For years, I was known for my borderline obsessive love of Kanye West. He was my hero, inspiration and for years I took his name on Facebook.
Over the last few years, that love was tested and then eventually ruined. I didn't discuss it for a while because I was hurt, but I think I can truly articulate my problem with Kanye West now. I cannot, reconcile him as an artist I loved, to the man I am ashamed of today.
From my perspective, he used the black community and our support of his work as a vehicle to reach a certain level of class and status then decided he wouldn't have to look back. He is the person that he used to rap about. We thought, at one point, that he was speaking scornfully of materialistic, shallow, class focused people. Somehow now looking back, he may have been idolizing those characteristics.
The same woman, Amber Rose, who he willingly shared his life with while he rose in fame, has been the subject of his ridicule for the last few years since. He has dragged Amber and her recently separated husband's name without hesitation; all from the perspective of somehow being better than them both.
This is the same woman that stood by his side through the death of his mother; a woman he repeatedly claimed to have "created" has stepped away from him and continued to flourish. The comparisons drawn between Amber Rose and his wife, Kim Kardashian were the last straw for me. Kanye has placed Kardashian, who herself is a part of the sex industry, on a pedestal even going so far as to claim her as clean in comparison to Amber Rose.
Today, Kanye West is a small, insecure man and he just keeps proving it; most recently, by bringing Wiz Khalifa and Amber Rose's child into an argument about music, again claiming ownership by extension of his mother.
That alone is suggestive of how he thinks of women, and is downright obsessive. This was not an argument, it was a man feeling comfortable enough to go to a public platform and when he got the facts wrong proceed to make personal attack on a man, his child and the mother of his son.
His art, which once was line after line, verse after verse layered with messages and poignant discussions of the intersection of race, class, education and self-identity is now designers, class distinctions and boasting about riches.
I cannot say I don't enjoy his work, because I respect artistry, but his lyrics are reflective of the person he has become. He is now as famous for his music as his unprovoked rants, being a pop culture icon not for his classics or production but the spectacle he has made of himself. All of this, while surrounding himself by those he claims to be good enough to match the person he sees himself to be today.
I praise Amber Rose for holding her head high and not allowing this man to knock off her crown. She shook off his insults by remaining resolute in building a platform for others against the exact behavior she was combatting herself.
In an op-ed for Time Magazine, she addressed being slut shamed and referenced only by her previous profession in a perfect response to Kanye's most recent meaningless rant. I guess I am most bothered because there was a time I wholeheartedly wished I could be in Amber Rose's place, but he has since proven himself to be a completely different person than I had imagined.
I feel bad for any woman who has to deal with such a misogynistic man, even Kim Kardashian because she will likely never fulfill whom he has imagined her to be.
I say all of this to say, I salute you QueenMuva. I agree with your message to never let any man, regardless of who he is, steal your glory.
