The access the director had is amazing. Yeah we know he is a sick now and tripping but damn this is good. Only part 1 for now, Netflix.

I'm firmly in the "I miss the old Kanye" camp. The College Dropout is my favorite album of all time. Seeing this footage of Kanye from around this time is incredible.

Some standout scenes:

-Him going through all the offices of Roc A Fella playing a demo of "All Falls Down" (still with the Lauryn sample) to whoever will (or rather had no choice but to) listen and just getting "cool song, anyway, I gotta get to work" reactions before leaving absolutely defeated.
-Anything with his mom, but I especially loved her remembering all his old raps. You can tell how much she loved him and more importantly believed in him. She was Kanye's #2 fan (Kanye was obviously Kanye's #1 fan)
-Scarface in the studio hearing Jesus Walks and Family Business and 100% wanting to get on Family Business even though Kanye was trying to get him to do the hook on Jesus Walks.
-Talib and Mos being real early believers but Rawkus still passing on him.

The people who were turned off by Kanye early in his career (talking Dropout through Graduation) were turned off by his cockiness and wild statements of being a genius and whatnot, but he was just being real. It's how he honestly felt about himself, and without that over-confidence in himself he would have never come close to reaching the levels he has.

>I'm firmly in the "I miss the old Kanye" camp. The College
>Dropout is my favorite album of all time. Seeing this footage
>of Kanye from around this time is incredible.
>
>Some standout scenes:
>
>-Him going through all the offices of Roc A Fella playing a
>demo of "All Falls Down" (still with the Lauryn sample) to
>whoever will (or more times than not had to choice but to)
>listen and just getting "cool song, anyway, I gotta get to
>work" reactions before leaving absolutely defeated.
>-Anything with his mom, but I especially loved her remembering
>all his old raps. You can tell how much she loved him and more
>importantly believed in him. She was Kanye's #2 fan (Kanye was
>obviously Kanye's #1 fan)
>-Scarface in the studio hearing Jesus Walks and Family
>Business and 100% wanting to get on Family Business even
>though Kanye was trying to get him to do the hook on Jesus
>Walks.
>-Talib and Mos being real early believers but Rawkus still
>passing on him.
>
>The people who were turned off by Kanye early in his career
>(talking Dropout through Graduation) were turned off by his
>cockiness and wild statements of being a genius and whatnot,
>but he was just being real. It's how he honestly felt about
>himself, and without that over-confidence in himself he would
>have never come close to reaching the levels he has.

All of this ^^^^^
And having the knowledge to start documenting all of this from the jump? Not just him but as you said, the rock shit including Dame, Jay and them … the Dug incident etc, the mom sections where she’s just amazing …
This is some Bob Dylan don’t Look Back shit for hip hop.

>the Dug incident etc

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"Fuck aliens." © WarriorPoet415

>>the Dug incident etc

I've long wondered what happened to that dude.

----------------------------------------

"Fuck aliens." © WarriorPoet415

dude was all cool in the afternoon and hating on the radio the same evening.

took me back to my college days.

Straight up hatin’

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

Didn't have the stones to speak to him about it at the event even tho he knew what he was about to do that nite ? That's some SUUUUUUUUPER weak bullshit. Fuck that dude. Too bad too, I always liked the work he did with Comm. Obviously it backfired on him too, I don't recall hearing a beat by him in probably over 20 years. Karma baby.

Can't believe I'm sticking up for Kanye here. But it's the old Kanye. Haha.

Whole situation reminded me of Comm's verse from Dooin' It:

"Peace to Dug Inf, NO I, Sean Lett, the whole Chi
at the crib some cats give me the cold eye ..."

Seems like Chicago was notorious for being full of haters once "their" artists branched out into the world for more exposure.

----------------------------------------

"Fuck aliens." © WarriorPoet415

WHO IS DUG INF?
Residing in San Francisco by way of Chicago, Dug Infinite is an icon that holds with him a long history within Chicago’s unique hip-hop culture & hip-hop culture in general.

Born on the south side of Chicago, Dug Infinite is an early pioneer of hip-hop production. Originally getting his start as a B-boy and Dj, he quickly fell in love with production and emceeing. Doug has landed production for Common, NO. I.D., Masta Ace, Lenny Williams, Baby Bam of the Jungle Brothers, All Natural Inc, Mass Hysteria and many more. Considered by many to be one of the Legendary Pioneers of Chicago’s hip-hop sound.

Dug has also been an active advocate for the hip-hop community, employing many comrades in his skateboard shop, teaching workshops to kids, lecturing, speaking on panels, and mentoring Kanye West and many other producers and emcees from the new generation.

Dug continues to pursue his passion for music through entrepreneurship, education, and entertainment; always striving to maintain a connection to the younger hip-hop generation while providing his fans with the highest quality of music.

---
"though time has passed, im still the future" (c) black thought

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"Fuck aliens." © WarriorPoet415

To have that foresight and then to do it? Nah you couldn’t tell me a thing ever.

<--- Big Baller World Order

that Chappelle story about the first time he met Kanye is hilarious.

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

Just on first episode, and it's so much, and so good. looking forward to more.
====================================
Life in the completeness of its unity is negative. (c) ABK

The astro shirt, the jerseys, lmao @ Chaka Pilgrim on the phone at Roc-A-Fella shunning Kanye's performance to start bigging up "the new Blackberry that has your e-mail on it" lol. Such a great era

This was really, really really good. Obviously, to many this might be their favorite episode cos this chapter handles everyone's (most peoples') favorite Kanye

But I cant wait to see where it goes from here

Man hiphop in NY in the early 2000s was amazing. Look at those record studios.... All gone now, smh

Anthony Anderson said he finally had a chance to meet Russell Simmons and even had a Phat Farm sweater on. He was trying to get on Def Comedy Jam and was hype to meet him.

Russell said.. “I should’ve never made that sweater with a turtleneck..”

A friend tries to introduce Anthony and says he is funny and going to be a star.

Russell says “a lot of niggas are funny..” and walked off



Now, he told that story for a reason… lol.

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

Toast has always been a favorite track for me. i love documentaries and always loved Kanye giving us a view of his struggle to get signed on LR.

Crazy seeing him and Just in the same spot, while Just was comfortable where he was, Kanye wasnt satisfied until he got on as a rapper.

it needs a different edit and narrator but ill take it

______________________________________

Navem nu, cuando sol
Tutu nu, vondo nos nu
Vita em, no continous non
Nos nu ekta nos sepe ta, amen

When the sun shades the ship
We sweat and life is not safe
To swim or to touch not
When we unite we hedge amen

Idc about the Director or how long they've known Kanye. I wish they'd dial their story back.

---
Love,
Nopayne

Just for the structure of the doc, because they had a long fallout between LR and Donda so the doc doesn't touch on a lot of that inbetween, and then it's kinda choosey in the current footage it uses because they had that close relationship with Kanye and didn't want to show him at his worst


In any case, all the reviews I've read the past couple weeks make it sound like Act 1 is the high point and it gets a little aimless from here


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

>because they had a long fallout between LR and Donda so the doc doesn't touch on a lot of that inbetween

That's like 87% of his solo career. Christ.

----------------------------------------

"Fuck aliens." © WarriorPoet415

Just conjecturing from this clip from a NY Times interview:

What was Kanye’s original reason for not putting a film out back then? In the footage, he’s so excited to tell people you’re making a documentary.

COODIE He said, “Man, I don’t want nobody to see my real self.” He said, “I’m acting right now.” It was too intimate. But I feel like the reason why he was loving me filming him at the beginning was just because I was that dude, really. I was popular in Chicago — cool, funny.

CHIKE You brought value to his brand in Chicago instantly, just by deciding to have him on Channel Zero .

COODIE The greatest ambition was for him to win a Grammy, and I wanted to follow him to see it. But it’s definitely, definitely a blessing that it didn’t come out, because I didn’t know what I was doing at all.

What was it like to watch the rest of his rise from more of a distance?

COODIE I was so proud ​​to see him accomplishing all the things he was accomplishing. But then I felt left out, too. Like when he went to Oprah, I’m like, “I want to meet Oprah!”

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CHIKE It’s not all peachy and clean. I think that’s the case with anybody that’s on the rise to stardom like this. Coodie and I definitely felt what it’s like when outsiders come in and start jockeying for position. We had that Bryan Barber and Outkast vibe for a minute — like we’ll rise together and do all these music videos. But as he got bigger, more people started coming into the fold and you just get pushed out. Luckily, Coodie and I had a relationship and a bond together and we were able to find creativity elsewhere.

At that point, did you believe the project to be dead or did you always assume you would return to it eventually?

COODIE I felt like we would come back to it someday. I used to look at all the mini-DVs, and the bigger he got, I knew how much more valuable my footage would be: One day in God’s time, this is going to happen.

He sat us at the table at Kris Jenner’s house, right before “Pablo” , he was like, “Man, you know, I get misunderstood a lot.” He asked us to be his voice. We thought it was time for the documentary to come out, for people to see the real Kanye. He was working with Scooter Braun at the time and we were at HBO with it. Then all of a sudden, they had other plans for Kanye. We were right there and it just went to nothing.

It felt, to me, that Kanye was crying out for help at that moment. Right after, he went on the Saint Pablo tour and that’s when he had the breakdown — he calls it the “breakthrough.” I was really, really worried. I thought we were supposed to help him and we weren’t able to because of the powers around him. Not only did I feel worried, I was extremely mad about it.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

----------------------------------------

"Fuck aliens." © WarriorPoet415

then they had some sparse meetups between then and 2017 or so before they reconnected to finish this
https://www.theringer.com/movies/2022/2/16/22936433/jeen-yuhs-kanye-west-documentary-netflix-review

<--- Big Baller World Order

on his own dollar to preempt the future success of Kanye and get these timeless events on film. Him doing the flashback to his fam and his introduction to documentary shooting plays a part in this whole thing coming into fruition. AND the fact that he had multiple times probably to sell this footage and instead held out until now? He should get all of his flowers.

________________________________________________
R.I.P. Soulgyal <3
SUPA NERD LLC.
Knowledge Meets Nature
Musica Negra
#13irteen

Behind
1. Kanye
2. Ms. Donda
3. Kanye West
4. Ye

**********
I should put that in a song

@nategoodness
www.nategoodness.com

The avatar is old. And, no, that hat was not a groovy style back then, either.

awe she’s cute…

“yo thats a nigga”

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

https://twitter.com/Wayno119/status/1494317213758676993

"Lmao the context behind this is he played this song in the office and did this with a camera crew like 10x , how many times can you have a crazy reaction to something you’ve heard 10x it was kind of annoying at that point."

Of course niggas comin at his neck but most documentaries do have a specific narrative they are trying to portray.

So for example, this documentary gives us an idea of just how much Talib and Mos went to bat for Ye, yet he very recently admitted that he was just using them and was never into that backpacker scene.

I think this doc will spur a lot of discussion among the people he came up with.

Sure I get it could be annoying. But these folks also trying to spin this shit like "oh we already knew, he was just annoying"

Knew what? If you really knew that song would boost his career like it did, and that he would become one of the biggest artists and personalities of the generation, you would've and should've acted like you gave AF lol.

---
"though time has passed, im still the future" (c) black thought

<--- Big Baller World Order

and I do wonder if some of those people in the office were just grunts trying to work who had no power/influence to help him.

so they are looking at him like “I’m just trying to finish these calls”

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

they had no power to do anything about it, plus he showed up unannounced in the middle of their workday

d

"I don't speak to provoke. I speak because I think our time on Earth is short and each moment that we are not our truest selves, each moment we say what we do not mean because we imagine that is what somebody what's us to say, then we are wasting our time

that's why Jay wasn't tryna break bread

IG: amadu_me

"...Whateva, man..." (c) Redman

...keeps coming to mind when the idea of Kanye saying that he was using yo comes up....Them guys really cared for him.
And he then complained about John and Sean talking about him when he helped.....nvmd

**********
I should put that in a song

@nategoodness
www.nategoodness.com

The avatar is old. And, no, that hat was not a groovy style back then, either.

n a 2013 interview with The New York Times, West revealed Dead Prez's impact on the song;

"It wasn’t until I hung out with Dead Prez and understood how to make, you know, raps with a message sound cool that I was able to just write “All Falls Down” in 15 minutes.”

IG: amadu_me

"...Whateva, man..." (c) Redman

Scarface and the Rawkus guys adore him, Jay-Z doesn’t pay him really any mind, there’s allusion to No ID screwing him early on that I’m dying to know more about, his relationship with his mother is so charming and heartbreaking all at once…man there’s just so much here

Ye wilded out in the meeting to get signed
Dion said im not managing you no more...but will still help you (what Dug was talking about)
Ye goes to Ddot
Dion meets Hip Hop
Dion introduces Ye to Hip Hop

______________________________________

Navem nu, cuando sol
Tutu nu, vondo nos nu
Vita em, no continous non
Nos nu ekta nos sepe ta, amen

When the sun shades the ship
We sweat and life is not safe
To swim or to touch not
When we unite we hedge amen

That, and Papa Scarface scolding him about putting his retainer on the studio console.

There’s a lot going on, a lot to like, and a lot to dislike. A lot of “gotta hear both sides” moments because reading above^^, some things that looked kinda fucked up in the light they’re shown in the doc are actually not that bad with full perspective. It’s very much like him to have this broken up and released individually.

His “I watch TV the BEST!” metaphor was hilarious.

The Chi accent is thickest when he’s not being conscious of it. It makes how he sounds now seem like he had to go through intense speech therapy.

I kinda love and hate that my fam is not/has not been the “pull out the camcorder for every moment” type of family.

____________
Twitter & IG: @rulerofmyself
SC: rulerofmyself17

Yes! She's on the drugs. (c) BoHagon

>It’s very much like him to have this broken up
>and released individually.

Your initial point before this tho is well taken and I agree. But specific to Kanye he apparently had nothing to do with this, tho he wanted to.


>His “I watch TV the BEST!” metaphor was hilarious.

lol yea that got an audible laugh outta me too.


>The Chi accent is thickest when he’s not being conscious of
>it. It makes how he sounds now seem like he had to go through
>intense speech therapy.

That was the Kkkardashians who changed his speech lol.


>I kinda love and hate that my fam is not/has not been the
>“pull out the camcorder for every moment” type of family.

----------------------------------------

"Fuck aliens." © WarriorPoet415

the was grown man schooling the youngin

“that isn’t where its supposed to be”

its crazy how much camera time that retainer got in this first episode.

my favorite part was the Chicago forum list where they put Kanye instead of Kanye West.

“They wouldnt say Party by Jermaine when he is on Atlanta… crazy how I found a way to complain about such a positive moment!”

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

... post accident ?

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"Fuck aliens." © WarriorPoet415

and what really caught me off guard is he REALLY must be conscious of his teeth because he would wear his retainer ALL the time and just talk thru it.

it was totally normal to him.

also, there was a shot early in the first episode where he's recording All Falls Down vocals in his apartment and they close up on his retainers just sitting on top of a CD-R, lol.

A Black mother spending all that money on teeth? You better not let her see you without those retainers

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

I had the same relationship with my moms and there is nothing like a mother who pushes you to follow your dreams and is a real fan of your work.

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

and maybe explain his behavior SOMEWHAT after her passing.

like, obviously losing a parent hits almost everyone hard unless maybe they had a bad relationship.

but for some people, it's their world. and it seems like they had a crazy close connection. one that i definitely didn't have the slightest idea of until seeing this.

it was really cool to see her remembering his old raps, being happy for his success and also trying to remind him to stay grounded.

and its just you and mom.

I lost both parents and its cold af without them but I have siblings and had my own family by the time my dad passed.

cant imagine if I had to deal with all that without other immediate fam to lean on or cry with

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

It's been a fuckin whirlwind since then but I think if she were still here or he had taken a year or 2 off, he'd still be billionaire successful, but less unhinged(seeming).

____________
Twitter & IG: @rulerofmyself
SC: rulerofmyself17

Yes! She's on the drugs. (c) BoHagon

Is how both times she brings up his arrogance, but then walks it back when she seems to feel like she's going to hurt his feelings. To me, she kinda did him a disservice with that. Treating him like he was a child, when he was grown. In the first segment she tried to hit him with a different approach with the giant in the mirror metaphor, but he didn't quite seem to grasp it.

Obviously, you have to wonder if he would have made it to where he did if she had been more firm in her stance, but... yeah it was just fascinating to watch.

--

"You can't beat white people. You can only knock them out."

and its a fine line between humbling yourself and doubting yourself.

if you are going to be in the same room with the JayZ’s you need that confidence.

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

That muhfucker is insecure as hell too. He can put up a lotta bravado, but he ain't special in that regard. Dame Dash may be a different story though.

You're right that Donda knows, him. She raised him to be that fragile. And she should have corrected it, just on a "raise a good person" level, forgetting about him achieving whatever level of success.

--

"You can't beat white people. You can only knock them out."

that he turned out to be the success he became had to have surprised all of them

If Beanie Sigel, Memphis Bleek, or Freeway had half of Kanye's conviction and work ethic maybe they could've actually transcended their sidekick roles

I met him before he blew up after he murked an industry showcase at BET.

Dude had the same confidence as Kanye. He aint all loud with it but its definitely there.

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

* Jay-Z lacks confidence lolol
* A parent can change the nature of their child. They can only help they direct it towards good.

beat for some people and that kinda confused me.

What was that about?

Mos and Kweli to do their version of Brooklyn's Finest.

Kweli was acting like he'd never heard that sample before.

_______________________________
gamblers and masturbators.

www.twitter.com/urkelmoedee
www.instagram.com/urkelmoedee
www.twitch.tv/urkelmoedee
www.mixcloud.com/returntozero
www.albumism.com/search?q=Marcus%20Willis

But also the Drink Champs ep makes Kanye look like a dick in retrospect.

As he’s pushing hard for the Roc to sign him, Mos and Kweli were riding for dude. Kanye not being a fan of them as MCs is fine. But he didn’t need to go out his way to shit on Kweli.

I am definitely not a kweli apologist either. But I would feel some type of way if I were him in this situation.

Having said all that I love early Kanye. And there is
Amazing footage Here. Insight into his mindset at the time. There’s a scene of him in studio talking about the coming College Dropout. You can really hear that he didn’t care to do what was hot at the time.

He wasn’t afraid to fail.

I mean, the doc kind of nailed it as far as him being in between Rawkus and Roc A Fella - but he was a guy backpackers loved but also had this mainstream recognition and success that the Rawkus artists never did.

I do remember seeing Kanye come out with Kweli at the Electric Circus tour (Common/Kweli/Gangstarr) and saying to my girlfriend, "He's never going to make it as a rapper but his beats are amazing so he'll be okay" - but like, to be fair, who likes seeing a random dude spit a verse in the middle of a show that you actually WANT to see?

It really is incredible that he truly forged his own thing. It's SO commonplace for rappers to be like this now, but Kanye was different from the jump and it's funny to remember that.

------------------------------

17x NBA Champions

>I mean, the doc kind of nailed it as far as him being in
>between Rawkus and Roc A Fella - but he was a guy backpackers
>loved but also had this mainstream recognition and success
>that the Rawkus artists never did.

I think he's actually *underappreciated* in terms of what he did to bridge the gap between the backpackers and the mainstream. That goes for fans AND artists. He had songs and albums with guests ranging from Kweli to Chamillionaire. And sadly that impact is largely forgotten because of how intertwined most artists are now.


>I do remember seeing Kanye come out with Kweli at the Electric
>Circus tour (Common/Kweli/Gangstarr) and saying to my
>girlfriend, "He's never going to make it as a rapper but his
>beats are amazing so he'll be okay" - but like, to be fair,
>who likes seeing a random dude spit a verse in the middle of a
>show that you actually WANT to see?

Yea plus he's a shitty rapper so that couldn't have helped lol but I agree.


>It really is incredible that he truly forged his own thing.
>It's SO commonplace for rappers to be like this now, but Kanye
>was different from the jump and it's funny to remember that.

----------------------------------------

"Fuck aliens." © WarriorPoet415

>I think he's actually *underappreciated* in terms of what he
>did to bridge the gap between the backpackers and the
>mainstream. That goes for fans AND artists. He had songs and
>albums with guests ranging from Kweli to Chamillionaire. And
>sadly that impact is largely forgotten because of how
>intertwined most artists are now.

"Call him Kwa-lee or kway-lee I put him on tracks with Jay-Z"

I feel like The Roots playing with Jay on Unplugged and College Dropout really did kind of bring those two sides together. Things are so intertwined these days that you forget how separate it all was.

------------------------------

17x NBA Champions

>"Call him Kwa-lee or kway-lee I put him on tracks with Jay-Z"
>
>I feel like The Roots playing with Jay on Unplugged and
>College Dropout really did kind of bring those two sides
>together. Things are so intertwined these days that you forget
>how separate it all was.

----------------------------------------

"Fuck aliens." © WarriorPoet415

Watching the first episode it seem that the only time dude was Happy and Relaxed, was when he was with his mom.

Though my mom is great, I can't say my mom is like that. I did have several school teachers who so much reminded me of Dr. West. That is the love and support all little black boys and girls need.


It was just cool to see the insecure kid, who was just had relentless faith in his talents. It was also cool to see that the filmmaker knew this kid was different. There were so many talented people that popped up on the screen from the Chicago scene, and its cool to see him recognize Kanye was the one.

Its also interesting to see that all the things that drove his early success you can also see in the making of a villain. Dude is Anakin Skywalker right now. The Insecurity, Self-centered relentlessness, the ego, same stuff that will turn him into Vader.



**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

>Its also interesting to see that all the things that drove his
>early success you can also see in the making of a villain.
>Dude is Anakin Skywalker right now. The Insecurity,
>Self-centered relentlessness, the ego, same stuff that will
>turn him into Vader.

who's Luke, tho?

I think we all know the answer to that...

It's Kendrick

________________________________________________

The ULTIMATE negation of everything.

The space between despair and orgasm is hard to fill ~ Maron

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

It makes me both sad and nostalgic.

Kanye has never been a guy who's been easy to be a fan of - but man it is WILD seeing some of this early 2000's footage for sure. You forget a lot of that stuff because - well, we didn't have cameras all the damn time.

------------------------------

17x NBA Champions

>Kanye has never been a guy who's been easy to be a fan of

He was always a little over the top and bold but in his first few years it was mostly endearing IMO, and I was always rooting for him at that time. I mean the man stood on national TV and adlibbed the fact that George W Bush didn't give a fuck about black people during a live telethon ! Can't help but respect that, even if you think maaaaaybe that wasn't the platform to express that opinion. But that's why it was impactful !

And whenever I happen across old interviews, even up through the Graduation era, he had a lot of thoughtful, insightful things to say even if he could be a little corny and cringey at times. For example I vividly remember the DVD for Common's "Be" album where both Kanye and Common were waxing poetic about how much they influenced and learned from eachother. Kanye was damn near crying talking about how much Common's perspective, lyricism, and approach to his craft inspired him both personally and artistically.

So I definitely found him pretty easy to root for during those early years. I simply cannot fathom New Kanye doing an interview even approaching that kind of introspection, modesty, and honesty, especially after hearing his comments about how he "used" backpack rappers to elevate himself.

----------------------------------------

"Fuck aliens." © WarriorPoet415

Dude bridged the Gap between street rappers and my favorite rappers like Common and Mos and singlehandedly broke 50 Cents hold on hip-hop. I was rooting for all of that.



**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

I mean, don't get me wrong. I absolutely rooted for him early on, but I'm not going to pretend he wasn't incredibly arrogant as well. The whole "I guess we'll never know" Grammy speech was for his debut album, if I'm not mistaken (CD won best hip hop album but not best album). It's easy to forget NOW because he's provided way, way, way more cringey moments, but early on he was SO boisterous and so arrogant that at times, even as a fan, it was a lot of "Yeah that's a little much".

The George Bush moment? That was divisive but I thought it was incredible.

But there were a lot of little things - and early on, it was mostly arrogance that didn't SEEM earned at that point. It's definitely a hell of a lot harder these days, of course.

------------------------------

17x NBA Champions

>It's easy to forget NOW because
>he's provided way, way, way more cringey moments, but early on
>he was SO boisterous and so arrogant that at times, even as a
>fan, it was a lot of "Yeah that's a little much".

I'm probably looking back with rose colored glasses at that time period because he's gone so far since then. You're probably right.

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"Fuck aliens." © WarriorPoet415

I think everyone was rooting for him early on.

wasn’t until he started interrupting award shows that people started realizing he was doing too much

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TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

And the VMA interruption.

In between, there were definitely moments of "I love this guy but he's doing too much".

That's all I'm saying.

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17x NBA Champions

its the only mode he knows

<--- Big Baller World Order

Episode 1 is pretty much the music video for it

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>Episode 1 is pretty much the music video for it

I think Dame sees a lot of his own obnoxious resilience in Kanye

https://twitter.com/pinatafarms/status/1496658583240560653

his advice at the end is Ye to a T, for better and for worse

<--- Big Baller World Order

and I really appreciate Ye’a hustle to finish the album.

Oh, you dont want to pay for studio time?

Dude just hustled studio time from anyone he could.

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TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*