Kanye West: The Post-Modern Contradiction

Kevin Hernandez MDA 390: Gort 4/18/14 Kanye West: The Post-Modern Contradiction The nineteenth and early twentieth centuries mark an important time in history when the western general public s day-to-day activities and the economic, political, and industrial infrastructures, which facilitated these activities, transformed. This industrial and capital development resulted in a great amount of people collectively obtaining repetitive and narrow in scope working class jobs, driving cars on national road systems, moving into more dense urban or suburban communities closer to their jobs, and experiencing a lifetime of shopping sprees and product consummation. 1 This could be considered an inevitable effect linked to a simple human condition- the division of labor. In his book, The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves, Matt Ridley, Oxford University scholar, articulates that what separates and defines humans from all other species is ultimately their ability to barter. He clarifies that some animals, such as primates, do in fact do tasks for each other when under the impression that an equal deed will therefore be done for him or her in exchange. The distinction is that a human has the potential to engage in a specialized task that would not be able to sustain the individual if he or she was not in turn trading the product of their action or service for some one else s separate action or service. By doing this separation of labor, both parties save the time they would spend learning everything needed to progress and survive. In this sort of divided system both parties become interdependent and contributors to the collective living condition. Each person needs other people to fulfill the tasks they can t complete themselves. Matt Ridley goes on to explain that this division of labor equates to a communal economy of energy and workload. 2 Over the years, this efficiency of labor means that people have free time to engage in activities detached from primal survival needs. This circumstance of humans having negotiable time in their hands results in the 1 Marita Stuken, Lisa Cartwright, Practices of Looking: An introduction to Visual Culture, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), 96 2 Matt Ridley, The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves, (New York: Harper, 2010), 56-59

potential for companies in the 1950 s to market to these individuals products they can use to fill their time with. With this in mind, western modernization can be seen as the point in time in which the dominant train of thought, which was imprinted on the general public by the mass media, was that the mediation between individuals, their living conditions and other individuals was most desirable. Corporations invested in capital gains become the dividers of labor, and the producers of products and interest. Objectively speaking, no one in the 1950 s really needed to own the most expensive car or the latest microwave in order to survive as a being, but the potential to own one was one example of what caused the formulation of a mass media which worked at people s desires and basically told them what they should invest their time and money on. In order for corporations to keep the masses at a manageable space where they could tap into the attention of their perspective consumers, the mass media was created. The mass media was to be a source of information and content that was accessible to the combined population. The reproduced information had to be tangibly distributed; therefore newspapers, televisions, magazines, theaters and radios were vital in the way information would travel from the producer to the view of the consumer in a smooth fashion. 3 A particular outcome of a prevalent mass media that fills the public s free time is the obsession with individuals, coined celebrities, made popular through the consistent articulation and public consummation through media formats such as television, magazines, the radio and in this current time, the internet. The events and tribulations (no matter how big or small) that revolve around celebrities lives typically become sources for distracting discourse and are commonly considered relevant news for public debate and scrutiny. 4 This obscurity between news and entertainment become the raw product of a capitalist world in which, as described by Guy Debord interrelates and explains a wide 3 James L Baughman, The Republic of Mass Culture: Journalism, Filmmaking, and Broadcasting in America since 1941, (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1992), 9-26 4 Stuken, Cartwright, Practices of Looking (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), 231-232

range of seemingly unconnected phenomena. 5 As this cross-referencing and relation between differentiated subjects delves deeper and deeper, the transition from modernism to post-modernism begins to take form. The current postmodern world, according to Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Geography at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, privileges heterogeneity and difference as liberative forces in the redefinition of cultural discourse. Fragmentation, indeterminacy, and intense distrust of all universal or totalizing discourses (to use the favored phrase) are the hallmark of post-modern thought. 6 Much of was defined and systematized from the modern era of the western world is now up for reinterpretation and inquiry. The change in the dominant frame of mind from the universal clarity of the modern era to a comprehensive ambiguity and confusion of the post-modern era leads to a considerable amount of paradoxical behavior and thought when it comes to specific individuals having to live with the postmodern world conditions. Every aspect of contemporary living can only be relatively understood and concerned by individuals. One famous figure in particular noticeably epitomizes the postmodern inconsistencies through his highly contextualized endeavors in the mass media. For ten plus years Kanye West has built an eclectic discography that spans eight genre-redefining albums. 7 His infamous televised scandals such as the 2005 Hurricane Katrina relief George Bush doesn t care about black people comment on NBC 8, to the interruption of Taylor Swifts award speech at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards 9 proves that West is no stranger to making himself a spectacle in the media in order to articulate his often controversial and uncensored opinions. Kanye West is the quintessential post-modern, multifaceted, paradox. In his interview with Zane Lowe, United Kingdom BBC Radio 1 s DJ, West expresses a great deal of opinion and, subsequently, denotative information strongly tied 5 Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle, (New York: Zone, 1994) 6 David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity: An Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change, (Oxford: Blackwell, 1990), 9 7 Kanye West, Discogs, <http://www.discogs.com/artist/137880-kanye-west> 8 George Bush Doesn't Care About Black People, Kanye West and Mike Myers, National Broadcasting Company, Youtube.com, 2 September 2005 9 Taylor Swift: Kanye West: VMA Awards 2009 - Imma Let You Finish, Kanye West and Taylor Swift, Viacom, Youtube.com, 2009

to the undefined boundaries that the post-modern movement has fostered. Before the interview was filmed, edited, and uploaded on the Internet, West had released his sixth studio album entitled Yeezus. 10 In building up anticipation for the album, West decided to create a music video composed of a close-up shot of his face in black and white. The video does not change much except for the left and right shifting of his head, his eyes closing and opening and his lips reciting the lyrics to the song New Slaves, which is the fourth song on Yeezus. The mode in which West chooses to release the video is particularly peculiar. Instead of immediately releasing the video on YouTube, as it is now conventional for any mainstream musician to do, West decides to exclusively release the video by projecting it onto the side of buildings in the public, internationally. 11 12 The decision to project the video instead of hosting it on YouTube is one that shows a lot of rigor in the consideration of a commercial release. It could be considered a market driven gesture that capitalizes on creating a public rarity to increase album sales. In the BBC video series Ways of Seeing, novelist, John Berger, states the following in relation to mass producing photo documentation of old paintings: The days of pilgrimage are over. It is the image of the painting that travels now. The meaning of a painting no longer resides in its unique painted surface, which is only possible to see in one place at one time. It s meaning has become transmittable. 13 Alternatively, West could simply be trying to artistically redefine what is appropriate and possible in a post-modern era. In this day in age it is not even necessary for a musician as popular as Kanye West to officially release a music video. Essentially, West just has to give the public access to content and the masses will record the phenomenon through their phones, and shortly after, spread it through the networks of the internet. This unconventional mode of release, therefore, is an example of a person that is aware of, and meddling with, the behaviors of consumers of media. 10 Kanye West (2013). Yeezus [Audio CD]. Paris, New York City, Port Antonio, Box, Wiltshire: Roc-A-Fella, Def Jam 11 Kanye West - "New Slaves" Projection in NYC, Roc-A-Fella, Def Jam Recordings, 2013, Youtube.com, 18 May 2013, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=picv7xeperi> 12 Kanye West - "New Slaves" Roc-A-Fella, Def Jam Recordings, 2013, Youtube.com, 17 May 2013, < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svp1cr8j3q0#t=19> 13 John Berger, Ways of Seeing, (London: British Broadcasting Corporation), 1972

The song New Slaves, contains ample lyrics that speaks on going against the dominant ideologies imposed onto the western capitalist oriented world, evocative of the Marxist concept that there are those who have the means of production, who create the parameters of unified social living (or the lack thereof) and opportunity (or the lack thereof). 14 Lyrics in the song New Slaves, such as They throwin' hate at me, want me to stay at ease, fuck you and your corporation, y'all niggas can't control me, I know that we the new slaves y'all throwin' contracts at me, you know that niggas can't read 15 exemplify just how complicated West s music is. West assumes himself to be detached from, and in opposition to the corporations. He explains that the corporations at question are trying to control, him and make him, along with the rest of the general public, their new slaves. Strangely, West fails to express facts on his song about how he has been all along, to a thorough extent, in collaboration with corporations who market popular music to the masses. The song is abnormal because it stands both as a product that conveys hegemonic and counter-hegemonic messages. When consumers chose to buy a Kanye West album, or watch a Kanye West music video, or engage in any Kanye West related mediation they are also buying into the product of a corporation- regardless of whether or not the product expresses a disdain for corporations. Alternatively, the anticorporation massage can, at the very least, inspire or ignite some alternative thinking by those who are paying attention to West s rhetoric. New Slaves, can be understood, in the context of this paper, as the introduction to the BBC Radio interview that exhibits an unsatisfied musician who is speaking out against many issues relating to the media and definitions that he is struggling with. Among those issues are the ultimate forces that have created the formal conditions that have given shape to his career as a recording artist, a designer/producer, and a celebrity. There is an interesting duality at play in the BBC Radio interview. West could genuinely believe and mean everything he is expressing to Zane Lowe and could be using the interview as a medium to articulate his frustrations to a potential audience who could help him in his endeavors. On the other hand, the interview could also be perceived as being another fabricated reality, celebrity interview, that s sole purpose is to entertain the 14 Stuken, Cartwright, Practices of Looking (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), 69-70 15 Kanye West - "New Slaves" Roc-A-Fella, Def Jam Recordings, 2013

masses. In the text, Simulacra and Simulation, French philosopher writes: In the hyperreality of pure simulacra, then, there is no more imitation, duplication, or parody. The simulator s model offers us all the signs of the real without its vicissitudes. 16 Because the formal make-up around the physicality of the BBC video is so concrete yet understated, it is easy for any viewer to easily believe all the information in the video to be true. In reality nothing is for certain; West s passion, his arguments and his problems could have all been manipulated and made-up by the producers of the video in order to receive capital gains. It s impossible for any viewer of the interview to really know the true nature of the video because the interview treads a fine line between documentary and entertainment. Throughout the BBC interview, West uncovers that he is a man who is professionally conflicted. On one hand, he is a commercial entertainer who gets paid by corporations to perpetuate hegemonic messages. At the 12:30 mark of part three of the BBC interview, West explains that he is part of the culture that he coins as the new slaves, who are obsessed with commercial fashion and popular culture. 17 Later in the interview West digresses into a self-defensive tangent where he explains that his naysayers don t understand that he plans on helping out the community through his business and artistic ventures and desires to create clothing that is simultaneously sublime and affordable. West s rhetoric implies that he intents on making clothing that would lessen the aesthetic divide between the high and low classes 18. This position becomes easily refuted when looking at West s other business undertaking such as his clothing designs in collaboration with APC Clothing where simple garments such as plain white t- shirt costs $120.00. 19 It is important to keep in mind that West might not have any power over the cost of his designs with APC since he does not have full creative and financial control as he probably wishes. Nevertheless, the tension between his actions and his rhetoric becomes ever more so strong. 16 Jean Baudrillard, Translation by Sheila F. Glaser, Simulacra and Simulation, (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan press, 1981), 2 17 Kanye West and Zane Lowe, Kanye West. Zane Lowe. Part 3, Youtube.com, British Broadcasting Corporation, 23 Sept. 2013. Web. 20 Apr. 2014. 18 Kanye West and Zane Lowe, Kanye West. Zane Lowe. Part 1-4, Youtube.com, British Broadcasting Corporation, 23 Sept. 2013, Web. 20 Apr. 2014. 19 "A.P.C. COLLABORATIONS." A.P.C, Web. 29 Apr, 2014.

West is an artist who is making work reflexively, using his identity as a consumer and producer within the consumer culture as content for artwork. For example, West explains his music video of the last song on Yeezus entitled Bound 2, as a piece of satire in an interview with the radio station Breakfast Club on 105.1. West goes on to say the following: I wanted to take white trash t-shirts and make it into a video. I wanted it to look as phony as possible. I wanted the clouds to go in one direction, the mountains to go in another, the horses to go over there. I wanted to show that this is the Hunger Games. This is the type of imagery that s being presented to all of us, the only difference is there s a black dude in the middle of it 20 His problems are extremely inaccessible to the average consumer though sometimes his artwork does succeed at addressing issues relating to how the current Western world has shaped it s information and behaviors. Like the writing by poststructuralism and post-modern philosopher, Jacues Derrida, West s Bound 2 video highlights the fact that anything else other than white in a landscape that signifies whiteness is to be an outlier, and therefore marked as other, in the western mass media. 21 West s attempts of covertly subverting ideological propaganda through the use of satire on a mass level is an example of how drawn-out and difficult it can be to keep up with the relationship between his artwork and celebrity life. The two titles West strongly links himself with seem to work simultaneously: his artwork and celebrity status are inseparable. In the BBC interview, West speaks from the perspective of a successful commercial artist and celebrity who is often perceived as standoffish by the public when he consistently expresses dissatisfaction with his finances and the control others have 20 "Kanye West Explains "Bound 2" Video - The Breakfast Club Power 105.1." YouTube, YouTube, 26 Nov. 2013, Web. 29 Apr. 2014. 21 Jacques Derrida, Of Grammatology, trans. Gayatrix Chakravorty Spivak (Baltimore: John Hopkins Press, 1974), liv- lxvii

over the freedom of his occupancy. He laboriously expresses resentment over people in power who tell him that he cannot design clothing. West asserts that he is not solely a rapper, producer, or designer; essentially, he considers himself to be an artist that is not caught up in the definitions of the content he desires to create. In Wests perspective, the people in power do not consider him to be a suitable fashion designer, rather they consider him, as merely an entertainer who promotes, not produces, product for the masses. 22 He is using YouTube video interviews as a forum to explain a very specific and distinct circumstance that is hardly ever heard through the contemporary convention of popular video interviews. West unclearness of identity is indicative of a specifically skeptical frame of being. It would have been practically impossible in the 1950 s for anyone to be both an artist and entertainer who openly refute confining labels. West s ability to work within several professions is a sign of perfectly balanced post-modern circumstances. I believe in the near future, more and more people will question fixed professions and gravitate towards self-gratifying that are flexible and catered to an ever changing industrial, political and cultural landscape. 22 Kanye West. Zane Lowe. Part 1-4, Youtube.com, BBC 23 Sept. 2013, Web. 20 Apr. 2014.

Works Cited "A.P.C. COLLABORATIONS." A.P.C. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. Baudrillard, Jean. Simulacra and Simulation. Trans. Sheila F. Glaser. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan, 1994. 2. Print. Baughman, James L. The Republic of Mass Culture: Journalism, Filmmaking, and Broadcasting in America since 1941. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1992. 9-26. Print. "Bush Doesn't Care About Black People." YouTube. YouTube, National Broadcasting Company, 16 Apr. 2006. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. Debord, Guy. "Separation Perfected." The Society of the Spectacle. New York: Zone, 1994. N. pag. Print. Derrida, Jacques. Introduction. Of Grammatology. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1974. Liv-xvii. Print. Harvey, David. The Condition of Postmodernity: An Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change. Oxford: Blackwell, 1990. 9. Print. "Kanye West - "New Slaves" Projection in NYC." YouTube. YouTube, Def Jam Recordings, Roc-A-Fella Records, 18 May 2013. Web. 20 Apr. 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=picv7xeperi>. "Kanye West - New Slaves." YouTube. YouTube, 17 May 2013. Web. 20 Apr. 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svp1cr8j3q0#t=19>. "Kanye West Discography." Discogs. Discogs, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2014. <http://www.discogs.com/artist/137880-kanye-west%3e>. "Kanye West Explains "Bound 2" Video - The Breakfast Club Power 105.1." YouTube. YouTube, 26 Nov. 2013. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. Kanye West. New Slaves. Kanye West, 2013. CD. Kanye West. Yeezus. Rick Rubin and Kanye West, 2013. CD. Ridley, Matt. The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves. New York: Harper, 2010. 56-59. Print. Sturken, Marita, and Lisa Cartwright. Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture. Oxford ; New York: Oxford UP, 2009. 69-232. Print. "Taylor Swift: Kanye West: VMA Awards 2009 - Imma Let You Finish." YouTube. YouTube, Viacom, 31 July 2013. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. Ways of Seeing. Dir. John Berger. Perf. John Berger. British Broadcasting Corporation, 1972. Videocassette. West, Kanye, and Zane Lowe. "Kanye West. Zane Lowe. Part 1-4." YouTube. YouTube, British Broadcasting Corporation, 23 Sept. 2013. Web. 20 Apr. 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2t0fmkzomo>.