That is a question, really. Between the messages about worshiping him and “I don’t know what’s better — gettin’ laid or gettin’ paid”, there is something else. “No.1 living and breathing rock star” is trying to tell us something.

Actually, the whole world gets too concentrated on Kanye as a rapper. That’s boundaries everyone is limited by. This is 2014, and you can step away from a music style and calling things “rap”, “indie rock” etc. Those style names are only needed for torrent-trackers and hashtags these days.

Do not try to compare Kanye West with famous rappers of our time, or any time. Compare him with the Beatles, Pink Floyd or Nirvana. Because the guy has really elevated minds of people who earlier loved simple rap songs that didn’t really evolve since 1993 Cypress Hill’s “Insane in the Brain”. Jay-Z used to be like that for a long, long time. Before he learned from Kanye that one should evolve to prosper, not just make twelve more beat songs for the next record.

Rap music was always just a basis for Kanye West to start creating. Because if you look at all the instruments, all the emotions of a human being, you realize there’s a lot more in music than just rapping on monotonous rhythm. Kanye’s “I don’t even listen to rap. My apartment is too nice to listen to rap in” quote is all about this.

Comparing yourself to God might seem quite an overstatement and an arrogance, but that’s the only way to get people’s attention to something important these days, to someONE important. Kanye West changes our attitude to rap music, by filling it with sense and emotions.

There is something in his voice and tunes that makes you feel like listening to ‘intelligent music’. Just as the feeling you get while listening to Radiohead or Doors, telling you there is something behind that tune, making you want to listen it one more time, not because of the catchy motive or a nice chorus, but the feeling you have missed something. And you get that feeling after every time listening to it. They use to call it ‘a magic in music’, a voice of a talent.

Lots of people disrespect Kanye West calling him bad names for what he’s been doing for his image. Well, I guess in 2000s besides being a great composer and a good-looking person, you need to construct a certain public view on yourself, constantly attack people with outrageousness. If you think better, it has always been that way, just the image people used to love has been different every time.

I understand those telling “Yeezus” has been far ahead of its time. But that’s not true. It were others who didn’t manage to explore new heights, weren’t willing to develop. Frankly, Kanye had enough time to polish his style, from album to album. He was experimenting in making music anything but rap, tried “Grammy-like” sound in his “My Beautiful… something… Fantasy”, and ended up in brutal, one can say non-commercial, way of music and live performances.

Although, I am sure the next’s Kanye’s album is completely different, because a guy like him can not afford being the same two records in a row.

So, what is Kanye really trying to say? That he is good? We agree on that. That he is a visionary? True.

It seems that Kanye West’s voice is more of a message to the whole music industry — ‘Yo bitches! Get up and do something better’. Now let’s wait and see if the industry is ready to respond.

Photo taken from rapnet.lv