Yeezy VS Everybody by: Ashley Reynolds (@bashinla)

Yeezy VS Everybody

 Let me preface by saying that I absolutely adore Kanye West, so the following may come off as being a tad biased – but I’m ok with that.

Kanye is a game changer and I’m just not talking about music (even though he’s arguably one of the GOATs when it comes to producing), but in terms of behavior.

Kanye doesn’t behave like your typical rap-god. He doesn’t have very much of a “gangster-like” past to rhyme about, nor does he sport ill-fitting garments accented with tattoos that glorify his street cred. Instead he flaunts his self-consciousness and brags about casually dining with Valentino Garavani. He’s an overly-confident, momma’s boy from the Southside of Chicago who has something to teach all of us – If you truly and whole-heartedly believe in yourself, you can, and in Kanye’s case, will accomplish anything.

I’ve been rocking with Kanye since my freshman year of high school, back when every headline on MTV News was about his famous car crash. Soon after that, his debut album College Dropout circulated on AOL You Heard It First. I swear, I must’ve listened to that album a gazillion times before it dropped. AOL posted it as one track to halt any attempts at pirating, so you couldn’t skip the songs. I didn’t mind however, I loved every bit of it. It was something about him that made me want to listen to each and every song, over and over again. I just wasn’t able to place my finger on it then.

Fast forward 11/12 years and I still get the same feeling I got when I listened to the College Dropout. His production style has changed and even a bit of his artistry is different, but he hasn’t/isn’t. Kanye is still the same overly-confident, momma’s boy from the Southside of Chicago, just with better outfits and more stardom.

The blogs and tabloids paint him as an arrogant, angry, know-it-all. And I’d have to agree. But hasn’t he always been arrogant, angry and a know-it-all? Go back and watch some of his early interviews. He’s still arrogant. Still angry. Still a know-it. And all for good reason.

You see, and early Ye’ fans will back me on this, Kanye has defeated all of the odds. He was pretty much put down the entire time during the early parts of his career – even Jay Z told him that he couldn’t rap. He never once buckled and kept pushing towards what he believed he would accomplish. Some may say that he had the divine confirmation from God on what he was set out to accomplish, others would credit his mother, Donda West, for instilling that “never back down” mind-set into her knuckle-headed son. Whichever way the coin landed, Kanye knew what he wanted and sought after it with full force and tenacity – EVEN WHEN JAY-Z TOLD HIM HE COULDN’T RAP (palms forehead)!

With everything, and everyone, against him, he still never gave up. His over-confidence wouldn’t let him settle. He needed to make it, he didn’t have a backup plan. Isn’t that how we should approach our passions?

If more of us looked at the world through Kanye’s eyes, I can say without a doubt that we would be better off. Fight self-doubt and dig deep for your own arrogance. Know that if you work hard enough, you too can achieve your goals. Don’t depend on anyone else to stroke your ego. Get angry when working towards your passion and don’t let anyone tell you nothin’. And even after all of that, if you for a moment begin to doubt yourself, think of Kanye.

Jay-Z told him he couldn’t rap. And he’s not only a rapper – he’s an icon.

 @bashinla