Blogpost 1: Kanye West: Narcissism

Kanye West. We hear this name from almost everywhere. From his music, which has no incredible flow, but has made some above average beats, that's why it fits in the music industry's mainstream. His exposure grew out from this incident of him grabbing the microphone from Taylor Swift while she was giving her speech in the VMA Awards. And of course, we all know about his controversial relationship with the more controversial Kim Kardashian. Personally, I love Kanye West. It's just the amount of crap he's doing with his life just to get attention that makes him an arrogant prick. How do you classify Kanye's personality? Why is he so obsessed about getting so much attention from people? Why does he talk about so much rubbish thoughts and even say it out in the media, and even include it in his music?  It is believed that Kanye West has Narcissistic Personality Disorder. The narcissist is described as being excessively preoccupied with issues of personal adequacy, power, and prestige. NPD is closely linked to self-centeredness. Narcissism is the pattern of traits and behaviors which involve infatuation and obsession with one's self to the exclusion of others and the egotistic and ruthless pursuit of one's gratification, dominance and ambition. But how can we really prove that he's narcissist? Kanye West profoundly claims himself as the 'god of music' and even name his latest album 'Yeezus'. Why? The first article I read about which is Kanye West’s new album saturated with narcissism  written by Denis Bozic explains how his new album, Yeezus, bashed by the critics’ lavish praise, is already touching the skies, but any rational human being should be able to recogn ize that this album is far from being a masterpiece. From the title of the album itself, you can already know that he's expressing narcissism. He entitled his album 'Yeezus' simply because he ragards himself as a god or someone close to it. As the article quotes, “I Am A God,” possibly the greatest ego-trip anthem, finishes off with West screaming, just after he proudly awards himself with the title of God. I can already foresee all the fans stating that there is hidden symbolism and some uncanny, timeless meaning behind these verses, but what’s symbolic about “I just talked to Jesus / He said ‘What up Yeezus?’ / I said, ‘Shit, I’m chilling / Trying to stack these millions’” It is very evident that the music is total crap and the only people who would appreciate this song is Kaye West himself, since it was all pure talking about himself. The 2nd article i researched about narcissism of people through music is about The Incredibly Seductive Pull of a Very Skilled Narcissist, and it quotes, ''A skilled extreme narcissist knows just how to reflect your music back to you so that you feel like he has your playlist of favorite songs'', means that Kanye may be presenting himself as someone with a lot of money, more powerful, much more connection, and instills it to our brains like injecting poison, resulting for us to view him as someone higher than everyone else. That's where the notion of narcissism works, as a narcissist's personality may be composed of charm, makes himself stand out of the group and appears more astute than everyone else, is a great storyteller no matter it may be out of context as long as he satisfies his urge for egocentricity and attention. He is someone who is naturally believable when all he is the total contrary. They are able to cover tracks, which is a skill that deceives peoples belief about his past that he can be known as someone peculiar to others. Narcissist are also one of the greatest actors in the world, that one of the main characteristics of narcissism is that there is a wounded and insecure child inside the adult. Kanye West is even racist. Racist in a sense that he hates people who thinks that black people are inferior because he thinks that 'black' people are the highest class in the human race. As most of us now know, the hugely successful rapper claimed that the government was sending troops to New Orleans not to help those in need but to “shoot us” and accused President Bush of not caring about blacks. But the fact that West is himself a racist must not be overlooked, or, as is the case with the mainstream media, completely ignored. West even refer white people as “the devil” or his claim that when a drug dealer buys Jordans and a “crack head buy crack, the white man get paid.” This statement is profane. But an even more no-brainer statement from West is “AIDS was a man made disease placed in Africa just like crack was placed in the black community to break up the Black Panther party,” as West told his fans during the Live 8 concerts this summer. His ideologies and philosophies in life are very oafish and inappropriate. Kanye West, who compares himself variously to Michael Jordan, Steve Jobs, Rick Owens, Walt Disney Henry Ford, and Anna Wintour in a new 4,600-word interview with the New York Times. West even says that he and he alone is the nucleus of all society. This shouldn’t exactly come as a shock; after all, the guy did name his new album Yeezus. And perhaps more importantly, West is hyper-aware of the vital role arrogance plays in his “brand”: “The idea of Kanye and vanity are like, synonymous,” he tells the Times during a brief moment of self-awareness. That being said, the interview really is a breathtaking study in the art of narcissism, regardless of whether it’s utterly serious or at least partially manufactured. Call him what you may. An asshole, a genius or whatever. But one thing is for sure, the mainstream music industry needs him, and that is why he's so valuable. Anyone with any knowledge would know that Kanye has made one of the biggest impacts on hip-hop. The college dropout was the mark of a new era in hip-hop. He was never the soulful rapper, he was the different one. From his high-pitched samples, all the way to working with John Mayer and Adam Levine. What people don't see is this: he started a foundation to help kids get through school, blamed himself for his mothers tragic death, and all people can look at is the Taylor Swift incident. Narcissist or not, he's still Kanye West. And people will always look up to him as someone great, we can't do anything about it. I say, we learn from his flaws in life and respect Kanye as who and what he is.