Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Kanye, where's your trousers?

Kanye West is annoyed that everybody is wearing the same trousers. It's just not hip-hop:

"I see a lot of people wearing the exact same uniform and there's nothing wrong with that. But at what point did hip-hop get so many rules? Hip-hop was about breaking rules. I'm one of the most hip-hop people on earth because I say and do exactly what the f--- I wanna do and say, regardless of what type of backlash I get. The backlash I get right now — for dressing the way I dress or saying what I say or making music I do — that's the same backlash I got in high school for being hip-hop. I was always two steps ahead and I thought that was what hip-hop was. The whole baggy jeans versus tight jeans thing — Run DMC, Fat Boys, they wore tight jeans with gyms shoes and that was hip-hop. Then people started wearing big jeans and that was supposed to be hip-hop. When I first did big jeans, people said that was 'skater.' Now you think 'skater' and that's super tight jeans. ... They keep trying to label me but the labels won't stick."

If Kanye really hates the idea of everyone wearing the same clothes, isn't that going to make his mass-produced clothing line a bit of an embarrassment to him?

Still, it's almost touching to see Kanye learning the cold, hard, truth - that the more a youth subculture becomes a culture, the more rigid it will become. Like punk, or like poor, ruined Goth, if you have a movement which is defined by its uniqueness, that unique element will be watered down somewhat as more and more people seek to show their allegiance. Revolutions don't always eat their children, but they will always declaw them.

One other point: sure, The Fat Boys wore tight jeans. But they didn't have a great deal of choice, did they?


1 comment:

INTJ said...

I guess my question is; did Kanye use the voice box when he said that?

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