Kanye West - Black Skinhead

                It has been a while since I posted about a new music video, but maybe that is because it is not every day that Kanye releases the video for “Black Skinhead.” Kanye, we love him, we hate him, we love to hate him. Whether I like what he is releasing at the moment or not, he is one of the artists that I follow, watching and listening to everything he puts out. At his best, Kanye is able to capture the cultural moment and return it to the audience with profound insight; I think of the lyrics in “Who Will Survive in America” and its critique of American capitalism and ideology. At his worst, Kanye is an egotistical womanizing maniac; “Monster” comes to mind as one of his more excessively graphic. However, the tension between these two aspects of Knaye’s work makes it all the more intriguing and uncertain of where he will go next.

                Kanye’s latest album Yeezus continues his political/personal/religious/ego-driven narrative of his work. A review of the album I read early on said it was probably his most self-absorbed album to date, more clearly mirroring 808’s and Heartbreaks than his early work or My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and I would agree. Yeezus lacks some of the communal rage and dissent that is evident in his early albums, yet there is still the unsettling part of rap that is maintained. The part the disrupts the blasé life of the listener, or creates an intense affinity with those in similar situations. In Kanye’s ability to maintain the unsettling nature of rap, one can see the anger taking an existential turn as Kanye explores the angst within him. I think this turn is evident in “Black Skinhead.”

                I think the video for “Black Skinhead,” more clearly than the song itself, reveals the prayerful nature of the song. Kanye utilises Ku Klux Klan imagery, something that is not new in his work notably in “Jesus Walks” (white) and his video epic “Runaway” (red) after the eight-minute mark, representing racism and the cult of celebrity respectively. However, in “Black Skinhead” the imagery is turned onto himself (black). I think this turn is a realizing of the internal angst and uncertainty that gives rise to the violence. The drive to fight the racism and the conflicting draw-and-resistance to the cult of celebrity are depicted as causing a whelming up of internal angst that desires to explode.

                The video builds throughout, and I think it is intended to be an uncomfortable experience. The CGI humans, the dogs, and the frenetic splicing of the video disrupts and jars. It unveils an internal angst/anxiety/rage. In the build up of this rage, we become the one we hate, and then the video ends with what I think are explicit religious images. Imagery of the sacrifice of self, followed by an eleven-fold refrain of “God.” As such, it turns the rage into an angry lament, revealing the prayerful nature of the piece. This ending, for me, changed the song into one of Kanye’s masterpieces that captures, depicts, and comments on a stream of contemporary culture that eludes us, which he can help us understand.

                I hope you enjoy the video as much as I did.

Anxiety & Irresponsibility

I have concluded that I have internalized that fear and anxiety are the responsible response to almost everything. Life continues to happen. Things get finished. Everything is ok. But I feel irresponsible if I don't make sure that appropriately freak out in the midst of it all. People talk about how worrying doesn't help anything... is that true? Over the past 2 weeks, I had 5 assignments total, 3 of them quite sizeable and then I got sick and felt awful for about 3 days... I tried to make good relational decisions which at one point meant helping a friend instead of doing homework. This is when the anxiety kicked into overdrive, I was sick, behind on school, and between the two saw no way of things getting done. I wanted to die. I hate missing deadlines. I am horrified at the thought of tossing away marks on the classes that cost $1500. I was frustrated because I felt unsupported in my crisis. This is when anxiety begins to become angry and demanding. Amy usually feels the brunt of this. I emailed a prof and got a 4 day extension on one assignment due to my sickness and successfully finished everything on time. It is not that it was easy, getting everything done included 2 all nighters. But it did all happen and my life did not end despite my desires earlier last week that perhaps that would just best all around. In fact the sickness which felt at the time like condemnation and doom, was precisely what got me an extension and was perhaps, therefore, a blessing...?!?

I struggle, as many people do, to find value and personal worth in something larger and more consistent than my work. This is made worse by the fact that even my work (theology student/artist) is not valued in society and culture. I am sufficiently enculturated that my desire to create alternative community and maintain alternative world-view is incredibly difficult and my imagined alternatives fall squarely into the category of: irresponsible. This of course makes anxiety my bread and butter as I continue defiantly to try and chart a course into unknown waters, which seem doomed for failure and compromise. Unlike pastors or missionaries, academics and artists often pursue their sense of calling with minimal support as the unknown goals of exploring life, meaning and creative potential can be difficult to explain, time consuming, financially unrewarding and often too ambiguous to be convincingly worthwhile to the majority of pragmatic capitalist North America... Oh how I long to have the faith and conviction to live the light and anxiety free life of the sparrow or lily that Jesus has called us too (Matt. 6:25-28). 

Do not worry about tomorrow... But we tell our kids and grads to make 5 years plans... Do not worry about tomorrow... but we tell people to plan ahead... Do not worry about tomorrow... but we spend vast amounts of time and money on financial planning and retirement savings... Don't worry about tomorrow... but don't be stupid...

So, to my anxiety laden friends and and society: How do we live light and worry free lives? How do we escape the endless task of self justification and sufficiency? If the answer is Jesus why does there seem so little support in the church for this freedom from worry? Why does it in fact seem that the church is perhaps the most worried, anxious hand wringing institution of society? What is wrong with us?