Kanye West On Creativity • Hacker News Board

Re: Kanye West On Creativity

#51

Post by roc » Wed, Mar 03, 2010, 3:57 PM UTC

wallflower wrote: post #18

When I meet someone at a party or a random event, I find that I hit it off most with those who genuinely want to create things with love, passion, and stubbornness and share them with people. Even if they are amateurish. I ride the train every day and I see so many people just consuming content. Be it whatever they do on their Blackberry or iPhone or book or the local paper. I always smile when I see someone crocheti…

> We are a consumer society.

I don't think it's quite that bleak. The trick is that we only create in a small handful of arenas. So most of what we have in common with one another, most of what we do, is consume other people's productions.

But that guy passively consuming on the train might have a woodshop at home and could be reading about woodcraft and fueling his passion even as he consumes.

That guy on the blackberry could be exchanging recipes to further his own.

And who knows what might be going through the mind of the guy reading the paper. Perhaps you've just caught him during his 'offline, recharge' time. Where he steps back to broaden his awareness to stimulate new ideas.

Frankly, you have to take a pessimistic, judgmental (borderline-misanthropic) view of anyone not actively creating at any given moment to decide that most people do nothing but consume.

I'm sure the stereotypical mindless consumers exist. But I know that even creative people go through phases of their life that are like that.

But that's how it is with passion. If you don't have it, there's no sense trying to force a craft.

Re: Kanye West On Creativity

#52

Post by yesimahuman » Wed, Mar 03, 2010, 3:59 PM UTC

sachinag wrote: post #22

andrewcooke wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

hi - i don't know much about the guy, except that he's a rap artist. what's the new art form?

He, essentially, wrote and performed a bunch of love songs and ballads on 808s and Heartbreak. Sure, they're Auto-Tuned out of their gourds, but they're heartfelt love songs, all about a girl who left him. On some, he's angry at her, and on some, he's doing his standard "I'm awesome" thing. But, as you can imagine, most rappers don't do a concept album all about the girl who broke his heart.

I don't think Kanye's work is all that ground breaking. However, it is ground breaking in the mainstream, and he is bringing depth to a shallow mainstream genre. I think that is is main achievement.

If you listen to music outside of the mainstream (yes, even rap), 808s and Heartbreak doesn't seem like that original or impressive of an album, and there are works by other artists that are far less appreciated or noticed but could make bigger impacts both musically and socially. I do, however, really enjoy a few of the songs on that album, and I think Kanye is an inspiring person even if he can be a total douche.

Re: Kanye West On Creativity

#53

Post by nickpp » Wed, Mar 03, 2010, 4:00 PM UTC

viggity wrote: post #23

nickpp wrote: post #21

Who the f- is Kanye West?!

He's a rap artist who is in love with fish sticks

Thanks. It was a honest question - I had no idea who he is.

Your answer makes sense, I rarely listen to rap music.

Ed: oh, and I don't live in US either, so maybe is a cultural thing.

Re: Kanye West On Creativity

#54

Post by retro » Wed, Mar 03, 2010, 4:01 PM UTC

starkfist wrote: post #20

andrewcooke wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

hi - i don't know much about the guy, except that he's a rap artist. what's the new art form?

what's the new art form? Autotune. He also assembled a team of people hipper than himself to do research and development for him. In this way he's similar to contemporary artists like murakami, hirst and koons in that he's more of a manager, while his employees do the work of figuring out what's hip and helping him incorporate that into his music, videos and fashion sense.

What's Autotune?

Auto-Tune was also used to produce the prominent altered vocal effect on Cher's "Believe," recorded in 1998. When first interviewed about this, the sound engineers claimed that they had used a vocoder, in what Sound on Sound perceived as an attempt to preserve a trade secret.[7] After the massive success of "Believe," many artists imitated the technique. It was evident in songs of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Some notable examples are Gigi D'Agostino's "La Passion" and Janet Jackson's US #1 hit "All For You," among many others. After years of relative dormancy, the effect was revived in the mid-2000s by R&B singer T-Pain, who elaborated on the effect in contemporary popular music by making active use of it in his songs, a style that has since gone on to be imitated by numerous other R&B and pop artists[8] such as Kanye West and, more recently, Jamie Foxx in his hit song, "Blame It".[9]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto-Tune

Re: Kanye West On Creativity

#55

Post by pluc » Wed, Mar 03, 2010, 4:04 PM UTC

Oh. Looks like Kanye's attempting a little heartfelt PR stunt to make people believe he actually has a responsibility to create. Fair attempt, but his actions say the exact opposite: that he's doing it all for himself, the fame and recognition. I, for one, don't believe this jackass.

Re: Kanye West On Creativity

#56

Post by thenduks » Wed, Mar 03, 2010, 4:05 PM UTC

nickpp wrote: post #21

Who the f- is Kanye West?!

He's a dude who has made some of the worst records of all time.

Re: Kanye West On Creativity

#57

Post by petercooper » Wed, Mar 03, 2010, 4:09 PM UTC

pclark wrote: post #2

Kanye West found a way to prevent his content being made readable, even via readability.

Yet when _why did it with his code examples, it was cool! ;-)

But, yeah, someone should clue him up on @font-face or something g I appreciate the crazy typography sometimes, but being able to copy and paste it is always nice..

Re: Kanye West On Creativity

#58

Post by petercooper » Wed, Mar 03, 2010, 4:11 PM UTC

tibbon wrote: post #45

Since this is HN I should point out a lack of any alt tag or longdesc. Stevie Wonder will not be reading this.

Stevie Wonder will not be reading this.

Do you seriously think Stevie Wonder sits around reading Kanye West's site? :-)

Re: Kanye West On Creativity

#59

Post by petercooper » Wed, Mar 03, 2010, 4:12 PM UTC

pclark wrote: post #50

betageek wrote: post #13

Nobody, even Kanye himself, would disagree the guy is a bit of a dick sometimes, but it's nice to see someone that wears his (he)art on his sleeve and strives for the best. He's the Steve Jobs of Hip Hop.

I disagree. Jay-Z, Tupac or Notorious BIG are the "Steve Jobs" (eg: consistently raising the bar) of Hip Hop

For real, Biggie and Tupac are really pushing hip-hop to new places - I can't wait to see where they take it next.

Re: Kanye West On Creativity

#60

Post by charlesju » Wed, Mar 03, 2010, 4:13 PM UTC

redstar504 wrote: post #14

I'm on the plane listening to the college dropout. It brings back so many memories. When we made it I had all 6 parents, 4 grandparents and my mom and dad. Now I have my dad and my grandfather. Music is so nostalgic. Every song I listen to brings me back to when I first played them for my mom, when I first played from for Dame, when I first played them Jay, when I first played them for Kweli, when I first played them…

I really like this line, "I never feel like I'm not the underdog. I never felt completely comfortable. I'm tormented by the need to create." Regardless of your personal feelings for Kanye that should resonate with every entrepreneur in the room.