By A Negro With A Keyboard

There is a scene in M. Night Shyamalan’s film, Unbreakable, where the protagonist, David Dunn (Bruce Willis), discovers that the Professor X-like character who led him to the knowledge of his extraordinary powers, Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson) is actually the film’s villian, having discovered that Elijah actually masterminded the series of casualty-laden atrocities that prompted his discovery of the  “Unbreakable Man“. Having spent an entire life of physical frailty and suffering on the opposite end of the physical spectrum as David, Elijah, in a weird moment of psychotic clarity, proudly proclaims, “They called me, “Mr. Glass…”

I always found it ironic that Kanye West would choose to reference this mantra in the lyrics to his first hit single “Through The Wire,” scoffing at any inference that he could, in any way, be identified with Elijah’s character. While this appears on surface as a reference to Kanyeezie’s survival of what rapper, The Game, described as a, “FATAL ACCIDENT (Where no one dies? Sorry, off topic), to beat-making and rappin'”, I think that line speaks to something lurking much deeper in the psyche of Mr. West.

After embarking on a recent cyber-surf during a “free moment” at work, and finding pictures of a newly-brolic Kanye West, in suit pants and a blazer, looking like wrestler Ted DiBiase’s bodyguard, Virgil, in a French magazine, it all finally became crystal clear to me.

I wonder who the first person was that called Kanye “Blackie” back in elementary school? The first one who told him that he “wasn’t gonna be s**t”; even the first one who childishly called him “fag?” While we will probably never know who these individuals are, unless he spews their names from his mouth during some rant while accepting an award on Michael Jordan Hall Of Fame speach ish, what we do know is this: They hurt Yeezie’s feelings. They hurt him A LOT.

As a result of these experiences, the world has been given the “privilege” of witnessing one of the most arrogant, self-centered, egotistical and disrespectful celebrities figures ever. While there is obviously media biased involved, there is some substancial evidence here. Kanye has a clear penchant for running up on stage at awards shows and disrespecting musical acts like Justice and Simian and most recently, America’s SWF of the moment, Taylor Swift, when they won awards which he resolved in his mind that they didn’t deserve. He once smashed up some paparazzi’s camera; He even did a photo shoot for Rolling Stone magazine, in which he posed as Jesus Christ on a cross, sending Christians around the world into mass hysteria. All the blogs in the world couldn’t fit all of the lyrics and public comments that Yeezie has made over the years that just reek of asinine ideology and elitism.

Add all of this with the untimely loss of his mother, truly the one person who was always in his corner, and what you have is the recipe for absolute “A-Holedom”.

I spoke to my boy Kre8tivity, a social worker, and he referred to it as Compensation Theory; the idea that one overcompensates in some areas of their life in order to make up for other areas where they are lacking some sort of gratification. When putting this frame on Kanye and his world-renowned persona as a true-to-life dickhead, I do not believe that this is a case of pure coincidence or that these are publicity stunts, but rather, as he says himself on All Falls Down, he’s just “SO SELF-CONSCIOUS“.

It’s a shame that a man of color, has to develop these personality traits to find gratification and acceptance from his peers. What is even sadder is that the “A-Hole Slope” is quite a slippery one, and once you have decided to go that route, its harder to climb back up than a project sliding board in the rain (Don’t front like y’all didn’t try it back in the day!).

What someone needs to tell this man though, is that it is ok to feel pain when disappointing things occur, and that all slick talk is going to do is get you eventually blacklisted and possibly even punched in your face. I can respect him recently getting on the “Kanye’s Workout Plan” and all of that, however, there is a small flaw in it: You can’t bench press your emotions, and there is no cardio plan to lose life’s disappointments. You don’t need to lift weights to guard yourself against hurt, you just need to be honest, especially with yourself.

I also have turn and point the finger on us as a society, particularly other minorities. At the end of the day, regardless of whether or not we view him as a “jackass”, like the POTUS himself, Barack Obama does, I find it quite humorous that we as humans are so quick to forget the things that we haven’t seen on TMZ or Mediatakeout in a while, and write people off completely. Directly following Hurricane Katrina, when Yeezie went on a internationally-televised telethon, and spoke those famous words, “George Bush doesn’t care about black people“, if you took a Gallop Poll in the hood back then, ‘Ye could have beaten Obama in a primary! Let’s stop being so judgmental, and encourage that man to talk about his pain and grieve the loss of his mother, so that he can be strengthened by it, and evolve into the true artist that he is meant to be.

Yeezie, your banishment from popularity following this Taylor Swift incident has been long enough, so find someone to talk to, get your mind right, and as I imagine Usher’s moms surely told him, “YOUR A$$ WILL BE BACK!”

Recklessly Yours,

A Negro and A Keyboard

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