"This is for the Dreamers, the Brotha, and the Sell-outs": Kanye West

Kanye West was not a name I was eager to put down on the list of music that feeds my soul. From his comment about having to take 30 showers after his relationship with Amber Rose in order to be with Kim Kardashian to his “I own your child” tweet to Wiz Khalifa, the Black Feminist wall was built up and it has not been knocked down since. The worst thing you can be, to me, is a Black male misogynist, a Black man who praises only White women, and a sell-out.

Although I never wanted to hear Kanye's voice again (I had enough of him through the many retweets on Twitter), something told me to listen to him. Not necessarily his interviews, but his art, which are his songs. I was hesitant; I did not even want to hear Kanye’s voice beating in my eardrums! After a while, though, I gave in. I listened to New Slaves, and then went straight to most of our favorite: College Dropout. My eyes went straight to the fourth song, “All Falls Down”. I pressed on it, and immediately my heart was filled with joy and pain.

This was the most powerful song to listen to in the midst of my dislike of Kanye.

In the beginning, Syleena Johnson sings, "When it all, yeah when it all comes down/ I'm tellin' you, oooooh/ when it all comes down" as you hear West's rally for his city, "Chi-town, Chi-town, we gon' show 'em how we get down"! It was so beautiful to hear. He talked about Black people's self-consciousness. He wasn't afraid to admit that he, himself, was self-conscious. However, this has changed. I started to ask myself this question: Was Kanye foreshadowing what he was going to be like when he got all the money?

Kanye had a chance of a lifetime to shift everything. Music that is made by us and for us is always taken over by White musicians. This happened to the Blues and currently, it is happening to Hip-Hop. It is hurtful because Kanye did not stand firm. He gave into the Euro-centric ideal of beauty. He gave into the ideology of the American Dream; the idea that if you work hard, you will achieve all your dreams.

He accepts "everything Black people are complaining about, crying about, and raising their fist for is an illusion" theory. He gave up; he had everyone listening, believing, and in the palm of his hands. Yet, he gave up.

So ,Kanye, I must ask you that when it All Falls Down, who you gon’ call now?

I must ask you, Kanye, how does it feel to praise and only uplift women who look nothing like your mother?

I must ask you, Kanye, to be so handsome, why must you do the ugliest things?

I must ask you, Kanye, how does it feel to ask White people like Mark Zuckerberg, whom is displacing families of color with his expansion of Facebook, to invest in you?

I must ask you, Kanye, are you showing Chi-town how you get down?

I must ask you, Kanye, does it feel great to see your self-consciousness come to fruition sooner than expected?

I must ask you, Kanye, how does it feel to be a brotha with shallow dreams?