Oh, cheap shit. First, online let me make a joke, pilule because I don’t think I can do that after I make the rest of this post.


Kanye did it.

Okay, now that that’s out of the way, let’s go.

So I was on fucking metafilter today, and saw this link. I was actually working on the latest edition of this site’s hip-hop podcast at the time, so I didn’t really pay attention to it, because the video was kind of sloppy.

Basically, it’s a taping of Mike Myers and Kanye West on NBC. At first, I was a little disappointed in the fact that they needed celebrities to get on there to convince people that this is serious business. Then I laughed a little at how they had Kanye and Myers there – I mean, they’re both really funny to me, but the latter is the only one that I think is trying to be funny on purpose.

Have you clicked the link yet? Do it. Check out this video, it’s worth it – here’s a .mov version.

So yeah, I am watching this video, and I’m noticing how Kanyizzle is fucking trembling with anger, angst, something. He’s obviously very emotional at this point. And while Myers is reading from the teleprompters, you can tell that Kanye is speaking straight from the heart, because he’s stumbling all over the place, his voice is shaking, and well, he doesn’t really sound all that great. At first, I’m like man, they need to get this dude a beer or something, chill him out, because he’s gonna break down on camera.

I was partially right. He didn’t break down, but he definitely fucking broke something down. Let me put this into pictures for you. He starts talking about the government putting military in New Orleans, and then breaks out with this line:

And by “us”, he’s talking about the urban Black poor people in New Orleans.

Myers is a little shocked. But it doesn’t end there.

At this point, I’m a little intrigued, because Kanyeezy already pulled the race card in the beginning of the clip, and you can tell that Kanye is still itching to let loose. You’ve got to wonder how far he’s going to go. Of course, you always hope that someone is going to get up on national TV and just do the damn thing, but it’s a fantasy.

Until now.

After he gets himself back together, Mike Myers proceeds to read off the teleprompter like a good celeb. He says some shit about the spirit of the people of Southern Louisiana.

Kanye, though, fucking Kanye. He waits for Myers to finish, looks the camera dead on, and says the following:

That’s right. Dude is on live television, and says: “Bush doesn’t care about Black people“.

What happens afterwards is sort of strange. Mike Myers looks at him in astonishment, and then they cut to Chris Tucker, of all people. God only knows what that was going through that man’s mind. Actually, I want to know what the producer was thinking when he cut to him – was he hoping that maybe Tucker would be like “Ah, nah, man, Bush loves us brothers!”?

I personally think that Chris shoulda been like “That’s right dog!”, but, well, he didn’t. His career is a bit less stable than Kanye’s right now, I’m thinking, so that probably wouldn’t have been a good move. I’m sure they exchanged words after that happened, though.

So here’s the thing.

See, this is something that everybody has known all along. I mean, if this had been a rich white neighborhood that was flooded, people woulda been evacuated inside of two days. Actually, that flood wouldn’t have even happened, because the government never would have moved money earmarked for levy improvements to Iraq . So Kanye really does have a point – it is, once again, fairly obvious that Bush doesn’t give a fuck about us*.

*By the way, if you’re not a Bible-thumping, homophobic, xenophobic, racist, rich male WASP, feel free to include yourself in that “us” as you see fit.

But, I mean, it’s Kanye. How is it that we’ve lost our way so badly that we are relying on a hip-hop producer whose fashion sense is barely above that of Pharell to represent us? It’s not that Kanye is the spokesperson for Black people, but, I mean, in this case, people – white politicians included – are looking at him as such. And most of us agree with him, I’m assuming.

I sure as fuck do.

And as sad as it is, I’m perfectly willing to take this. I don’t care if Suge fucking Knight gets on television and says that shit, it seems that we as a community are just forced to take anything that we can get. So if we need Kanye West to get up on stage and say what everyone – and I mean fucking everyone, Republicans included – have known all along, then so be it. Kanye wasn’t perfect, but fuck it, that’s all we’ve got right now. Don’t like it? Then let’s start taking care of this shit on our own, without relying on celebrities to convince themselves they’re speaking for us.

But for right now, I’m pretty happy. For real, this is the best shit that’s happened to me all fucking week.

I henceforth forgive Kanye of all previous crimes. Even though he kinda embarrassed himself in that Sierra Leone shit, even though I slept though the entire Common album, and even though he might have shot Suge (I’m kidding), I totally forgive dude. This was not perfect – not by any stretch of the imagination, but come on people, the world is fucking crazy right now. Shit is so absolutely fucked up that it’s surreal. I am sure that there are some out there that will accuse him of taking us a step backwards somehow, but for now, I’m satisfied with shaking shit up a little.

Oh, and check this statement from NBCsandiego.com:

“Tonight’s telecast was a live television event wrought with emotion. Kanye West departed from the scripted comments that were prepared for him and his opinions in no way represent the views of the networks. It would be most unfortunate if the efforts of the artists who participated tonight and the generosity of millions of Americans who are helping those in need are overshadowed by one person’s opinion.”

Man, whatever. Fuck NBC too.

Anyone who knows me personally and lives nearby – who wants to have a Kanye listening party?

I’m kidding.