Kanye Wants To Be Bigger Than Elvis
Hope he means in terms of popularity, not girth.
Since we are all celebrating the release of 808s and Heartbreak, I thought it is proper to end the week talking about the Louis Vuitton Don once again. At the American Music Awards Kanye decided to get all “bigger than Jesus” by declaring that he wanted to be the next Elvis. Again, I’m assuming he was talking about the Big E’s legendary status, as opposed to the shiny jump suits, pistol-grip sideburns and the deep-fried PB sandwiches.
On the following Tuesday, Kanye went further. Kanye told Ryan Seacrest: “When I said the statement, ‘I want to be Elvis,’ I really should have thought that out more because that statement was actually really incorrect. Actually, the true statement was ‘I want to be better than Elvis.’ ”
E! Online went out and talked to industry people to compare Presley to Yeezy. The general consensus from the white upper class insider set is that while Kanye may think that he’s within striking distance of the music legend, its all in his head – or more specifically, in his ego.
The quick notes on their reasoning goes like this:
- Elvis did rock, country and gospel. Kanye does hip-hop – with some singing.
- The King did movies. West does SNL. Poorly.
- No one can get close to the success of Elvis.
Now, I don’t think that Kanye can credibly be considered to Presley at this point, but what’s wrong with a dude for setting lofty goals. As Hillary Crosley, hip-hop correspondent for Billboard said: “People find it so amusing that he takes it so seriously. If he didn’t have the ego, he wouldn’t make it as far as he has.” Damn right.
I think people – especially the Elvis historians quoted in the story – get uppity when the supremacy of Elvis Presley is threatened. Now, I’m not a hater: Elvis was the man back in the day. Still is. And yeah, I know, he flipped music created by black folk and parlayed that into huge mainstream success. True. But so did Eminem. There’s still a skill involved. He sang the crap out of that stuff and remember – he took a ton of heat at the time for sounding “like a negro.” But I digress.
No one thought that anyone could top the number of #1 albums Elvis charted. But someone did. Who? Jay-Z. So who’s to say that a young cat like Kanye doesn’t have such a career in his future?
I for one give Kanye full marks for setting the bar so high. We constantly complain about rappers (read: Lil Wayne) phoning-in bars and that hip-hop is dead. Kanye has decided to set the bar about as high as you can. He looks past rap and swings for the fences by trying to be the G.O.A.T not only in hip-hop but music itself. Hot damn, that’s ambition.
Isn’t that what hip-hop needs right now? In his critique of the state of rap today, “Who”, Joe Budden says: “If hip-hop was alive, we’d be trying to be the best rappers ever/Not the best rapper alive.” Hip-hop needs more artists not to be happy with a Lambo and a dope crib, but are looking to hit that legendary status across the globe. What’s wrong with wants to have drunk Japanese businessmen rocking your tracks at a karaoke bar 20 years from now?
And if anyone can do it, its Kanye. This dude never met a goal he couldn’t reach. Yeezy says it himself: “Now I can let these dream killers kill my self esteem/Or use my arrogance as steam to power my dreams.” Some of the most successful people in the world are also the most arrogant. Ambition and arrogance built cities, won wars and powers greatness.
Instead of giving due the cut eye for having such goals, we need to applaud this man. Even if his last album sucked.
Tags: Elvis Presley, Kanye West
