Every November this country holds elections to decide who will represent us on Capitol Hill, and every November most people under 25 couldn’t care less about them.
While it is probably the politicians who should be learning from Kanye West and 50 Cent on how to devise a good publicity stunt, the two hip-hop heavyweights borrowed heavily from the political campaigning tactics as their recent “sales war” has provided the public with nothing but empty promises and false hope.
It’s easy not to like 50 Cent, the unapologetically materialistic and curiously untalented emcee who makes choruses so catchy it makes some fans completely forget they are driving in their 1995 Ford Tauruses as they sing along to his latest single, “I Get Money.”
On the other hand, there is West, who supposedly represents all that is right with music. He doesn’t glorify violence, degrade women or even have any gang affiliations. It seems his only drawback is that his ego has made his head so big the FAA requires notification when he arrives in a new city so that it doesn’t interfere with commercial aircrafts.
Using the public’s interest as misdirection, the two rappers successfully have pulled one over on their fans, magically adding to their bank accounts without having to deliver on a single one of their promises. With West, he promised, along with his own mother, promised the best album he’s ever done. With 50, he promised to never make music again if West outsold him
For some reason there is an extremely popular notion that West is the only alternative to the deplorable kind of hip-hop that dominates the mainstream. However, merely not talking about guns and hoes does not make a rapper better than the gangster rapper, if all that rapper is equally one-dimensional about whatever other topic (in West’s case, the topic is himself).
Listening to West’s album is like listening to a friend call at 3 in the morning, drunk and babbling about things you’d have to be there to know about. Only West is drunk with power, with no intentions of sobering up.
Instead of a third album, “Graduation” plays more like an overproduced “threequel”, that is not nearly as satisfying as his debut, “College Dropout,” while still capitalizing off of the fact he’s reached a level of stardom that ensures high sales regardless of the content of the release. It is universally agreed upon, among those capable of analyzing West objectively, that West’s latest album is a failure of New York Mets proportions that does nothing to appease the growling stomachs of hip-hop enthusiasts desperate for quality representation in the mainstream.
He has become so absorbed with himself and the public’s perception of him that it has finally had a negative effect on his music, as his content is now as predictable as the pedestrian rhymes of 50 Cent.
The promises made by 50 were unorthodox to say the least, as he had no interest in ensuring the quality of his album but had no problem threatening to retire if West outsold him. Needless to say, this sent the hip-hop community into a frenzy when the news first broke.
Two weeks have past since the powers that be declared West the victor, and 50 has not admitted defeat or even announced his retirement.
Not like his retirement would have done anything to help anyway.
Nonsensical yet formulaic tracks like “Crank That” by Soulja Boy would still dominate the charts, while albums like “Below the Heavens” by Blu & Exile would continue to receive high marks from critics only to be later thrown in the bargain bin at Best Buy.
Unfortunately, to think that the retirement of 50 Cent would lead some sort of Age of Enlightenment in hip-hop where its fans would suddenly abandon their desire to snap their fingers and holler “a bay bay” is not only unrealistic, but delusional.
It would have been nice to see him follow up on his promise though, instead of apparently taking the Alberto Gonzales route and conveniently not recalling what he may or may not of said in the past.
Like too many of our elected officials, West and 50 have let us all down. And if they plan to campaign like politicians, it may take a little while, but they shouldn’t be surprised if we start to ignore them like politicians.