Producer, rapper, musician, designer – all these are different shades of one person, whose name is Kanye West. We believe that the contribution of Mr. West to the African American Renaissance culture cannot be overestimated as he completely changed the approach to making the hip-hop music and made the audience of people, who listen to hip-hop, far wider thanks to the diversity of the sounding in his songs. Also, he looked at the new role of African Americans in society and their image, showing that African American rappers are not gangsters from the hood with the Uzi in their bosom but intellectually developed and exquisitely dressed performers.
Kanye West made fashion music in the truest sense of the word. Kanye became the leader of the Black American Renaissance movement, each time proving that it is possible to do better and better. We see today that the attempts have not been in vain. Kanye managed not only to get to the top, but also hit the whole subculture, changing the entire direction of hip-hop. In 2007, when Kanye began to appear on the screen, people did not appreciate the sudden change, which Kanye made in the culture (La Bella 37). However, looking at the hip-hop culture today, we can safely say that people who told about those things were ridiculous as when it Kanye himself was ridiculous for them. There is a saying: "It does not matter where you are, it is important where you will be." And it is just about Kanye West. He was ahead of his time. Kanye West made a smart rap. As a Messiah, he led hip hop from the streets and along with pop, jazz, rock and roll, industrial and electronics, he turned it into modern high art. Detailed description of life in the ghetto was replaced by a discussion of sexism and religion (Yi 41).
Among Kanye’s inventions on the list of the musical accompaniment of the song, there are a lot of the original instruments. From the outset, in his works Kanye is trying to get away from the mundane thing about life in the hood and add a bit of intellectual materialism. Kanye gives masses some food for thought. This is seen in his first album called College Dropout. Jesus Walk composition was impregnated with religious subjects and has caused a lot of questions among the public about the person of Kanye West. Some said that he had another poser, raising serious themes in the songs only to increase his own rating. Others on the contrary saw in it something new that can convert the vector from the topic of drugs and street shoot-outs into the book and fashion. But the most important thing that has made debut for the Kanye himself was finally dotted all over the style of Kanye. And we are not talking about the style of work, which was formed for many years after, we are talking about the appearance.
In 2007 among the rappers’ fashionable loose trousers with shirts of XXL size, Kanye in his manner did not follow the mainstream. He wore jeans and a narrower sweatshot, while backpack on a wall a la student from the University became almost a hallmark of Kanye West. We say "almost", because the hallmark of Kanye West was the teddy bear, which appeared on the covers of his three albums. With each new album, Kanye hones his skills. Trump card in the West’s works are undoubtedly skills of music arrangement as a music producer, erudition and a play on words, which he had acquired as a child because his mother, Donda West was a professor of English language and literature (Sheen 58). Finally, his distinctive features were inimitable music style as well as taste in clothing. He became a favorite among the students as much as possible approached to them both by topics, and by sound.
Let us consider Kanye West’s contribution to the hip-hop music from the technical point of view. First of all, Kanye invented sampling, as an integral part of creativity. It was clearly manifested in the album Graduation 2008, where Kanye West came up with this kind of music creation. With excellent taste and proficiency in the history of music, Kanye took the individual pieces of the popular songs and made the so-called rework. Confirmation that Kanye really has a talent for sampling was the song Stronger. The song is based on the famous French track diet Duft Punk – Faster, Harder, Better (O, Elise 28). Momentary, song became a hit and drew a line between the old and the new Kanye. In the video released for the song Stronger, Kanye got back in fashion the glasses-shutters, which were popular in the 1980s, as well as made popular T-shirts with original prints, continuing attempts to glorify himself as a talented designer. American designer Marc Jacobs, who is also part-time creative director of the house of Louis Vuitton, offered Kanye to create a joint line of footwear. Thus, there was born the collection of shoes by Louis Vuitton, which differed from previous one by its bright palette, as well as the frequent use of leather finishing for footwear (Wells 41).
Secondly, Kanye decides to bring in his vocal compositions the lacking special vocal abilities to pull a good sounding chorus. So Kanye found a perfect way out, which in consequence became extremely popular far beyond the United States. He invented auto-tune. In the album 808 & Heartbreak, Kanye West appeared before the listener as a deep lyricist and a good singer. The album was written under half the impact of two events, after which many would have gone into a deep depression and lost all cravings for life. First, Kanye lost his mother – Donda West, who died after an unsuccessful operation, and then a girlfriend (Grucella 25) Alexis Phipher left him. Here, the phrase of Friedrich Nietzsche is extremely suitable: "All that does not kill us makes us stronger." Having absorbed all the troubles piled on his head, Kanye produces an excellent work full of love and pain at the same time. Lyricism and vocal sound allowed to attract a female audience to the artist. Kanye was not just abstruse rapper, but also a fine expert in the field of the soul and human feelings.
Over time, Kanye is gaining weight in the music world. The next step was to make music fashion. At this time, Kanye starts dating a famous socialite – Kim Kardashian. After the release of the joint album with Jay Z, Kanye continues his experiments with fashion (Burton 345). However, this time, the object of work became his new girlfriend Kim. The girl turns out from tasteless dressing daughter of a wealthy lawyer into an icon of style and the wife of Kanye West. In order to develop a new line of women's clothing, which should be conceived to represent Kim on all sorts of social events, there was invited creative director gevanchy home – Riccardo Tisci. The designer did a great job. A year later, Kanye and Kim appeared on the cover of Vogue magazine. That was that very moment, when Kanye became quoted as not only a rapper, but also a designer. Now, he dictates fashion.
Thirdly, Kanye brings to the culture the black color in all its manifestations, in clothes, in the visual design of music videos and live performances. Literally in a matter of years, people are starting to follow him, changing their wardrobe, giving preference to black. It is probably the pinnacle, which we talked about at the beginning of this article. The album Yeezus from the first to the last song was impregnated with emphasize of Kanye West. Yeezus lifted the bar to unprecedented heights. In the album, with a great name, Kanye compares himself with God. No, perhaps it is God, as stated in his song with the provocative title I am God. Even Eminem in his track Rap God says that he is a God in rap, but Kanye went on, as he swung at the holy. And the most interesting thing is that people understand it. The unprecedented influxes of popularity, a lot of positive reviews were a reward for Kanye. Later, there was Yeezus collection in collaboration with Adidas. Yes, you read that right, it was Adidas, and not Nike, from which Kanye left with the scandal (Biles 255).
Fourthly, Kanye West gathered around him a lot of talented people from producers to designers, from rappers to photographers, who undoubtedly gave more golf courses with regard to the promotion of the culture of the Black Renaissance in all sectors of society. For three years, from 2013 to 2016, Kanye has been actively developing his own record label GOOD MUSIC, signing the numbers of talented artists such as Pusha T, Big Sean, Kid Cudi, Travis Scott and others. In all of them, there was visible vein of Kanye, his handwriting (Mokoena 7). All of them are under the influence of the master, and grew into the unique artists that gave rise to the whole rap styles. Just want to note the visual component of the work of Kanye. A lot of attention, he paid to the video clips, which look like mini movies. As they say, a talented person is talented in everything. In all this, it is helped by a talented director named Nabil Elderkin, or just Nabil. This guy went to West, and literally forced the latter to give him a chance. The chance was given, and Nabil did not miss it. The video for the song Pissed On Your Grave, which Kanye performed with the participation of Travis Scott, in our opinion is a clear indication that withn Kanyes’ surrounding reigns an atmosphere of creativity, mixed with madness and provocation stakes. He gathered around him and continued gathering the best of the best, creating around him a family, which is called with two simple words GOOD MUSIC (Earl 57).
Kanye West is an ambiguous and contradictory person. Critics still argue about whether Kanye is a genius or just a moody artist with unreasonably inflated ego. And this argument is reasonable, as he has added authenticity to the hip-hop. He mixed funk and jazz with rap, pop music with electronics. Kanye West brought in the same hip-hop and in music as a whole such tools as sampling and auto-tune . Kanye West has added rap with fashion. Hip-hop became stylish. Now, the rap sounds everywhere, starting with the hood at the outskirts of Los Angeles and ending with luxury apartments in the heart of New York City. Seven unusual, different-sounding albums, numerous singles, vivid and memorable video clips, a range of branded garments from shoes to shirts – behind it, when it is not understood, but in the end accepted, was the person, whose name is Kanye Omari West. This should also include a lot of bizarre and provocative tricks, such as the incident at the Grammy in 2009 with Taylor Swift, and the presentation of the last album in Jefferson Garden Stadium, where Kanye allowed himself to include music directly from the phone, as if alluding to the fact that he was the one and only, and he does not care what others think about him. Kanye behaves as he wants and gets away with his hands. The breakthrough that Mr. West made is comparable to the Renaissance, when, after a long stagnation, the art received a new impulse that gave rise to a lot of currents, ranging from the romanticism and ending with surrealism. The era of the Black Renaissance is sometimes referred to as the period of Kanye West, as proved that hip-hop can be flexible, memorable, mass, aesthetic, intellectual, and finally outrageous. Now, when almost every home has a personal computer, anyone can create their product, from graphics and up to music from video to visual effects. And Kanye’s person only emphasizes that everything is achievable if you really believe in what you do. Do not pay attention to public opinion and continue holding your line. For the most part of people, the person of Kanye West is rather significant than his music. Being a man suffering from narcissism, and this is undoubtedly so, Kanye West led the mass to attracting attention to him as well as the changes that he brought into the culture. If he were not so fussy and meticulous, though he calls it perfectionism, he would not have managed to achieve high results. He would have begun to be panic and started to give up after the first negative criticism. However, he knew that the goal was to change the attitude to hip-hop, to change the role of African Americans in American culture, prove that the United States is a multi-ethnic country, and African Americans can dictate fashion, hold a leading position in the music, and eventually lead the entire masses of people, regardless of their race (Arceneaux 15). All of the above has been achieved, thanks to the intelligence and excellent style of music, which West has with no doubt. And this cannot be refuted, since techniques firstly used by West went far beyond the hip-hop music into other genres. The trend suggests that the next 30 years will be the era of rap and all its derivatives. In particular, pop culture got used the influence of rap, which has become almost half consisting of recitative in verse with a resounding and as usual simple chorus. The most popular and highly paid artists in the world in varying degrees are associated with rap like, for example, Beyonce or Rihanna. It is believed that the most successful collaborations to date are a DJ and rapper. How many diverse mixes appeared today, where club music is mixed with recitative, where no semantic load is important, but the main thing is that it sounds is suitable for a dance. And the one, who brought it in, was Kanye West.
Works cited
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