Thought episode 1 was great, its harder to do now but you need to remember what the landscape was like in the early 00's to understand how hard it was for Kanye to break through as a rapper and shake off *just* being a producer (even despite being the hottest producer in the industry arguably).
What was selling in a hip hop sense was still very much gangster rap. Get Rich or Die Tryin' comes out in 2003 as pretty much the pinnacle of commercially successful rap until that point. Jay Z was still rapping about dealing. Eminem was hyper aggressive and in his Slim Shady pocket.
Added to that the idea you could be a polymath wasn't as established, there were rappers and there were producers (for the most part).
So when Kanye comes through as an art/english college student and says he's not just a producer, he raps too, but its not gangster or street stuff its a soulful subject matter and even quite 'woke' by those standards. Ye's trying to sell rapping about Jesus, his mum, family get togethers and social issues, of course Roc a fella didnt take him seriously, that was never going to sell.
Seeing him right from the start know without any doubt that he had to stay true to his voice and his experience in order to make his art resonate and be authentic was really something considering the environment he was attempting to step in to.
The scenes with his mum were so wholesome too, and heartbreaking when you know what follows. She really did seem like such a giving, loving and encouraging cornerstone for him.
His later years have obviously been marred by much controversy and he's flat out a prick quite a lot of the time, clearly.
But he's the most interesting mega celebrity of the past 20yrs, he genuinely doesn't give a fuck what anyone thinks. And in an age where musicians and artists are managed by entire teams of publicists, PR people, managers, agents I find it quite refreshing to see someone be so flagrantly themselves even if he is overly provocative with it.
When he storms the stage to claim Beyonce should have won that award, he's not wrong. When was the last time you saw a frame from that Taylor Swift video as opposed to Single Ladies which im sure still gets parodied once a week and has people recreating those dance moves (poorly) at all occasions. When he stands up on a telethon and claims George Bush doesnt care about black people, he's not wrong.
And when he calls himself a multi-genius, the man's right. He defined an era with his producing. He bent hip hop to his will and his ear and redefined it about 4 times in 6 years with radically different sounds with his own music. He's done it about as many times in fashion.
Can't wait for the rest of the episodes.
