The Gospel

The truth is tonight is just a Kanye kind of night. It hasn't been a bad day, exactly.... but a little Kanye therapy will make me feel all better. Perhaps you don't have Kanye nights, perhaps you don't believe in Kanye nights. Perhaps the mere idea and existence of Kanye offends you, perhaps you have already stopped reading. That's okay-I probably already offended you a long time ago (hello, thinly veiled cougar references). But I am a firm believer in Kanye nights, in all things Kanye. As a matter of fact: I hereby proclaim the world needs more Kanye. And by more Kanye-I mean more Kanye tweets, more Kanye songs, more Kanye live performances within driving distance of Springfield, Missouri. More Kanye on my Ipod. Perhaps some Kanye texts-to me, hint, hint Mr. West... Kanye tweets are the reason I am on Twitter, ESPN may spend their time trying to stir up LeBron controversy, but LeBron never topped the Old School Kanye Wisdom of Yestertwitter.
Which brings me to my first lesson of the Kanye Gospel: speak the truth. In a world where we so often feel angry and decieved by media, politicians, authors, even family and friends sometimes-Kanye speaks his mind. He's honest. Is he rude? Probably...Is he conceited? Possibly  But is he telling the truth? Usually. Is it jarring? Of course it is. We all know part of being polite are little white lies, ("it's an honor just to be nominated" vs "if I don't win, I'll be pissed"). Many of you hate Mr. West because of the Horrible Terrible Thing he did to Taylor Swift. Was it a terrible rude beyond excusable moment? Oh, yes it was. Did he make an incredible ass of himself? Yes, he did. Was he telling the truth? Yes, he was. How do we know? What do you do with your hands when you hear Beyonce's Single Ladies ? What was the name of the song Taylor won for? Exactly...Does that justify anything? No....but still. Sometimes someone says what everyone is thinking.

(Video We All Still Imitate In the Privacy of Our own Homes)

Which brings me to Runaway...How many times have you wanted to tell someone- "Runaway as fast as you can.."? You hear your friend droning on and on (again) about this boy/girl/only true love who has cheated on/left/ignored/annoyed/confused/fill-in-the-blank them AGAIN and you just want to say very calmly "you can leave or live with it". But you can't because that makes you a bad friend. Kanye can. He did. He wrote a song. He made a toast. It's called Runaway. Go to Itunes. Perhaps you will enjoy the irony when he reminds you you have been putting up with his s***t way too long.

"No one man should have all that power"-it's a line from the song Power from Kanye's Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy album, which should have been nominated a Grammy for Album of the Year. This song helped me survive the last year. I listened to it over and over, it reminded me that no one, no one,  but me would be in charge of my life. No "man" (except the one "upstairs) makes decisions about what happens to me except me. No one bullies me, or you. You and God control your destiny. The power is in prayer. The power is in faith, and in hard work. The power is not in the illusion of control. I don't know exactly what Kanye West meant when he wrote the song (he's free to tweet me anytime...anytime, tweet me Kanye!!) but the personal meaning to me in this song is huge, I hope everyone has songs that help them this much. If not Kanye-then someone.
Creativity gives you a voice. I realize rap isn't everyone's music of choice. But one of the things I respect about Kanye is his voice-and I don't necessarily mean I hope someone asks him to sing. I mean his outlet for creativity-he's a creative guy. His songs show more than rap lyrics. His songs sound different, he doesn't repeat the same thing over and over. He collaborates, he samples other songs, he includes instruments. I'm not knocking on any other rappers, but there's a reason Kanye has surpassed Eminem as my favorite rapper. Each of his songs sound unique to me. He doesn't repeat himself as often, he's more creative. He's venturing out into other things. Will his clothing lines, producing, movie ventures be successful-I have no idea...but I respect his creativity.

Kanye is all that is wrong -and right -with America. Every excess that we (those of us who will honestly look at this country and say, some things aren't right here) see in America is on display in Kanye. He openly expresses his own greatness, much like America does when we annoy the rest of the world. (And we do, it's true, we do) Sometimes I hear people criticize NFL players who dance after they score a touchdown; we don't always like to see people celebrate themselves, even though it's as American as apple pie, kids. At one time Mr. West was about the most disdained and disowned member of society. He offended us all when he stole a moment from America's Sweetheart. But he also proved what may be the most American idea of all in the process. If you are talented and will work hard enough-America will forgive anything. Right, Ray Lewis? Both Watch the Throne and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy were nominated for Grammys this year. Both should have been nominated for more. The Kanye-Jay-Z tour sold out all over the country. He performed on numerous award shows, at halftime of the NBA All-Star Game, the VS Fashion Show and many other televised events. Radio stations played his music (so edited it lost half the songs, but still). The bottom line-dumbass may make you infamous, but talent can still make you famous in the land of the free.

An America I'm Proud Of

And really isn't that what this country is about? Call it blasphemy-it's really just hyperbole ( I was an English teacher, trust me) but the greatest of my Kanye Gospel lessons is just that-freedom. If we are really about freedom of speech, and expression, here in America-we need guys like Kanye. We need lyrics censors want to edit. we need people who speak their mind. We need the ability-and freedom-to turn them off if we want and choose to. Yes, it's a Kanye kind of night. Thankfully, we were both Made in America.