In Order: A Late Registration to Anger Management? Kanye’s in the limelight again, but not for the right reasons. Dealing with the first anniversary of his mother’s death as well as a deeply ingrained propensity to get up in paparazzo faces, Kanye attacked another cameraman: this time in Newcastle. The self-proclaimed “voice of this generation” had a scuffle with a photographer lurking in wait for the rapper to leave club Tup Tup Palace. The point and shooter said Kanye cut his face and bruised him while shouting “Get the fucking camera off me!” The Northumberland police took the 31-year-old performer into custody but have released him without charges.
Can’t Keep up with the Jones if it’s Going Down OPEC’s cutting key production. Exxon Mobile’s down. Chevron’s low. Freddie Mac keeps getting worse. Just as investors were hoping to witness an economic seachange, today found Wall Street back in a quagmire with the Down Jones Industrial Average plummeting 230 points.
The State of Things for State Schools These schools used to be cheap, comparatively speaking. Well, they’re still not at private 40K levels, but students at UCs and Cal State schools are likely to face a 10 percent tuition hike. Given the state’s pitiful budget, the young academics may see UC prices, for example, reach nearly $9,000 per year levels, which would, when added to living expenses cost nearly 15 grand. For those staying in state for good schools they’re used to seeing cost far less than other options, that’s a lot.
FDA may see it as the Land of Honey, but not of Milk The nation’s Food and Drug Administration has begun barring Chinese shipments carrying milk and milk powder-using products (e.g. cookies and candy). China has been known to add melamine, a chemical used for plastic and fertilizer, to its milk because of its ability to enhance the amount of protein in that substance. Seeing as how it’s an industrial chemical, and the past few months have brought some highly disturbing Chinese food and health-related issues to light (such as those involving tainted baby formula), “federal food safety officials” have stated they wish to take no chances and have halted the imports until their contents may be tested.
Tags: cal state, china, fda, kanye, melamine, milk, tainted, tuition, uc, wall street
Kanye West is a man of contradiction. On the one hand, I helplessly bop along to all his tracks (because they are, actually, fine examples of having a good production team) but the man can’t free-style rap for sh*t. So the music he produces is infinitely better than the live Kanye. Then there is his underestimation of the British press:
“Who killin’ them in the UK?
Everybody gonna say you K –
Reluctantly, because most of this press don’t f*ck with me”
Oh yeah? Your false self-modesty proves to be untrue, once again, Kanye.
Pollyanna, I can’t agree more. Basically, Kanye’s famous…for having good taste in music. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy his songs and regularly dance to them in my room, get through traffic through his beats. But I don’t know about you, I like them not because of his work–but despite it. When your songs are based entirely on revamped samples of pieces by groups and musicians like Daft Pank, the Kay-Gees, Ella Fitzgerald, Shirley Bassey and Labi Siffre, it’s kinda hard to go wrong. Aren’t his lyrics *inane*? He raps about threesomes, Louis Vuitton and…himself. When his lyrics are, in any way, touching, they seem reminiscent–er, outright plagiarized copies–of other songs (cough, “Homecoming” and Common’s “I Used to Love H.E.R.”…anyone? anyone?). But the truth is, he’s neither hot enough, nor is he a good enough writer to justify that kind of asinine narcissism. He’s a great producer…have you heard his reworked “Billy Jean”? It’s beautiful. But I wish he could take a step back and remember where his talents lie and why he’s really so well known.
Deb – honestly, that was probably the best indictment of Kanye West that I have ever read. It really sums him succinctly, and takes him to task for his borrowed greatness. I for one am not enamored with his mystique, as I know several of my friends are. I’m generally reviled by his antics, while my friends can conveniently set aside the face-value obnoxiousness of it all and chalk it up to his “persona”. Only, I think is absolutely as self-possessed and megalomaniacal as he projects, which is a scary prospect.