West, Worst or Waste?

The gods of rap have descended to earth. Jay-Z released his 12th solo album, Magna Carta Holy Grail on July 4, while Kanye West released his sixth solo album Yeezus on June 18. Now, these two self-proclaimed rulers of rap music are longtime friends who collaborated on a 2011 album watch the throne, which had singles like power, no church in the wild and niggas in Paris. Mr west, fondly called ‘ye’ by his fans, has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons while his buddy Jay-Z has made headlines regarding how much effort he has put in to try and market his album.

Kanye West has reignited controversy and ridicule towards himself after being labeled blasphemous. His blasphemy of Jesus Christ stems from the release of his new album entitled ‘Yeezus.’ The name, a play on the rapper’s nickname ‘Yeezy’ and the name of The Lord Jesus Christ, is widely seen as the latest indirect affront Kanye has made to the Christian faith.

I must hasten to point out that since the rigors of adulthood descended upon me; I have not been the biggest follower of music and more so any rap music. For this reason I wasn’t even aware these two have done an album together. But how did I get wind of the release of the new albums? Well, social media has been awash with disturbing pictures of Kanye West’s alleged cover for his album Yeezus. Yes the album title is Yeezus. I may not be the most fluent Spanish speaker, but I know the name Jesus in Spanish is pronounced as Yeezus. Is this what he meant? Is this his response to the American black society’s centuries old search for a black Jesus?

Black Jesus

Some verses of the song Black Jesus done by late rapper 2Pac go like; “(Black Jesus; you can be Christian Baptist, Jehovah Witness); Straight tatted up, no doubt, no doubt; (Islamic, won't matter to me; I'm a thug; thugs, we praise Black Jesus, all day),” “Who's got the heart to stand beside me?
I feel my enemies creepin up in silence; Dark prayer, scream violence - demons all around me; Can't even bend my knees just a lost cloud; Black Jesus; give me a reason to survive, in this earthly hell; Cause I swear, they tryin to break my well; I'm on the edge lookin down at this volatile pit; Will it matter if I cease to exist? Black Jesus”

 “Searchin for Black Jesus; It's hard, it's hard; We need help out here; So we searchins for Black Jesus; It's like a Saint, that we pray to in the ghetto, to get us through; Somebody that understand our pain; You know maybe not too perfect, you know; Somebody that hurt like we hurt; Somebody that smoke like we smoke; Drink like we drink; That understand where we coming from; That's who we pray too; We need help y'all”, 

In this song, the late 2Pac was talking of a black figure that understands the life of the black American youth. This is a life of crime, alcohol, drugs, poverty and many other ills. It is a cry for a ‘saviour’ from all this anguish. I am not a student of history but I know a few figures that have come up in history to represent the voice of hope against black oppression. Malcolm X, Martin Luther king Jr and W.E.B. Du Bois are some of the figures to have been involved in black civil rights movements. In more recent times, black American population has been obsessed with black economic empowerment. There have been a few individuals among the black population who have amassed a lot of wealth and they are respected across racial boundaries. Most of these have either been athletes or entertainers and examples include Oprah Winfrey and Michael Jordan.

However, with rap music and hip-hop gaining a wide audience worldwide, rappers have been able to amass for themselves fortunes of billions of dollars. Hip-hop Moguls Sean Combs (Diddy) and Shaun Carter (JayZ) are valued by Forbes at $580 million and $475 million respectively. These two commercially successful rappers and others are viewed in the American black community with a very high level of respect. Are they the messiahs of the American black community? Does the commercial success attained by these rappers give them a sense of ‘godship’ or ‘messiahship’? Why have they all of a sudden gone the way of trying to seek comparisons to Jesus and God? First it was JayZ referring to himself as JayHova now Kanye is Yeezus!    

Yeezus album cover

In May 2013 the internet was chock-a-block with images of an album cover with a red "Yeezus" label and a melted gold blob in the center as a supposed cover artwork for Kanye West unreleased album. Then in the month of June a new alternate cover image featured a cartooned West nailed onto a Y-shaped cross, an illustration referencing Christ's crucifixion.

Inevitably, the cover art sparked outrage from the members of the Christian faith, with many religious groups hastening to brand the image "blasphemous" and a "disgrace." Even Kanye's own fans expressed distaste over the controversial artwork, despite the possibility that it might all be a hoax. There has been many more faux album covers for the album Yeezus that have gone viral on the internet including a pre-order page that went up online on iTunes and on the artist's own website KanyeWest.com which was taken down soon after. The official album cover that was released is an image of a clear case with red tape. Was the cover changed after criticism? Were those fake album covers coming from Kanye’s camp as a marketing scheme to create a buzz or just from the uncontrollable cyber world?

Album cover for Kanye West's Yeezus album

Marketing

If the distasteful pictures alleged to be Yeezus album cover did emanate from Kanye’s camp, then they failed at marketing on this one. This may go without saying, that consumers are not big fans of being insulted. You should build a reputation for quality products and services, not the most offensive advertising. Yes controversy equals publicity, but any campaign that aims to boost sales must not have any religious nuances that offend others.  Aside from the lack of simple respect for people’s beliefs, surely this shows an enormous lack of creativity? I know the world can be a messed up place, but surely the human race isn’t that jaded that these ‘marketing types’ can find something else to offend us with? I know that religion has become a thing that is in some cases seen as being socially acceptable to parody, but that’s an issue for another blog.

If on the other hand this ploy was some sort of experiential marketing in letting fans tests their own creativity by making and posting all sorts of cover designs on the internet, then it also came short. “Experiential marketing programs allow consumers to become active participants in a marketing effort. Well planned and executed experiential marketing programs can be very memorable and relevant and can result in a positive change in consumer behavior (such as making a purchase) and attitudes (such as changing brand preference).

Experiential marketing programs most often are associated with consumer events. Some examples include sampling and live hands-on product demos allowing consumers to touch and use a product rather than just hear or read about it. Taking experiences further, experiential marketing programs may include interesting, fun and relevant activities - both offline and online - to create positive impact.”

On the other hand, Kanyes’s Yeezus album cover designs that flooded the internet were mostly from anonymous sources and went viral. ‘Anonymous’ sources cannot pass for consumer active participation. Moreover, beside the haux that was pulled out from his website, there was not a word said to deny or confirm the Kanye teams involvement.  

Kanye & JayZ

It came as a surprise to me that both Kanye West and Jay-Z released solo albums at the same time. Releasing albums at the same time meant competing for the same media hype, sales and a lot more. It has been said that Jay-Z is trying very hard to sell his album to the public, while Kanye is trying to express himself, without worrying about how the album will sell. Some circles say Kanye has clearly tried to create an anti-commercial album in Yeezus. Kanye loves attention more than most, and will engage in rants or other silly gimmicks to get just that.

Meanwhile, Jay-Z seems to be selling out at every turn promoting Magna Carta Holy Grail. This is all because he functions as a businessman first. While a lot of people still relate to and love his music, for most it's almost like he's too rich and he's done too well for them to relate. Pitchfork's review calls the album “weirdly distant”, showcasing a “celebration of unlimited financial privilege and power” that few “will relate to … in a meaningful way.”

Then, there have been rumours for a long time suggesting that Jay-Z, Rihana Kanye and others in their clique are members of some devil worshipping cult. Rihanna has recently been tweeting devotionals from one of Joyce Meyer’s books. You can almost immediately get the response from her fans with thousands of ‘retweets’ and comments like "See I knew you were a Christian!". The first thing that hits you is how much the devil is a liar. The ‘unsaved’ will look at Rihanna and her ‘fruit’ (her music, clothing, words) and think that as long as they are doing the things she's doing, they are good, saved Christians on their way to heaven. It's such a sad lie.

Jay-Z has been more candid about it and went on Hot 97′s Angie Martinez radio show to officially address rumors that he is a member of the super-secret Illuminati, and a “devil worshiper.” http://hellobeautiful.com/746072/jay-z-i-believe-in-god-but-not-christians-or-muslims/

“I don’t know where it started. I don’t know where it came from. I really think it’s really silly. For the record, I of course believe in God, but I believe in one God. If people must know my religious beliefs, I believe in one God. I don’t believe in religion. I don’t believe in Christians or Muslims. I think all that separates people. I think it’s one God. I think it’s all the same God, and I don’t believe in Hell. But as far as God, of course I believe in God. Am I a part of some sect or cult? That sounds stupid to me. It’s like ignorant to even say, and umm… I guess that’ll be the last time I address that. It’s ignorant to me”

I can’t even get in a golf club in Palm Springs. I’m from Marcy Projects. Just think about that? People that control the world?

Do you believe that those sort of organizations exist?

I think there are cliques of friends that control things. I don’t if there is a devil worshipping sect. That’s a little Tom hanks. I believe there are cliques of people that control the world…but that’s just natural process. I’m sure Obama has his people and everything is good but as far as how far people are taking it…

So you don’t intentionally do this to put people in a frenzy?

I’m an entertainer at the end of the day. Maybe I’ll push your buttons but you know…

 

A picture showing a young JayZ was released on social media by wife Beyonce,
to coincide with the release of the album Magna Carta Holy Grail

My thought… my views

Kanye West has never been one to shy away from making bold, often outrageous statements. In naming his album Yeezus, this time around he went a little too far. He has often been referred to as either ‘Ye’ or ‘Yeezy’ and understandably so, this is from the name Kanye. But why has he all of a sudden gone Yeezus? Then Jay Z mentions ‘holy grail’ in his album title! The same JayZ who infamously refereed to himself as Jay-HOVA? That was too close to JEHOVA I think. So these douchebags feel they are too rich they need to be worshipped, they need to get comparisons to the almighty God.

They are lucky I am not God or Jesus Christ. They are also lucky that God is graciously merciful and forgiving. It is not for me to judge anyone though. Not Kanye west, not Jay Z or anybody else for that matter. The only thing I will do is to stay away from this Magna Carta Holy Grail and Yeezus material. This in my own thinking is the worst form of ‘expression of art’. There is nothing artistic about it all.

One of the pictures that flooded the internet has an inverted cross, the mark of Cain on kanye’s right arm, women with the look of death on them and one with a serpents tongue, and then to top it off he is sitting next to the devil... This is the worst form of art which I can only define as waste. He seems to have insinuated in a recent New York Times interview that My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy album was to make up for the ‘stupid shit’ he'd done. And now, with this album, it's: "Now that you like me, I'm going to make you unlike me." It's a dare. It's braggadocio. I Am a God – I mean, with a song title like that, he's just begging people to attack him. The fact that he has not come out in the open to deny the source of the disturbing pictures that draw a comparison to Jesus Christ the Messiah is enough warning for me to stay away.

Yeezus album topics though take shots at institutional racism: the prison-industrial complex, which keeps young African American men locked up, and corporate America, which won’t welcome West to the table with the big boys, he says. But it muddles its message with egoistic and misogynist lyrics that brings out a sense that West’s politics are more about his freedom than anyone else’s.

Mr West is too daring for my liking and I consider this as the worst form of art, only fit to be called waste.

Where did this cover come from?

2nd artwork for Yeezus album cover

Initial artwork for Yeezus album cover

Disclaimer

The contents of this blog are the opinion of the writer only and are not endorsed by all Christians and/or music lovers. Under no circumstances will the writer of this blog be liable to any party for any direct, indirect, special or other consequential damages from any use of this blog.

The views expressed in this blog are my humble opinions based on my musical knowledge, Christian life experience, marketing expertise and just general logic.