Memoire: Kanye West talks Childhood and Influences

I, Kanye Omari West, have always been the subject of ridicule, from low tabloids to high culture publications. I’ve watched my public persona become slimmer and slimmer, from the guy who interrupts people on TV to the guy who abuses the paparazzi. For me, it’s never been hard to draw the focus back to what I care about the most: my art, my creations.

I have recently kicked off your weekend with the drop of my new single, “New Slaves” from my soon to release album, Yeezus, with an accompanying visual. Instead of posting it on the internet like all those other average artists, I took the “New Slaves” premiere out into the physical universe; setting up sites and projecting visuals in 66 world wide locations of choice.

Looking back at on my life, I couldn’t have gotten to this point of success in my career without my past. My past was really a learning experience for me and it gave me the strength and inspiration to become the powerful and influential person I am today. Other than the music I write and perform, fashion is an immense part of my life. Today I would like to share with you some lessons learnt that were gleaned from my life. These particular stories have gave me the chance to develop mature and accurate perceptions of a lot of concepts in my life, thus the inspiration of most of the music I write.

From an early age, it was obvious that I had a creative bent. Growing up, I aspired to be a fashion designer and by the time I was in third grade, I had fallen in love with the genre of rap and was starting to create some rap myself. Once I discovered how to sample and manipulate music in the process of making my own beats, I discovered it was a great way of getting messages across and expressing feelings.

I have increasingly set out to pursue my passion in design over the years; from creating high-fashion clothing lines, to shoe collaborations. This whole roller-coaster experience of the process of producing and promoting my art gave me a different perception of the luxury consumer market and our world as a whole. Throughout all of my clothing lines, I had no financial backing and completed all my fashion shows out of my own pocket by using the money I made touring to chase my childhood dreams. From there, I set up the "consumerism is the new racism" analogy theme throughout my songs.

In seventh grade, I wanted to be on the basketball team. I didn’t get on the team, so that summer I practiced. I was on the summer league. My team won the championship; I was the point guard. And then when I tried out for eighth grade, I practiced and I hit every free throw, every layup. The next day I looked on the chart, and my name wasn’t on it. I asked the coach why I was not in and he said, “You’re just not on it.” I was like, “But I hit every shot.” The next year - I was on the junior team when I was a freshman, that’s how good I was. But I wasn’t on my eighth-grade team; because some coach - some Grammy, some reviewer, some designer, etc.- they’re all the same as that coach. Where I didn’t feel that I had a position in eighth grade to scream and say, “Because I hit every one of my shots, I deserve to be on this team!” I’m letting it out on everybody who doesn’t want to give me my credit.

I created a mountain throughout my life; a mountain built from creativity, strength and independence. So if I go to a designer and say, “I want to design a T shirt.” And they say, "I don't believe you have the capability to make this T-shirt, 'cause you are a musician.’" I made a mountain, I think I could make a T-shirt; it’s beneath me. I just like T-shirts. Feel blessed with a T-shirt. And I want to take any moment of my creative day to make a T-shirt. And you should help me make that T-shirt because it’s going to be the best T-shirt anyone will ever wear.

From this I created the perspective, in my music, of the way African-Americans are treated in the luxury consumer market, and what it means to join a class dominated by people who do things like put black men in prison for profit (the DEA and CCA). I am strongly associated with the concept of racism and discrimination from an early age as my grandparents were heavily involved in civil rights movements and my father had once been a member of the Black Panthers.

I have come to conclusion that racism changes, but doesn’t dissipate. I believe that the desperate pursuit of material things that we witness among African Americans is a racial illustration of consumerism. Acquiring material things matters because we associate these things (consciously or not) with the power traditionally possessed by White Americans. You could be walking in a store wearing a Zara pant and see someone in the exact Céline version and feel bad about yourself. In my music I am talking about this; us, the new slaves as I call it.

My music has sparked allot of controversy but I cant be touched musically, I refuse to be touched musically. It's my form of art. Whatever way is my way of being creative and getting my message across through my albums, that's the culture of Hip Hop. Period. Will any of my ideas and perceptions keep my fans from listening to my tracks on repeat and placing pre-orders for Yeezus? Absolutely not.

Words: 964

                                                               "New Slaves"

[Verse 1:]
My momma was raised in an era when,
Clean water was only served to the fairer skin
Doing clothes you would have thought I had help
But they wasn't satisfied unless I picked the cotton myself.
You see it's broke nigga racism
That's that "Don't touch anything in the store"
And there's rich nigga racism
That's that "Come here, please buy more"
What you want a Bentley, fur coat and diamond chain?
All you blacks want all the same things
Used to only be niggas now everybody play me
Spending everything on Alexander Wang

New Slaves

Work Cited 

"Kanye West Talks Yeezus, Life & Influence." Okayplayer Kanye West Talks Yeezus Life Influence Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Sept. 2014. <http://www.okayplayer.com/news/kanye-west-talks-yeezus-times-interview.html>.

"Kanye West’s “New Slaves” Is Right On Prisons And Consumer Culture, But Weird On Women." ThinkProgress RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Sept. 2014. <http://thinkprogress.org/alyssa/2013/05/20/2037991/kanye-wests-new-slaves-is-right-on-prisons-and-consumer-culture-but-weird-on-women/>.

"The Unraveling of Kanye West." Details. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Sept. 2014. <http://www.details.com/culture-trends/cover-stars/200902/hip-hop-artist-kanye-west-talks-fashion-and-music>.

Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 29 Sept. 2014. <http://www.biography.com/people/kanye-west-362922>.

"5 Reasons the Fashion Industry Should Take Kanye West Seriously: The GQ Eye: GQ on Style: GQ." GQ. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Sept. 2014. <http://www.gq.com/style/blogs/the-gq-eye/2013/10/5-reasons-the-fashion-industry-should-take-kanye-west-seriously.html>.

Post #2: The Importance of your First Language

From experience, being raised with, and balancing more than one language has been increasingly difficult. In my efforts to keep up with a language that is not my own, I would sometimes forget to take care of my native language, something which is particularly important if you no longer live in your native country. Depending on your native language and the country you have moved to, you may have to go the extra mile to keep up with your native language. In my opinion, maintaining the skill of speaking your mother tongue is extremely important, as it is a critical part of your identity. In this post, I aim to discuss and argue my position on the issue of the importance of a person’s home language parallel to Tan’s essay as I feel it is the concept that most associates to me.

Native language establishes links to your family and native community. If not maintained, a language barrier will be created and how you value of your culture and heritage will also decrease. Other than just a form of communication between you and your culture, your native language is also a form of intimacy. In Tan's essay, her skill to properly communicate with her mom in Chinese, on the other hand still being able to perfectly communicate in her second language, I believe, created a sort of emotional connection with her mother that she would not have gotten if her native language was not as good. Her observations of how her mothers possibilities in life were limited as a result of low respect from people made Tan come to realization of the significance of language and dialect, which  

I could defiantly identify with this as I feel as if thee are certain ways of expressing thoughts and describing concepts in Arabic, my mother tongue, that cannot be directly translated or understood in English. If I was to not be able to communicate in this language of intimacy my country and I, my relationship with my direct and distant family or even my native community would be significantly different. Personally, I have not had any major problems with language barriers between me and my Sudanese community. I have had some trouble learning new concepts to do with the Sudanese-Arabic language as all languages throughout the world are constantly evolving overtime.I have eye-witnessed several language barrier effects on other Sudanese children though and it was obvious that the emotional connection between them and the Sudanese community was weaker that strong native speakers. It was also interesting to see how their perceptions and values of our culture also was weaker than other children as the language barrier caused them to not acknowledge many of the aspects to do with my culture such as customs and traditions. 

Other than the links your first language has with your culture and surroundings, your first language 

Work Cited:

 http://www.idra.org/IDRA_Newsletter/January_2000_Bilingual_Education/Why_is_it_Important_to_Maintain_the_Native_Language?/

Blog Post #1: Introduction

Hello everyone, my name is Zena. I am not very familiar with a scenario like this, are posts supposed to attract readers from the very first line? This question and bloggers' many different blogging techniques is a branch of writing I yet cannot understand but know I will soon adapt to it with my class throughout the year.

Anyways, in addition to the uncreative first line of my post, I have recently turned sixteen years old. I have two younger siblings and in my spare time I enjoy drawing/painting, playing tennis and baking. I am also a third culture person as I am originally Sudanese, was born and raised in Canada and migrated to Abu Dhabi at the age of eleven. I don't know where my next journey is in the upcoming years but my main aims for the future is to successfully complete the demanding journey of the International Baccalaureate and then pursue a truly desired career of medicine. Both my friends and family agree this goal is all I talk about!

Being the person I am and living the life I've lived, I could definitely claim that both language and culture play a significant role in my life. In my opinion, culture is a particular way of interpreting an environment and all it's customs. Cultures vary across the world and each have their own individual sets of laws, beliefs, products and practices. Language also plays a role in culture as it is a source of communication in order for a society to develop.  I have been under a series of circumstances that have proved how much culture and language inter-wine. For example, I identify with three different cultures and I am fluent in both Arabic and English but it was always hard for me to be fully focused on each one of the cultures' languages. This always created a minor language barrier between me and my family, especially with my family in Sudan. Not only did this language barrier create a small gap between me and my family, but also made them believe that I was not fully familiar to their particular culture. This just shows how important a culture's certain way of communication is.

Overall, I am very grateful for getting the chance to experience diversity first-hand and learn from different cultures from around the world. I can't wait for what life has in store for me next! I know the English Language and Literature course is going to expand my knowledge in the theme of diversity and

This is a picture I took during the charitable Colour Run Marathon.  At this point, all the colours  coming together in the air was -to me- a physical representation of different cultures coming together, which can describe me as a person.