My friends and I tossed around this topic over a couple of 312's the other night. Some of you may not be very familiar with Kanye, but he is the biggest hip hop star in the country - if not the world right now.

1. Is Kanye West the biggest Chicago pop icon? (besides Oprah and MJ)
2. Do you feel that he portrays Chicago in a positive light?
3. What sort of impact may he have on our community?

----------------------------
"And you say Chi city We don't stop naw we don't quit"
Common / Kanye
BE

My friends and I tossed around this topic over a couple of 312's the other night. Some of you may not be very familiar with Kanye, but he is the biggest hip hop star in the country - if not the world right now.

1. Is Kanye West the biggest Chicago pop icon? (besides Oprah and MJ)
2. Do you feel that he portrays Chicago in a positive light?
3. What sort of impact may he have on our community?

----------------------------
"And you say Chi city We don't stop naw we don't quit"
Common / Kanye
BE

I'll take some sort of stab at this:

1. Yeah, I can't think of anyone thats close. I'm probably forgetting some major ones but: Urlacher, Daley, Vince Vaughn. Sorry list haha

2. Well to be fair, I think he grew up either in the suburbs or in a well-off Chicago neighborhood. He wouldn't be "for real" if he rapped about life in the hood or whatnot. From what I've heard on his two major albums, he has had nothing bad to say about Chicago. He's well spoken, doesn't play the role of a "stereotypical rapper", he represents Chicago's liberal side (based on his comments a few weeks ago ;)) I think he even did a free concert at the House of Blues a few months ago. I'd say he reps the city well.

3. As his fame grows, he seems to never forget his roots of Chicago. He took longtime Chicago rappers Twista and Common to the mainstream (although to be fair, Common had won a grammy for one of his previous albums). It would be nice if he became publically involved in the community. I think Daley embraces Kanye's presence and link to the city considering the fact that he is a generally good guy and a way politically to show the African-American
community of Chicago in a good light (whether this is right or not I'm not here to argue). Despite his comments a few weeks ago, overall I think he is good for the community.

apperently not that popular , i never herd of the guy and im a pretty with it guy. i guess i run with different circles.

^He's very popular in the circle called Earth. :jk:

Cover of Time magazine, and a good excuse for me to wear colorful overpriced Lacoste shirts.... Yeah he's pretty influential outside of the music industry, as long as he gives back to the community all is good.

apperently not that popular , i never herd of the guy and im a pretty with it guy. i guess i run with different circles.


Heck, I'm mostly into classical music and EVEN I'VE heard of him!

;)

"apperently not that popular , i never herd of the guy and im a pretty with it guy. i guess i run with different circles."

Wow. You never heard of him? In case you needed proof that Chicago is too segregated...

Yeah, from what I hear, pioneer and innovator of hip-hop, constantly referencing Chicago, pretty liberal for the rap scene (criticized his peers for homophobic lyrics)...I'm glad to have him around.

I like his music and I sure as heck would rather have him "represent" Chicago more then Snoppy or 50 cent but the guy embarressed himself a few weeks ago. Those statements do nothing other then turn away from the cause and mock reactionary ill informed celebrities.

George Bush told Feds to shoot black people?

As far as that other poster not knowing who he was. Does this mean this guy isn't "diverse"? Why in the heck is knowing who Kayne West needed to shows an opening of mind? Would you say the same thing to a black guy if they didn't know who the White Stripes or Coldplay were? Who gives a darn about pop culture anyway black or white.

apperently not that popular , i never herd of the guy and im a pretty with it guy. i guess i run with different circles.

WHAT? But he's the guy who said "Bush doesn't care about black people" on national television!! ;)

Of course I've heard of him but I coudln't tell you any of his music, I am not really into hip-hop or modern rap. I really liked Public Enemy back in the 80's early 90''s, but kanye west wouldn't know him if i saw him or heard him

Kanye West, like Chicago itself, is solid and down to earth. I love to blast "Breathe In/Breathe Out" on the car stereo as I'm driving back into town. For any of the forum members who'd like to familiarize themselves with his stuff, I'd recommend the "Late Registration" video DVD, which includes his sessions for Chappelle's Show.

yeh sorry guys im a white american who likes rock . i have nothing against those who like hip hop and rap but its just not my thing . on the other hand im not compleatly obliviouse to the hip hop world and i thought i knew most every populare artist out there i dont know how this one could have slipped through the cracks. did he just recently become big? like in the past month?

Wickedestcity,

Understandable, it is a little suprising because he is from Chicago and you don't know him, but, I probably don't know a lot of rock guys eaither.

He's been on the cover of the following:
- Red Eye
- Trib
- Sun Times
- Rolling Stone
- Time
- Countless "hip hop" magazines

And he is a very outspoken individual. On live tv he stated, "George Bush hates black people" causing an uproar around the nation.

Keep an eye out for him now, he's a fellow Chicagoan and I did a little research as well, he has a charity named LOOP DREAMS (how cool) and he donantes his time and money to this charity.

Yeah Kanye has been everywhere for the past year or so. Seriously that's extremely weird you've never heard of him. I know most people don't watch MTV, but it would be impossible to flip past the channel and not see his "Gold Digger" video

"apperently not that popular , i never herd of the guy and im a pretty with it guy. i guess i run with different circles."

Wow. You never heard of him? In case you needed proof that Chicago is too segregated...

Since he is national and intertnationally known for both his artistry and his political convictions (the one who said Bush doesn't like blacks).....this is more of an example of a person who isn't into current events. Doesn't matter where he lives......

Kanye who?

MJ is from Chicago?
Id say Kanye is the biggest current icon for chicago, he's one of the top artists right now. Hes not the stereotypical rapper in those typical videos. For those that don't him, you've probably seen him without knowing. His mor famous songs include Jesus Walks, Slow Jams (Twista), and the current number song in the US: Golddigger. Hes responisble for the success of Alicia Keys sophomore album, Twista, nominated for a few Grammy's this year and won one, and apparently hes going to work with Whitney Houston on her upcoming "comeback" album so I heard.

He's a production genious and an enjoyable rapper.

He's from the South Side equivalent of parts of Evanston, a middle class black area with one foot in the hood, but not completely in it.

Wickedestcity,



And he is a very outspoken individual. On live tv he stated, "George Bush hates black people" causing an uproar around the nation.



this much i heard about but i didnt know who that was who said it . ok so i have herd of him then. just didnt put 2 and 2 together

"He's from the South Side equivalent of parts of Evanston, a middle class black area with one foot in the hood, but not completely in it."

No kidding, Kanye West is from Evanston? Jeez, I lived there two years and never knew that. Where exactly? The Emerson-Dempster/Dodge area?

no, I said he was from the equivalent of Evanston, on the South Side of Chicago, near Chicago State University. I meant the social equivalent. Its a more educated black middle class.

I love Kanye. I love how he constantly endorses Chicago in whatever he does. In his songs, for instance, he constantly talks about "Chi-town", and his song "Home" is all about Chicago.
He also represents Chicago in the commercials he does, like that one cellphone commercial. Don't remember the company (it was the one with the "Where you at?" slogan) but I remember part of it going "North Side, South Side, West Side, lets ride. 'Where you at?' The whole city's behind us" and the skyline was behind him.
Then there was that commercial for Pepsi that aired during the VMA's over and over again which showed Kanye "flying" to cities around the world. He was just walking, but I guess the point was Pepsi fueled him to go around the world. At the end of the commercial he ended up in Chicago w/ the skyline behind him to get another Pepsi can out of conveinently placed vending machine so he could fuel up.

My point is, Kanye brings Chicago at least somewhat into the limelight. That's always a plus for me.

hahah , iv herd all his songs but i never realized who it was. i was accualy wonfdering who it was after hearing his chicgao songs. ok so im not that out of it . i just didnt connect the dots
vids (http://music.msn.com/musicvideos?affid=100018&GT1=6952)

and goonsta - i want to hear some of your stuff too, you got a web site?

"no, I said he was from the equivalent of Evanston, on the South Side of Chicago, near Chicago State University. I meant the social equivalent. Its a more educated black middle class."

Ah, my mistake. That Pullman, then?

i think he's annoying, he's thinks he "D Shit"

He's actually originally from Atlanta, but I'm glad he chooses to rep Chicago. He's got a huge ego but he's more than deserving, very talented artist. I'm loving Late Registration.

I like that he endorses Chicago, but hated the whole "GB doesn't care about black people" thing. Whether it's true or not, he shouldn't have politicized a charity event.

I like that he endorses Chicago, but hated the whole "GB doesn't care about black people" thing. Whether it's true or not, he shouldn't have politicized a charity event.

People "shouldn't" have been starving and dying from deyhdration. His comment happened at the exact time the disaster was happening.

He's actually originally from Atlanta, but I'm glad he chooses to rep Chicago. He's got a huge ego but he's more than deserving, very talented artist. I'm loving Late Registration.

But he has some connection with the western suburbs of chicago (read it on internet biography). He may have moved here before getting big.

Look, I'm going to get flamed for this, but Kanye West is overrated. He is not the bottom of the barrel when it comes to rappers; he is what I call mediocre, meaning he's generally average and occasionally below average. Also, Kanye West doesn't live in Chicago anymore. There was a special on MTV where kanye said he lived in Los Angeles now. Almost all of his videos also appear to be shot in Los Angeles as well.

Oh yeah, Jesus Walks was ghostwritten. It is known for sure that at least part of it was ghostwritten, and heavily rumored that all of it. It was written by an Indiana rapper named Rhymefest. I'm not so sure he should have gotten that Grammy.

Anyways, when it comes to Chicago rap, Twista, Typical Cats, and Do or Die are all better than Kanye West. Chicago definately needs a bigger rap scene, though.

People "shouldn't" have been starving and dying from deyhdration. His comment happened at the exact time the disaster was happening.

I'm just saying, the Red Cross was trying to help the situation; raising money through contributions. For him to bring politics into it and risk the whole program was pretty stupid, IMO.

Maybe I'm just looking at it wrong, though.

People "shouldn't" have been starving and dying from deyhdration. His comment happened at the exact time the disaster was happening.



And hundreads of thousands of blacks were slaughtered in places like Rwanada and south Sudan in the 90's during Clinton. Does that mean he "hates black people"? Makes about as much sense. If you are going to go on national tv and still be respected after such statements its just a good idea to have some solid proof it is the case.

And hundreads of thousands of blacks were slaughtered in places like Rwanada and south Sudan in the 90's during Clinton. Does that mean he "hates black people"? Makes about as much sense. If you are going to go on national tv and still be respected after such statements its just a good idea to have some solid proof it is the case.

The whole world ignored Rwanda
The press ignored Rwanda
Rwanda isn't in the U.S.
See the difference?

and let us not forget how the Republican Congress allowed thousands to be slaughtered in Rhwanda in the 1990's. That is right...they hated blow jobs more.

Your statement shows that you too denied what was happening the first week of September 2005 in the united states.

The whole world ignored Rwanda
The press ignored Rwanda
Rwanda isn't in the U.S.
See the difference?

and let us not forget how the Republican Congress allowed thousands to be slaughtered in Rhwanda in the 1990's. That is right...they hated blow jobs more.

Your statement shows that you too denied what was happening the first week of September 2005 in the united states.



So I am in "denial" if I don't think buy at face value what Dr.West says is true that George Bush hates black people and gives order to shoot them in the cold blood? Talk about a stretch.

And yes, I think it is far more reascist of both Liberals and Coservatives to do nothing over a 30 year people when 3 million blacks get slaughtered in the south Sudan. How many times did liberals (or many conservatives bring that up?). The only group that would make scant referance to it seemed to be of all people some Evangelical circles.
And yes, the whole WORLD including Dems and Republicans and Europeans and everyone else dropped the ball and maybe there was a tinge of rascism on that by everyone. You can spare me though as if acting like Bill Clinton had a straight jacket on by Republicans to do anything though. If he felt the moral or ethical responiblity thing to do was to take action he should have. To blame Republicans or Conservatives for the fact he didn't is cowardly.
Both those examples are FAR more rascial impllcations in my opinion then not reacting fast enough for a few days to a natural disaster almost the size of Great Britian.

He's a good artist, as far as creativity, although it's a formula, his producing is usually decent to good, as a rapper, he is lousy, a little better, but still lousy, he's arrogant which many rappers are, but he's still a good person to have on Chi's rap portfolio so to speak.

Common, Twista, Do or Die, I agree are much better.

But I don't agree with what he said at all. This political bullshit is what I can't stand. society is racist, conservatives seem cold by nature, but they're not racist, there's something called a meritocracy and that's regardless of socioeconomic class. There should be mechanisms, rainy day accts, disaster plans, that can help when disasters happen, we know that things aren't black or white, so I do think that the response was bad, and the preparation sucked. It's finding a balance between being fair and compassionate and giving things away that is a dilemna for some conservatives.

Also, many liberals want to sit up there and act above minorities and the poor. Most of them are from rich suburbs or parts of the city and have never experienced real shit in their lives. They don't have a long term vision for minorities, they may have good intentions, but don't understand the problems. Giving handouts, exploiting and giving pity doesn't do shit.

Many blacks that are successful these days used to be poor and are conservative, not necessarily republican but are conservative, they know about racism, it's b/c they realized, that after all the bullshit, it was them(sometimes with help of their family upbringing), w/o the assistance of gov't, they were the main source of their willingness to not only survive but excel.

Affirmative Action, welfare, many of the scapegoats for minorities has got to go or be de-implented gradually.

Then you have groups like the NAACP, or the NAACCP, (national association for the advancement of certain colored people) as I like to call it, which is really just perpetuating the situation, over politicizing and being used by some democrats.

It's many of the liberals that are being "tolerant" that try to rationalize and justify some of the things going on in the black community instead of just saying flat out that it's wrong plain and simple, and it perpetuates it and if you say anything against it, you're a bigot.

If you can't already tell, I'm a conservative, but not a republican, but I hope that situations can be based more on the issues and reality and flaws of both sides instead of politics hi-jacking and taking all the real significance of an issue.

No, I Think its R. Kelly , Kanye West is coming up very strong !

i thoroughly enjoyed kanye's comments on the hurricane relief show. true or not, that stunt he pulled was hilarious. i couldn't even believe it was real when i was watching it live on TV, i was like "holy crap! did he just say what i think he said. that obviously ain't part of the script. this show just got interesting."

and besides, i hate bush more than anyone else on the planet, so anyone tearing into the douche bag on live TV is always gonna score wicked points with me.

I'm sure Kanye West was just caught up in the moment. He was just upset thats all. I'm sure he realized what he said and that it was a little extreme. He was just upset thats all. Anyway Kanye West and Common are two of my favorite rappers. They don't try and be gangster at all which is why I like them. And that song Gold Digger is all I listen too right now LoL. I dont know if you guys have seen this video by Common. "The Corner" (http://boss.streamos.com/wmedia/geffen/common/video/the-corner/300_hi.asx?timestamp=1128234495&ttl=600&iprange=0.0.0.0/0&cryptosignature=9CD2C2AC978FA5BF1A6687029D024A19F5CDB3DC) Great song and video. It has aerials of Chicago in the beginning.

I dunno if he's good or bad really...sure, its publicity for the city, but anyone who knows rap knows the guy sounds like an old-school Nas, maybe even worse.

He's made himself big on mtv to the suburban "rap-is-cool" crowd, but the guy really isn't very talented at all. Yet, some people in Chicago try to play him off like the New Tupac or Eminem...which he's not.

Look, I'm going to get flamed for this, but Kanye West is overrated. He is not the bottom of the barrel when it comes to rappers; he is what I call mediocre, meaning he's generally average and occasionally below average. Also, Kanye West doesn't live in Chicago anymore. There was a special on MTV where kanye said he lived in Los Angeles now. Almost all of his videos also appear to be shot in Los Angeles as well.

Oh yeah, Jesus Walks was ghostwritten. It is known for sure that at least part of it was ghostwritten, and heavily rumored that all of it. It was written by an Indiana rapper named Rhymefest. I'm not so sure he should have gotten that Grammy.

Anyways, when it comes to Chicago rap, Twista, Typical Cats, and Do or Die are all better than Kanye West. Chicago definately needs a bigger rap scene, though.

its the first verse of Jesus walks that rhymefest wrote, hey you could say the same thing about "Diamonds" with Lupe fiasco's "conflict diamonds"...I personally feel Lupe's track alot more


I agree the typical cats are ill...I wish they would get more exposure, the early Qwel material was just nasty...I still listen to his pawn shop lp.

I dunno if he's good or bad really...sure, its publicity for the city, but anyone who knows rap knows the guy sounds like an old-school Nas, maybe even worse.

Whaaaa?

If he sounded anywhere NEAR Nas sounded on Illmatic he would probably could make an argument for him being the best in the game right now. Huh?

And as of now, he's 18 times better than Eminem, unless you think "Ass Like That" is a great show of lyricism or anything:

"YOU MAKE MY PEE PEE GO......DA DOING DOING DOING!!"

But Kanye's "rating" mostly comes from his production, he's like the Dr.Dre of Chicago. Dre never wrote any lyrics, but people agree that The Chronic is a classic album. You don't have to be a good rapper to make an excellent album.

He also lives in NYC, LA, and Chicago, right at 900 N Michigan.

He also lives in NYC, LA, and Chicago, right at 900 N Michigan.

900 N. Michigan? Didn't know that. It would be cool to see him casually walking down Michigan Avenue, but I doubt that will ever happen.

Eminem was running out of new material. He did the right thing by retiring. However, Eminem in his prime beats Kanye West hands down. And please don't mention 2Pac and Kanye West in the same sentence.

The Typical Cats are great lyrically, but need better beats and production to get noticed. Quite a few independent artists have great production on their albums; it's well within the realm of possibility.

See all the debate is about his rapping, which may just be sub-par, however you guys have to admit his producing skills are probably the best we've seen in years and the best from a Chicago artist.

Ye's beats coupled with Common's lyrics on Be is an outstanding example of he is helping Chicago and Chicago artists (common) - who will definatley win a grammy for Be this year.

Chi-town Stand Up!

I think that his Grammy's validated his rapping and producing ability.

And his quote was priceless at the Grammy's:
"For those of you that asked me what I would do If I didn't win a grammy .... I guess the world will never know"

900 N. Michigan? Didn't know that. It would be cool to see him casually walking down Michigan Avenue, but I doubt that will ever happen.

Eminem was running out of new material. He did the right thing by retiring. However, Eminem in his prime beats Kanye West hands down. And please don't mention 2Pac and Kanye West in the same sentence.

The Typical Cats are great lyrically, but need better beats and production to get noticed. Quite a few independent artists have great production on their albums; it's well within the realm of possibility.

Well you know DJ natural from typ cats didn't really have the best of all beats, but the typical cats just worked really well together and it showed all over that first lp. But I think Qwel has good production backing him In Jackson Jones and Maker

but back to the kanye/eminem thing

Now eminem in his prime beats kanye west? Maybe lyrically the old eminem from his infinite steez was out of control, His technique was built mostly on pollysyallables something he became known throughout his career for, but as a producer Eminem was just very weak. I don't think its that eminem has ran out of material, he just doesn't have anything to write about. I think he fell off big time when the Lp version to the slim shady ep came out. Dr. Dre and Mel man's production made him more into a cartoon. Infinite wasn't really one of the best albums in the world, but a few tracks like "Its ok", and "Open Mic" ("you couldn't flip shit playing in toilets w. a spatula"), and of course Infinite were just crazy. He showed a heavy improvement in his technical skill with the ss ep.

Kanye may not really be one of the best lyricists, but His production game is down, and not only that he has miri ben ari and John Legend to help him add to his production (you can hear them adding in strings and piano on various works of his), the beat for be was crazy...but that beat is a product of both Kanye and Jay dee. I've been a parttime producer for the past god..almost about 7 years, and I can hear alot of the samples that west uses, and most of the time their simple loops maybe chopped up a slight bit, but he knows how to build on the foundation..my only grip is sometimes their straight jacks that I know he could chop up even further. Plus before west got famous he was a ghost producer for awhile, but its easy to hear his old stuff he did when he ghost produced, he used those stuttering drums alot (ie. check nas poppa was a playa)


and Be was a great album, Kanye held it down..but I really wish there would have been more of Balance with some Jay Dee beats...(peep his lp donuts coming out later this year!!!)

Third of A Kind,

Do you think Kanye is a sell-out at all? In terms of representing his hometown?

Third of A Kind,

Do you think Kanye is a sell-out at all? In terms of representing his hometown?

no not at all, not at all..he definitley reps strong for chicago

West is one of the very few artists who can put material out accepted in the mainstream and at the same time show up at a beat society show and be very well accepted. there are very few cats who can crossover in genres like him

I totally just downloaded Gold Digger on my ipod. :D

I'm watching "Save the Last Dance"--ghetto mixed with ballet dancing all in the context of da south side urban decay. You gotta love it

"He's a jack-ass"... who was recently quoted, saying this about KW?

:uh::uh::uh::?:?:?