Well to start, the Video Vanguard award was presented by Taylor Swift and given to Kanye West (aka: Yeezus). In the actual video that the Video Music Awards showed at the beginning was about Kanye West and some of his life goals and aspirations as he grew in the entertainment industry. One of the first things the video had just briefly covered was that he "aimed for perfection" and that "everyday was spent pursuing the images that haunt his dreams". In my mind, I had envisioned that they were talking about the social shaming that comes along with being famous and being a public figure because that is what a majority of public figures deal with in the entertainment industry and any industry including they YouTube industry especially. Secondly, the video went on to say, "It;s important to stay idealistic, to be vulnerable, to see the world through the eyes of a child--free, open, full of wonder and imagination". A lot of the industry is revolved around your work, image, and your social status (in other words, how society sees you). Kanye West is one of the most well-known artists in the industry and a lot of other artists' managers and producers do not want them to associate themselves with Kanye because if could put their image on the line or they will lose views and ratings. When I look at the entertainment industry all I see is: ratings, ratings, ratings, and more ratings. What the industry and the shows and everything looks for and looks at are ratings and reviews because that is what shapes their image. Well-known artists like Big Sean and Paul McCartney and other artists you have heard today. Yet, many artists are either scared to lose their image or scared of what will happen if they thank Kanye West for discovering them,yet at the VMA's we all heard Big Sean proudly thank Kanye for finding him and saying he would not be where he is today if it were not for Kanye, while himself, Kanye and John Legend accept an award.
Moving on, another point I wanted to cover was that when Taylor Swift presented his award to him, she had said that Kanye has had one of the greatest careers of all time. Fast forward a little to Kanye's speech, he was given a 2 minute window to speak and he used that 2 minutes for an applause from the audience, which he is baffled by. He made his first sentence start with "Listen to the kids"! Then goes on to explain that if he has a simple conversation with someone in a store, the person will go on to say that he "isn't so bad after all", yet while he says that he gets a laugh from the crowd as though it was supposed to be funny. The social media presents him as this horrible person and his label does and a lot to contribute to that is his music. Yet, we look at his music and see it as good beats and the "shit". He uses his music to be inspiring and spread a message. Then, he talks about the contradiction of fighting for other artists and how he can never find the right thing or the perfect thing to say and it ends up being disrespectful to other artists. He does not understand award shows. The taking of celebrities that work their whole life to be successful with their work and put them on a carpet/ chopping block with judges all around them and have the opportunity to be called a "loser".
Lastly, Kanye West gets defensive on stage as he says, "I will die for the art and what I believe in and the art won't always be polite". He goes on to say that this is a new mentality and that we won't control our kids with brands and won't teach our kids low self-esteem and hate to our kids. We will teach our kids that they can be something that they can stand up for themselves and believe in themselves". He gives this amazing speech and again says to listen to the kids. Us kids and teens have an imagination of our own. There are so many artists of different kinds all over the world being discovered for our many talents. We try so hard to succeed but so many industries turn us down because of what we have or where we come from and they don't give us the opportunity we ask for to actually see potential in us. I work my ass off to be someone that I have always wanted to be and frankly, no one has given me the time of day to listen to what I have to say about the entertainment industry. So, to have so many people see my blog and see my opinions on this subject is a dream. To actually be able to sit down and write about my feelings, my life, and my journey is amazing compared to the amount of rejection I get from anyone on a daily basis because they get to voice their opinion and get the attention they want, to the point of them not needing another opinion or perspective of another. So, thank you for sitting here and reading my rant and my message which was: Listen to Kanye West... listen to the kids because we are changing the world little by little and whether you like it or not, we are changing it right now because of the opportunities that we are given in today's atmosphere. Also, if Kanye wants to go through with going for president in 2020, then so be it. He is living his dream so that he can be who he wants to be and live his life without a label on his back and he is spending his time wisely because you never know when life is going to end because of some random occurrence.
Go for your dreams, don't hold back, and be who you want to be and don't give a fuck about what other people think because when Kanye West gave that speech, he was basically giving a big "Fuck You" to all the artists out there who are too scared to say any of those words on T.V. or in our society today. I applaud Kanye for being that one person who has stood up for all the artists who are too worried about their careers and labels to say anything and too worried about their image in this society because they don't want to be labeled anything or be taken for granted for what they say. Just like Kanye might be taken for granted and not be taken seriously since he said he was going to run for president in 2020.
Expect the Unexpected.
-the writer
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