Critical Jeff

"I like to ride a little bit, but I feel like my life is at risk when I ride."
I guess those flashing lights he's always singing about must be the ones on the Ambulance!

https://digg.com/arts_culture/Kanye_West_is_a_Poser

roastbeef

he's also an a**hole.

deathhare

weak rider, not a chill guy.

solbrothers

but hes so scary rich. cant knock that

dayvan cowboy

some of the worst people in the world are scary rich, how is that a good thing?

luckasaaron

He admitted he's learning and and tokened himself a poser...

How is there room to knock him then? I'm confused?

dayvan cowboy

i'm more down for knocking kanye for the fact he thinks he's the **** and just released a really crappy album.

jhaber

Seemed pretty honest.

Critical Jeff

Maybe you don't remember him saying he is the voice of this generation, and is the best rapper of all time.

mtusz

I think you're allowed to be cocky when you make as much money as him and has as many fans as him. I'll admit that he does seem like an *******, and I would never want to meet him because then I would never listen to his music, but he hasn't done any wrong in the world. Props to him for turning his entire life around and changing his family legacy.

iamthenoise

i think most people dont get it. he's an entertainer. to raise yourself to the status of "icon" you have to fake it 'til you make it. he knows what he is and isn't. you'll never hear him be completely honest in the press because "humble" doesn't sell. when he releases multi million dollar making records, he reinforces that image. he'd never show weakness on purpose. he'd try to keep it "real" with things he's not involved in (bikes). but his money buys him access to the best of everything, and his money came from things he did himself.

this doesn't make him NOT an *******.

i just think most people don't get that his words and moves are semi calculated. any press is good press to a guy like him, and right now he's being talked about in a friggin bike forum. he wants the haters to talk about him. he's being talked about here, unlike you and me and 99.99% of all other artists.

if you have enough fans you're famous, but to keep hip hop cred, you have to have tons of fans, and just as many haters, then you're "infamous" which is good in hiphop.

that said, i dont like his music.

j3ffr3y

coupled with the fact that he has a BMW, isnt the waiting list like a few years on the Gangsta? Learn to ride before you cut the line.

Thetank

The whole hip-hop scene is a tragic waste. The message promotes some of the worse behavior in people and Idolizes all the things that are wrong with this country. As far as having to present yourself as a thug or a tough guy to make it in hip hop is pure bull$hit! At least in the way people justify kanye's behavior. Take for instance all the flash and glamor these rappers flaunt with the cars and the fake reps and none of them take it as far as saying $hit like they belong in the bible, or that they're the voice of this generation.
You say kanye is trying to appear like a tough guy to sell music then why the hell is he dressed in poseur pseudo rich white kid outfits and flaunt bikes that appeal to the hipster bandwagon jumping suburban kids? I'll say one thing THAT AIN'T GANGSTA!

tashi

Cut the line? When you're a product placement opportunity there is no line - you get it first because the company wants you to get it first.

Personally, I don't give a **** if Kanye rides his bike or not. He's probably into it because he likes the aesthetics of it and his market is into it.

I'm just struggling with starting to like his music while thinking he's a ******-bagg. Such a whiney *****, but "Us Placers" is so sweet.

Edit: Tank, you've got a lot to learn about hip-hop. There is much more than gangsta out there, and Kanye is a little piece of it. A rich, braggy, preppy piece.

dayvan cowboy

mainstream rap music DOES NOT BY ANY MEANS represent the hip hop scene.

REMspeedwagon

of course Kayne West's music was never gangsta..

PistaRider311

+1. There is a difference (despite what some people think) between mainstream rap and hip hop. As far as Kanye is concerned, it really doesn't matter to me if some is truly a jerk, or if they are putting on act in order to sell records and make money. If you have sunk to the point of having to act like that just to make more money, you have no respect in my book.

[Mr.B]

its like pop techno or something

sake bomb

Who cares if his like for the bikes is just superficial? That would make him no different than about 95% of the people riding fixed, except he's got a lot more money.

Critical Jeff

Although I still agree he isn't the voice of our generation, he is a melding of cultures. It just now seems that the mixing of white and black culture in our young community is taking light. Many people still see race, and I think this style that Kanye is promoting and showing is progress for our culture. People have to realize that different races don't always dress differently. The white college frat boy doesn't goto a high class private college, nor does your african american dorm mate like all this gangster rap. People just have to look past race and see that our culture is evolving and Kanye isnt a gangster rapper, but more of a evolution in our cultures taste of music. I've experiance some of the greatest music evolutions in the past 7 years all through high school and it's been great that someone is trying to mix two of my favorite hobbies, music, art and bikes. Well, not so much art, but I do love some graphic design art and math and everything with bikes.

mtusz

One of the most ignorant comments I've ever read regarding hip hop and rap. While the mainstream rap scene is primarily talking about all the "*****es and hos" and basically trying to glamorize the thug life, if you listen to the other 90% or rap and hip hop, you will hear it is rarely about gang fights and sex, but more about family life, love for the music they are making, and pretty often, friends and family that have died or been killed. It's the adult generation of today that has made hip hop and rap out to be the music that has a negative influence on people, but it's a load of crap. Look at Chaucer. Nowadays, his work is studied in high schools and highly regarded by the majority of literature profs and students. In his day, his work was thought to be completely obscene and rude and he was looked down upon by tons of people. Times change, and the ways of expressing yourself change too, I can easily see in 50 years, people saying that the music now is the best "classic" music, and adults and old people will be turning their noses at the new trend.

kludge

man, some of you folks need to roll up a joint and get to smoking.

I saw the video, it seems honest. I would rather have him say "i suck at this" then trying to impress everybody. I think the cycling community is the only community that even gives a ISHT that he owns a BMW track. People are forgetting that now is the time to get on a bike! Not sure if some of you know this but outside of fashion+bikes, there is a whole world of CYCLING!

that said, get off this fools nuts and go ride or clean up your bike!

queerpunk

word. some of the most critically acclaimed and widely respected artists are socially conscious - common, mos def, talib kwali, the roots, de la soul... the list goes on and on.

i always laugh at people who think hip hop is degenerate. look at jazz. it was the music of vice and wanton sex eighty years ago, and now? Jazz At Lincoln Center, people dressing up and clapping politely at performers who are combining historical research with musical revival in what is a very serious, theory-heavy art form. Maybe fifty years from now our kids will be dressing up to see "Reflections on Eminem," at Hip Hop At Lincoln Center.

Geordi Laforge

I have no problem with kayne. And I have no problem besides slight jealousy when a wealthy person purchases an object they do not use all that much. I used to know a self-made millionaire. He bought a Les Paul from the 1950s that was in the mint condition. Did he play guitar? Nope. It was a collector piece and something he'd pick up for a few minutes and put back into the case. I am not about to get on some nerdy internet forum and call him a dirty ********** for owning a nice guitar.

Kayne is doing the same thing.

uke

Short version: I know nothing about hip-hop besides the mainstream stuff I'm fed from the charts, but I'm gonna knock it anyway.

There's good stuff in every genre of music. It's simply a question of whether you've heard it or not.