perfidy

When's the last time you heard a fun hip-hop record? And I mean a fun serious hip-hop record, as opposed to a stupid-fun record such as the kind Will Smith pukes out every time he makes a new movie. I can hardly remember. I've bought a pretty good amount of hip-hop over the years, and apart from affable lunatics like Missy Elliott, Busta Rhymes, or Ludacris, hip-hop is way too concerned with being all hawd n shit. Since I'm a white 29-year-old college administrator who enjoys science fiction and not getting shot, I can't really relate. Usually, it irritates me.

Well, a little while back I posted a late-night rave about Chicago wonderboy Kanye West, who has been all over the radio recently with several hits he has produced or performed. I bought his debut, "The College Dropout," and it's great. It might be the best hip-hop record I've bought in a decade, and it's definitely the most fun I've had since De La Soul put out "3 Feet High and Rising" fifteen years ago (fifteen years!).

West's stock in trade is to boost a sample from an old soul record-- the Jackson 5, Chacka Khan-- and layer it with live instruments, warm-sounding drums, and his own half-distracted verbal style. Not a great flow stylist, West's strength is in his witty rhymes. His lyrics are sharp, funny, and insightful, galaxies beyond the merely competent thuggin' peddled by the likes of 50 Cent. Best of all, although West is signed to Rock-a-fella, uber-hustler Jay-Z's company, there's barely a 'ho in sight, and not a single person gets shot.

It's a hallmark of how different West is from the mainstream of (male) hip-hop stars that his first single is about, not getting shot, but being in a car accident. He recorded "Through the Wire" with his jaw wired shut, mumbling lyrics about liquid diets and seatbelts. It's a fantastic track, anchored by a chipmunk-speed sample of Chacka Khan's "Through The Fire," and features killer rhymes like, "I drink a Boost for breakfast, an Ensure for dessert/ Someone order pancakes I just sip the sizzurp." The only problem is that "Through The Wire," which is the star of the record and one of the best songs I've heard in years, is buried fifteen tracks deep on "The College Dropout."

But there's much more to the record than one single. Every song pops with ideas and talent, and-- a rare thing for a rap album-- the skits don't suck. Standout tracks include "We Don't Dare," with its kid's chorus of "Drug dealing just to get high/ stack your money til it gets sky high/ We never supposed to make it past 25/ Joke's on you we still alive/ We don't care what people say," the acoustic-guitar driven "All Falls Down," and "Get Em High," featuring Talib Kweli and Common. And when's the last time you heard a gospel version of "I'll Fly Away," or for that matter "Pomp and Circumstance," on a rap record? Musically and lyrically, nearly every track is a jaw-dropping tour de force.

However, all isn't perfect. West has traded the stock gunz and ho's imagery of hip-hop for a more nuanced and human view of the world, rapping about working shit jobs and cheating on his taxes. But for all the humor and insight, West has traded the hermetic world of gangbanging for one in which every road is a dead end and the ultimate reward for working is a tiny paycheck, a mountain of debt, and a boatload of envy and bitterness. From the title "The College Dropout" to the song "Space Ship," that compares "this grave shift" to a "slave ship," to the mock-yearbook liner notes which place West on the basketball team ("never played"), the debate team ("never won"), and dubs him "least likely to succeed," Kanye West attempts to examine the culture of failure that so many people (black, white, whatever) deal with every day. Great idea, sure, and one that's more constructive than the ten thousandth song about Courvoisier, but too often West ends up in a big pity-party.

Nowhere is this more apparent on the "School Spirit" skits, when West's character angrily defends getting his "Bachelors, then my Masters, then my Masters' Masters, then my doctoral.. Yeah i'm 52, so what, hate all you want, but I'm smart, I'm so smart, and I'm in school,and these guys are out here making money all these ways, and I'm spending mine to be smart. You know why? Because when I die, buddy, you know what's going to keep me warm? That right, those degrees."

Jeez. Sure, I felt that way back in grad school when I'd self-medicated myself a bit too much to keep from thinking about the pointlessness getting a terminal Masters in a field where a Ph.D. and a dollar will barely buy you a cup of coffee, but damn, dude, lighten the fuck up already. Social pathologies and shit. Cornel West. Henry Louis Gates.

I shouldn't get too wrapped up in the Philosophy of Kanye West, because it detracts from the point. Kanye West has made a magnificent, rewarding, deep, thoughtful, and mind-blowing hip-hop record that advances the state of the art several years into the future. In 2015 were's going to be listening to this like we listen to "A Nation of Millions..." or "Paul's Boutique" now, amazed at our luck for having it around.