like 50 Cent. Combine that with brilliantly witty lyrics, a star-studded list of musical collaborators and a passionate determination to get to the top, and you have a recipe for hip-hop greatness and musical mass appeal - albeit frequently in language that would make your grandma blush...
Late Registration picks up where West's first album, 2004's The College Dropout left off, mixing positivity with political protest, family with faith and songs with skits. If anything, it is even more self-assured - perhaps unsurprising for a man who has proved his critics thoroughly wrong, and who now has the awards, sales and plaudits to prove it.
Indeed, West's self-confidence is often perceived in the media as out-and-out arrogance - and with soundbites like this, you can see why:
"A lot of people said, 'Yeah, he did some good tracks, but he's not my favourite rapper.' Well, now, with Late Registration, people are going to say 'He's my favourite rapper.'"
The gospel according to Kanye, Times Magazine, 3 July 2005
And the lyrics back up the press comments - on Late Registration, West describes himself as "a man with the power to make a diamond with his bare hands" ("Diamonds from Sierra Leone"),
West's music has always trodden a fine line between autobiography and egotism. Tracks such as "Touch the Sky," "Bring Me Down," "We Major" and "Gone" revel in the success he enjoys - and often in the material benefits that come with it (cars, jewellery, girls). Whilst tracks like "Family Business" on The College Dropout confessed that "all the diamond rings don't mean a thing," Late Registration seems more complicit with the shows of material wealth often associated with hip-hop culture and the need to look "extra fly" ("Touch the Sky"). At times, the album seems positively consumerist - albeit preoccupied with status as much as the wealth that displays it.
But with Kanye West, nothing is ever that simple. On "Diamonds from Sierra Leone (remix)", he acknowledges that the origins of his bling could well be anything but innocent:
Good Morning, this ain't Vietnam still
People lose hands, legs, arms for real
Little was known of Sierra Leone
And how it connect to the diamonds we own.
[...]
I thought my Jesus Piece was so harmless
'Til I seen a picture of a shorty armless
This is hip-hop with a profound moral dimension, with a conscience. And West isn't just concerned about injustice on a global scale - the album also contains passionate cries for social justice closer to home:
You know the best medicine go to people that's paid -
If Magic Johnson got a cure for AIDS
And all the broke muthaf*ckers passed away.
You tellin' me if my grandma was in the NBA
Right now she'd be ok?
"Roses"
West's roots are clearly of massive importance to him - in terms of his race ("Crack Music"), his family ("Roses", "Hey Mama") and his faith. Whilst there is plenty about girls, fashion and drugs, at least some of this material ("Gold Digger") is humorous or even ironic - you get the impression that none of these things are what really matters to Kanye West. Indeed, the final skit on the album sees West getting a dressing down from the black fraternity (Broke Phi Broke - a sly American college fraternity reference) for betraying his brothers by investing in a pair of new shoes.
The impression you get from listening to his albums is that the things that matter most are his family and - in particular - his Christian faith. The sleeve notes from The College Dropout reinforce this conclusion:
"THANK GOD!!! Thank u so much, you've worked miracles in my life. I always used 2 think, why there no good rappers on God's side??? I know I'm not where I need 2 be, matter fact, far from it! [...] AMEN! YOU ARE THE EXECUTIVE PRODUCER OF MY LIFE THANK U!"
It's this element of his character that has provoked the most controversy in West's career so far - and it's this element that justifies reviewing his album on a church website...
West's faith was very publicly announced with "Jesus Walks" - the single that first brought him widespread prominence. A profoundly honest account of the singer's struggle to walk in Jesus' footsteps and a prayer for God's help to do so, the song was a global hit, giving the lie to its own lyric that:
They say you can rap about anything except for Jesus
That means guns, sex, lies, video tapes
But if I talk about God my record won't get played?
"Jesus Walks" is a bold statement of West's aim:
I ain't here to argue about his facial features
Or here to convert atheists into believers
I'm just trying to say the way school need teachers
The way Kathie Lee needed Regis that's the way y'all need
Jesus.
It's rare that any Christian has opportunity to be that publicly honest about their faith - and in that regard West sets an admirable example for Christians everywhere, being up front about the world's need for Jesus and doing so in contemporary terms.
What is more difficult for the Christian listener is reconciling that with the apparently less 'Christian' elements of the album - the language, the preoccupation with girls, fashion and drugs. West himself admits that his life is, in some respects, contradictory on "Addiction":
Why everything that's supposed to be bad make me feel so
good?
Everything they told me not to is exactly what I would
Man I tried to stop, man I tried the best I could
But (You make me smile)
Ultimately, we can't know where Kanye West is up to as far as his Christian faith is concerned - but none of us can stand on the moral high ground and criticise him. Being a Christian isn't easy - and he's certainly realistic about that: "I want to talk to God but I'm afraid because we ain't spoke in so long" ("Jesus Walks").
Perhaps one of the most appealing things about his records is their honesty and relevance to life as we know it - as West himself boasts:
"My persona is that I'm the regular person. Just think about whatever you've been through in the past week, and I have a song about that on my album."
From www.contactmusic.com
Regular person? It's another contradiction - another facet to the identity of this complex but hugely talented musician. As The Guardian so pithily put it:
Kanye West thinks he's God's gift to hip-hop. He's right.