An (Assorted) Interview w/ Kanye West... The Presidential Campaign

The following is an interview I had with Kanye West about his future presidential campaign. It features actual quotes from Kanye himself.

ME: Hi there folks, I'm here today with critically acclaimed rapper and producer Kanye West. Mr. West has recently announced his run for our nation's presidential office in the 2020 election. He announced this at an awards ceremony that nobody should ever have to care about. Mr. West, how do you feel about your decision to run for president?
KW: This pimp is at the top of Mount Olympus! 
ME: Oh! Well that's a lot more positive response than I was expecting. Why is that?
KW: I am the next Nelson Mandela.
ME: That's awfully confident of you, Mr. West.
KW: I'm about to break the rules, but don't tell anybody.
ME: Oh, okay, I won't. Haha! Well, what will be your first campaigning strategy?
KW: The whole nation standing at attention as long as I'm in Polo's smilin'.
ME: What is that supposed to mean?
KW: Racism still alive they just be concealin' it.
ME: I can somewhat see what you mean now...
KW: Face it, Jerome get more time than Brandon!
ME: I assume you have some strong opinions about the growing reports of black men being killed by white cops?
KW: I don't need no RoboCop.
ME: I have no idea what that means. But okay. What are your economic plans as president?
KW: We claim other people kids on our income tax. We take that money. cop work, then push packs to get paid.
ME: That's a unique idea you have! What do you think your opponents are doing?
KW: They prolly all in the Hamptons braggin' 'bout what they made.
ME; You really think they're that evil?
KW: They say I was the abomination of Obama's nation.
ME: Well, I guess a pretty bad way to start the conversation... any plans on increasing employment?
KW: What you rappers could get is a job from me.
ME: Anything else?
KW: Can I at least get a raise on a minimum wage?
ME: Ah, I gotcha. Do you ever feel like our government has the tendency of being tainted?
KW: I know the government administered AIDS.
ME: That's pretty extreme... Mr. West, do you support the idea of "big government"?
KW: No one man should have all that power.
ME: Really? Where do you get your political ideals from?
KW: George Bush got the answers.
ME: What makes former president Bush so appealing to you?
KW: George Bush doesn't care about black people.
ME: But wait-- you're-- umm... nevermind. I think I'll just cut our interview short today--
KW: Imma let you finish!
ME: Okay, well being as brief as possible, answer me: Why should I vote Kanye West for my president in 2020?
KW: Two words: United States.

And there you have it.

This really happened

My Unlikely Summer Soundtrack, 2015

I try too hard to recreate my past. I look back on some glorified time in my life and try to re-live it. The best summers are the ones where you're doing new things and making new memories. I almost made my summer of 2015 unmemorable. I feel like I saved it at the last second. I learned the most important life lessons in August.

So I can't call 2015 the best summer of my life, but it beat the crap out of last summer. Side-by-side with learning new lessons, doing new things and meeting new people... there's discovering new music. My best summers come with summer soundtracks. This particular summer was chalk-full of music I already knew but developed a revivalist love only recently. Living with people I didn't know, I was learning not to take my current friends for granted. Yet the forgotten music from my past was there for me like an old friend.

THE SONGS

"Hearts and Bones" -Paul Simon, 1983

A co-worker introduced me to this song. I thought I was already worshiping Paul Simon's greatest songs. I was wrong. This song, both musically and lyrically, is a prelude to Graceland.

"Take Me Home" -Phil Collins, 1985

I hate Phil Collins. This song is super cheesy. Why do I like it? Perhapsn it's the passionate honesty I hear in Phil's voice when he sings "I've been a prisoner all my life." Maybe it's the interestingly sonic synth progression. Maybe it's just a personal hipster bias I've gained since I found out Phil did all the drumming for Brian Eno's Another Green World. (+great video)

"I Hope That I Don't Fall in Love With You" -Tom Waits, 1973

I've loved Tom Waits for years, and discovered only recently that my little brother bought his debut album Closing Time. The story in this song is way too relate-able for me.

"Holy Shit" -Father John Misty, 2015

Josh Tillman, aka Father John Misty, wrote this song on his wedding day: "To make a decision based on something you believe in-- to get out of the morass of ambivalence, to live according to endless contingencies and potential mishaps, potential unhappiness-- is just huge for me."

"Keeping the Faith" -Billy Joel, 1983

In my 70s-flavored summer, I realized that Billy Joel really wasn't that good. I made harsh judgments about his early career but learned that his most crucial work-- his reborn songwriter album-- was 1983's An Innocent Man. This track is a beautiful, cheeky, oldies-radio ode to youth and rebellion. Jukeboxes, leather jackets, teenage sex, classic cars, no regrets. (+great video)

THE ALBUM

Blood on the Tracks -Bob Dylan, 1975

There's something wrong with me. I learned to worship Bob Dylan from Rolling Stone when I was a teenager. I have since learned that Rolling Stone is the root of all evil. But I still liked my 60s Dylan. 70s Dylan never made any sense to me. I always considered it dry and uninteresting. I never felt inclined to entirely listen to his so-called classic Blood on the Tracks until a couple months ago. Repeatedly listening to it this summer, it's given me feelings I've never had before.

So this 40 year-old album is changing my life. Lots of artists tell stories about their misspent youth, but Dylan was never young. He tells tales of misspent adulthood. Sometimes complex and epic ("Idiot Wind") but at times straightforward and simple ("You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go"). Between traveling the world and a longing for ex-lovers, everything somehow sounds sincere. The songs usually make you smile, but have the power to make you cry.

Blood has as many words as a rap album. And line after line, the rhyme schemes just flow like they were meant to be. Musically, nothing else really sounds like it. I guess it's just a 70s folk songwriter at the end of the day, but the recording of the album itself is reserved only for these 10 songs. The acoustic guitar is almost too bright, the percussion sounds on-demand, the organ is pure clarity, the bass lines are playful and Dylan's doesn't sound anything like it did 10 years prior. 

Considering Dylan's career failures from the early 70s, many people consider Blood a comeback album. But this album isn't a return to his old ways. It's a rebirth. It's a redemption, both in his career and in his life. I don't know what took me so long to love this album. It makes me see songwriting in a new light: It's possible to be frustrated with yourself but remain happy. It's part of humility. Whether it's God, an ex-girlfriend or perhaps just your own conscience, you can find your own "Shelter from the Storm."

"Never Go There Alone"

"You'll forget what you meant when you read what said." 
--James Murphy

Last time I was in my hometown, I dug through my old notebooks. I often forget that I used to write tons of poetry in my teenage years. I found a piece that I wrote when I was an 18 year-old working at Redfish Lake. I remember writing it... it was titled "5th of July." Looking it over, I couldn't tell whether it was supposed to be something dark or uplifting. A pair of lines stuck out to me as the centerpiece of the poem:

Romanticizing things to such an extent
Never go there alone

...I remembered writing that second line. I remember it originally being written "Never go there." I added "alone" a couple minutes later. Although I couldn't remember why I wrote any of this. Not until recently.
I was confused about whether this poem was dark or uplifting, because it's actually both. It's a voice of warning as much as it is life advise. Writing this at age 18, I was probably feeling foolish about some crush I had... thus you get a grumpy-teenage-Hamlet-diva depressive line like "Romanticizing things to such an extent? Never go there!" But I added the word "alone" and suddenly it's one of the most prophetically mature things I've ever written.
Over the last 6 years, I have forgotten both this line and its principle: It's dangerous to beautify something without telling anybody.
It could be anything! Wanting to be in a certain relationship, a certain job, a certain position of authority, a certain grade on a test, etc. If there's something you want so badly-- so badly, you've convinced yourself you need it-- you need to tell somebody.
I've learned that living in your own little world with your own idea of success is fun... until you fail. Your glorified imaginary world just shatters. You suddenly become sad and nobody around you knows why. It's basically the most unfair thing in the world, and it's what drives people to self abuse. Yet at the same time, I can't expect everyone to read my mind.
It's okay to "DREAM BIG." It's okay to be ambitious. It's okay to put another person on a pedestal. We're supposed to have dreams. We're supposed to have goals. We're supposed to have role models. But it's important to share these things with other people. People out there with the most ordinary intentions can legitimately go crazy from overdoses of self-consciousness.
ALSO:

• I think it's fair that we share things that we internally debase. To completely hate something or someone is a totally normal human flaw. People who share these feelings often change their hate into charity. People who keep these things inside can become irritable.

• Being open about your desires (and fears) is a good way of seeing things as they really are. It makes a clearer dividing line between your romanticized mindset and the rational reality. To quote Thom York (pictured above): "Just cuz you feel it doesn't mean it's there." It sounds scary when he says it, but it's truth. Doubting yourself is unhealthy. Rationalizing yourself, on the other hand, is good for you. 

Long story short, try to express things that occupy your mind the most. I am often very bad at this. I'm really good at expressing what I want and what I think. I rarely share what I need and what I know. REMIND ME TO WORK ON IT!