The version of Yeezy you like, whether it's the old one or the new one, the Rap God or the Fashion Mogul, the quiet one or the rude one, the spiritual one or the secular one, are all one and the same. It's our minds that are conditioned to compartmentalize people. We automatically place people into whatever box we initially see them in.
He alone hasn't suffered from this. If I say the name Michael Angelo, immediately your mind thinks of the Sistine Chapel or The Creation of Adam paintings. But if I told you he was just as dominant an Architect and even a Sculptor before those paintings, today's overwhelming population wouldn't know this. Imagine if he never created them. The Sistine Chapel would likely just be another chapel that no one ever visits. But he did and now, today there are people traveling the globe right now just to personally experience its dopeness. Yeezy falls under this category.
He alone hasn't suffered from this. If I say the name Michael Angelo, immediately your mind thinks of the Sistine Chapel or The Creation of Adam paintings. But if I told you he was just as dominant an Architect and even a Sculptor before those paintings, today's overwhelming population wouldn't know this. Imagine if he never created them. The Sistine Chapel would likely just be another chapel that no one ever visits. But he did and now, today there are people traveling the globe right now just to personally experience its dopeness. Yeezy falls under this category.
Kanye West was initially not suppose to be an iconic figure in the rap game. Yet he created arguably two of the greatest rap albums of all time, 808 Heartbreak and Dark Twisted Fantasy. Whether, you like them or not is irrelevant, 808 Heartbreak changed rap forever. Not simply because it used the 808, no not that all. The album musically was a first by blending true African rhythms with natural sounds, crying autotune and even the early 80's synthesize sounds. No it wasn't something we heard before. But that alone would only be a testament to just his musical producing genius. But the real separation of his creative genius came from the emotions of a man being rapped in such a raw display. Sure the hip hop culture had a few singles done for ladies. But those were rarely done and never a whole album. Soon after this phenomenon, Drake enters in the game, along with a whole host of others spewing emotions like drunkards at the bar. It even crossed over into Reggaeton artist, being open enough to express their feelings. This was unheard of in both genres, before Yeezy did it.
For him it was such a natural progression. It wasn't the cry of R&B singers we were use to. It was simply the naked truisms of relationships and life. He has always been raw and unfiltered with the ability to say his expressions with his chest. His first single being Jesus Walks, bares that out. He has the gift of taking what life has unkindly thrown at him and make his own Sistine Chapel or The Creation of Adam paintings through his music. He's worked with every artist imaginable and even the unimaginable, Jay Z, Lauren Hill, Paul McCartney, Rihanna, Naz...Far too many to list here.
Many years ago he took on a new form of expression. A new brush to paint with, the fashion industry. This wasn't the Rap music industry. Everyone shunned him. Once again we placed him in a box. That is, until the Yeezy shoes began to sell on the black market for 3k for a single pair of tennis shoes.
They wrote that off as simple star power. But remember no other "rapper" had ever sold shoes and definitely none came close to these price points. Oh but he wasn't done. He engulfed himself in the full fashion business. So much so, that in a very short amount of time, even the top designers, which took them decades to take hold of the industry, would recognize his talent. In fact, many of which stole his concepts and eventually even members from the team Kayne had created. Today, if you doubt his impact in fashion. One can merely look no further then the clothing in H&M and any other major department stores to see Kayne's imprint being mirrored everywhere. Once again, no credit, no recognition. Just a bunch of others getting paid off his version of fashion.
While Louis Vuitton did steal Kayne's long time fashion assistant Virgil Abloh, making Virgil the Head of their Men's Ware, you would assume that may slowed down Yeezy Donda Clothing brand. However, one would be silly to think that Kayne would simply stop. That would be foolish thinking. Just a simple look at his history and you could easily bank on him using this set back as another springboard to possibly making Donda the standard of fashion in the future. I for one bet on it. I can almost hear him sharpening his axe, "First they ignore you. Next they want to be you". Especially now with this spiritual reawakening back of him being the strongest version of Kayne we've ever seen. SUPERYAY is coming ya'll. We'll get to that on the next episode.
Moral of the story, FUCK a box... unless it's got some fresh ass gear in it.
Painting by Artist Eric Briscoe
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