“We Want The Old Kanye Back!”….Nah, I’m Good.

“He’s fallin’ apart, but we deny it…Justifying that half ass shit he dropped, we always buy it…When he tell us he a genius but it’s clearer lately…It’s been hard for him to look into the mirror lately…There was a time when this nigga was my hero, maybe…That’s the reason why his fall from grace is hard to take.” — J. Cole

Jay Z once said,  “Hov on that new shit, niggas like how come, Niggas want my old shit, but my old album.”  To that, I very much agree.  One of the major problems with the hip hop music is that fans are not really a fan of letting artists grow up.  Meaning, if a rapper comes into the game fresh off the streets spitting hot bars depicting his life as a wild dude on the block doing whatever he had to do to survive, then fans of these artists expect these rappers to be that same artist they were when they first got put on.  It doesn’t matter if the rapper dropped his first record 5, 10, 15 years ago, made a ton of money since then, changed area codes, started realizing that all of this money has given this rapper a new outlook on life he never had before to where he doesn’t feel the need to talk about his life as if he just left the block trapping to hop into the booth to spit a hot a 16.  Maybe this rapper is at a point in his life to where he might just want to talk about some grown man shit that doesn’t involve too much craziness because in his present life, he isn’t (hopefully) living recklessly. Maybe, who knows.  But to most fans, none of that shit matters.  You are supposed to be the same nigga you were at the age of 19 when you were thugged out on the block, pushing bricks of cocaine, shooting niggas all over the place, & making it rain every night at the strip club….never mind that you are now damn near 40 years old with a wife, kids, mortgage, & a lazy boy chair.

I was a Kanye West fan during College Dropout.  I was a Kanye West fan during Late Registration.  I was a Kanye West fan during Graduation.  I was one-fourth a Kanye West fan during 808s & Heartbreak.  I became Kanye West’s number one fan during My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.  Yeezus, I just never got around to buying it or really listening to it.  The Life of Pablo, I’ve yet to hear it & I have really no desire to hear it.  So what happened between My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy & Yeezus that made me go from pretty much a loyal Kanye West fan to basically not even fucking with this dude anymore?  I mean, it really wasn’t a slow transition either.  I literally went from light switch on status to light switch off status.  Was it Kim Kardashian?  No.  Was it his ridiculous ego?  No, that shit was there since his first album.  Was it his Tourettes syndrome like personality that would allow for him to just pop off the most random shit at the most random times?  No.  So what happened?

I think what happened in my case was, I simply allowed Kanye West to “grow up” to become who he was destined to become and the truth of the matter is, I don’t like who he became.  I wasn’t one of those fans who attempted to force Kanye West to remain the 2004 Kanye West who was running around in Polo sweaters, Louise Vuitton back packs and Jesus pieces chains hanging off his neck.  I just let this guy go through the motions of becoming who he was destined to become without ever really reflecting back to who he used to be.  There are quite a few rappers I stay constantly comparing their new shit to their old shit, 50 Cent is one of them.  Every time he drops some new shit, I immediately try to compare it to the Get Rich or Die Trying…often times, I stay disappointed.  Kanye, I just never really did that.  I accepted his growth and tried to embrace it, but when Yeezus came out, I couldn’t really fuck with it.  Life of Pablo, I’ve never even heard it & like I mentioned earlier, I have no desire to check it out.  Maybe it’s because I’m 36 years old and not 24 anymore so during the times when I allowed Kanye to grow up, I too grew up.  I’m not the same person I was 12 years ago.  I don’t have much of the same interests I had when I was a single guy running the streets with no wife or kids.  My priorities in life are drastically different.  My beliefs have matured so much more than what I once thought they were 12 years ago.  So if that’s possible for me to do, then it must be possible for Kanye West to do as well.  Except, I’m just not a fan of this guy anymore.  I’m not a fan of a 39 year old multimillionaire rap superstar throwing tantrums on stage in front of thousands of people who paid to see him perform his MUSIC.  I’m not a fan of a 39 year old multimillionaire rapper who has all the money, access, & connections in the world yet he stays crying like a little bitch about what he can’t do.  I’m just not a fan of this guy anymore because the 36 year old me honestly doesn’t give a fuck about how “hard” he wants us to believe his life is.  I’m not buying it.  I don’t give a fuck about his desires to entire the fashion world.  I don’t give a fuck about his wife & all the crazy shit her family is into.  I’m just not a fan of this dude period.  I’m not asking Kanye to revert back to the “old Kanye” because quite truthfully, this nigga could never be that guy again even if he wanted to be.  Those days are gone & the quicker you (the reader) realize this, the faster you can move on with your hip hop life and place that energy into an artist who is actually worthy.

“While the world’s eggin’ him on, I’m begging him to stop it…Playin’ his old shit, knowin’ he won’t top it…False prophets.” — J. Cole