Today,95% of the interviews and discussion on these radio morning shows are just barely relevant to the growth of the average listener. It’s mostly clowning around, speaking on subjects that don’t enhance your understanding of reality. For many of us, it’s unlistenable. There are shocking gossip stories that pop up from time to time, yet those easily qualify in the insignificant to real life category.
A recent conversation, between hosts of a NY radio show and Kanye West was different. It’s different because of Kanye West and because host, Charlamange brought up some good points of discussion. This exchange was actually pretty enlightening on the state of materialism in society. It also highlights the emptiness money brings to a person’s life when, even on Kanye’s level, he still has the same desire and greed as when he was broke. The Truth is that, materialism is the slave mentality that he hasn’t been able to shake. Kanye expressed his bitterness and resentment for having been shunned to some extent by the fashion industry. Kanye feels he can worm his way into an established fashion game and somehow win in the end. He wants to use the resources that the fashion industry created over generations, to serve his own personal dreams. I doubt that would happen easily. And why should it? You would expect a venture like that, to take more strategic planning than begging and pleading. That’s their dream. He’s just a guest, as Lord Jamar would say.
Some of the most powerful people in history have been rich. But the most influential people have really been about ideas not products. For instance, Steve Jobs gets way too much credit for being rich. Being rich is not really the mark of real success. Was MLK rich? Is Afrika Bambaataa rich? Steve Jobs is like the Eli Whitney of the 20th century. The cotton gin was a great invention that changed everything when it came out, but is it relevant like that now? Both men are great and influential people, but it’s not because they’re rich. Their influence is from their ideas. I mean, the World may know Thomas Edison but in reality Edison felt small in his own mind compared to Nikola Tesla who died broke. Kanye wants relevance like MLK but he studies to be like Walt Disney or Ralph Lauren? Kanye says he wants to be a great man, but confuses that greatness with being rich. Charlamange even checked him on his materialism flat out, and told Kanye, “Those are rich nigga problems, nobody cares about that.” Overall, this was an excellent interview that pushes the conversation of life forward, just a little bit. If you haven’t heard it yet, everything I said above might sound crazy, but that was the subject at hand. Check it out below…
After this interview, the conversation got even deeper on Sway’s Shade 45 radio show when Kanye started to get a little rude and obnoxious as he sometimes does. The revealing look into the mind of someone like Kanye West is a helpful reminder of how ‘the grass is not always greener on the other side’.
Kurt Nice
Kurt Nice aka Kurtiss Jackson is a behind the scenes pioneer in the Hip Hop Kulture, creating the first nationally distributed video mix tape series, Shades of Hip Hop, in the late 1990s. Since touring the country with the Stop the Violence Movement and the Temple of Hip Hop as KRS-ONE’s National Marketing Director, Kurt Nice has been a constant commentator on conscious Hip Hop and its relevance to the new rap music of today, through radio and cable appearances. contact Kurt at info@hiphoplives.net
Follow Me:
Kurt Nice aka Kurtiss Jackson is a behind the scenes pioneer in the Hip Hop Kulture, creating the first nationally distributed video mix tape series, Shades of Hip Hop, in the late 1990s. Since touring the country with the Stop the Violence Movement and the Temple of Hip Hop as KRS-ONE's National Marketing Director, Kurt Nice has been a constant commentator on conscious Hip Hop and its relevance to the new rap music of today, through radio and cable appearances. contact Kurt at info@hiphoplives.net
