Up@dawn 2.0

Sunday, November 23, 2014

THE CHURCH OF YEEZUS PT. 2 of 3 (ft. Clarissa Ceffalo - Sec. 13.2)

Does God exist? Kanye sure does.  

The rapper makes it clear in his song titled, “I Am A God,” that he is at the very least above everyone else on this earth.  

“I just talked to Jesus
He said ‘What’s up Yeezus?’
I said, ‘S*** I’m chilling
Tryna stack these millions’
I know he the most high
But I am a close high.”

Kanye respects Jesus (Jesus being one of his three idols) but still wants people to know his alter ego, Yeezus, is a supreme being.  

It may cause eye rolls, head shaking and the Westboro Baptist Church to break out the picket signs but that doesn’t phase Yeezus one bit. He knows what he’s doing. After all, Jesus made a celebrity appearance at his concert.

Many people believe Kanye takes it too far but one man could have possibly respected what Kanye is doing, had he lived 114 years longer: Friedrich Nietzsche.

—I’m not going to list anything about Nietzsche because we tackled him in our class but, if stress of the semester ending has blocked out your philosophy knowledge or Nietzsche just wasn’t your cup of tea, you can brush up on ze German philosopher here (Chapter 29 in A Little History of Philosophy may also work memory wonders for you).—

Nietzsche was all about pushing the limits and peoples’ buttons. He claimed, “God is Dead,” in his book Joyful Wisdom which caused an uproar reaction, much like Kanye and everything “sacrilegious” he does.

Though, comparing Kanye to Nietzsche is like comparing apples to oranges. Sure, they’re both fruit, grow on trees and are of a round-ish shape but essentially, they have more differences than anything.

I believe, however, Nietzsche would have respected what Kanye is doing. If he was alive, he may not have rushed out to Target to buy the Yeezus album, but he might have pirated a song or two, maybe even bought a song from iTunes. He would have respected Kanye because he claimed he is Yeezus.

Nietzsche wanted people to accept that there is no God, separate themselves from Christian views and discover their own values. Kanye is comparing himself to a highly recognized religious figure, calling himself a God and showing the world he is a self-made man (but with the help of God). Kanye can't separate himself from his religion like Nietzsche would have preferred. 

The German philosopher also thought you shouldn’t treat everyone the same because we are not all equals and that is the epitome of Kanye West. The act of saying he’s on the same level as Jesus signifies he thinks his legacy is at Jesus level and will live on forever.

I will end this post on a lighter note, with a song inspired by the words of Nietzsche.








3 comments:

  1. As Bill Murray's weatherman said in Groundhog Day, a god is not The God. Nietzsche, like Kanye, suffered from megalomania - but even he stopped short of claiming any sort of divine status.

    And Murray's "god," btw, eventually got wise and humble. Is there anything in Kanye's profile to indicate the likelihood of such a positive transformation in his case?

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    1. I don't think there's hope for Kanye to change his ways. There's no positive influence in his life to lead him to have some sort of transformation (His mom passed away years ago and his wife survives by being in the spotlight). His ego has grown to a substantially large size and I don't think Yeezus can go away now. He may claim it's his "alter ego" but I believe alter egos are a way for people to express their true desires.

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  2. Anonymous12:26 PM CST

    To quote a perfect saying from the internet...

    "Kanye says he’s gonna be the next Nelson Mandela. Your wife’s a porn star and your daughter is a compass. Take a seat, son."

    President Obama had the right of it when he called Kanye a jackass.

    -Billy, Sec 10

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