Kanye West staged something, probably on a slow news day, in order to generate column inches for his album. Colour the people of this gossip-generating machine shocked.
It has been revealed that Kanye planned the cover controversy surrounding the release of his ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’ album. And not just in naming it My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy; a title judged by MTV News to sound like ‘something a melodramatic 15-year-old girl would write in her dream journal’.
But by selecting cover art he hoped would become banned. All so he could stage a capital letter-filled Twitter protest.
Here’s the thing: the cover isn’t that interesting, arguably. It’s also not really that scandalous; it looks like it was drawn by a drunk child, using only their feet. It’s pretty uninspired, as is the ballerina illustration that took its place. And the only thing making it controversial is the side boob and foray into bestiality, depicted in crayon. Add to that, the banning was never made public, nor official; so no third party in particular was really making a statement about having banned it.
Because Kanye’s the Kim Kardashian of rap music now, we guess, desperately stirring up publicity for fear that a product’s quality won’t sell itself, he made sure people knew the cover was ‘banned in the USA’. By tweeting about it.
From The Huffington Post:
It was all an act: Kanye West complained in October that the cover of his new album, ?My Dark Twisted Fantasy,? was banned (something that was publicly made never official), but it turns out, the controversy was exactly what he wanted. West?s album?s controversial cover art, which featured a painting of West having sex with a phoenix and drinking, was painted by artist George Condo, who told The New Yorker that West specifically ordered controversy. Having seen Condon?s paintings, Kanye selected the painter to do the artwork, and as Condo explains it, he wanted, ?something that will be banned.?
So, what are we left with? A mediocre cover, and replacement art of equal quality. A drawing of a fictional creature’s nipples. And a banned piece of art, that no one knew was banned.
All of which distracted from a brilliant album that would have sold anyway – numpty.
This was a guest post by Amy Grindhouse, so show her some goddamn respect because, in every single way, she’s superior to you.
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nicole says
Actually it didn’t distract from his album, it’s been back in the top 10 for the past two weeks.
If he did it on purpose, who cares. As we all know, it doesn’t come close to the most outrageous thing he’s ever done.
All the top critics agree his album is a masterpiece, so he wins.
b says
wtf is the point in this? kanye is the best, end of. shut up
Si Sharp says
The album is brilliant but Kanye is that textbook personality type, arrogance bred by massive insecurity. That’s why he acts like an arse on a regular basis, and I love it when he does. All these facts can exist side-by-side. I’m sorry if it makes your fans/haters view of the world crumble, but since that’s a childish way of looking at things it’s probably beneficial for your development as a human being if it does.
If you love his music, and are unable to spot the personality flaws that make him interesting as a person and an artist and just think he’s perfect and beyond criticism then you have completely missed the point of him and his music. And life.
This is a far too extensive response to comment that brief, but this sort of thing has been irritating me. I can understand the MJ fans getting defensive because they’re being goaded but that’s a fairly balanced article. If you’re going to argue with it, have the respect to engage your brain rather than just dribbling onto your keyboard.
Si Sharp says
(that was in response to ‘b’ by the way).
Raquel says
He is actually great at his craft but that still doesn’t take away from how annoying he is.
T-Cake says
I agree with both Si and Raquel. Kanye may be immensely talented, but he can also be a gigantic douche. Same for Lil’ Wayne – great artist, but I’d hate to be around him all day. Just enjoy what they do: entertain.