Advanced or Asinine?

Here is a question for Jerome, the guy who turned me on to Chuck Klosterman: is Kanye “advanced”? He does seem to make a lot of alienating proclamations and unorthodox decisions that turn out to be more awesome than anybody could have hoped. He also makes many decisions that just seem asinine to me, like that misguided black mullet he has taken to sporting. He also says that he is leaving music for fashion now, which is unfortunate if true. He really contributes (even if you hate him) to the pop landscape, and he is an uncommonly innovative and well-dressed pop star. In fashion, however, I think he would be just another inflated ego.

Kanye seems to stir deep feelings in people, for good or ill, which I take as evidence that he is an important artist. He’s not really among the best at anything he does: production, rapping, fashion, public speaking, not being a whiny bitch, etc. He is kind of brilliant, however, in packaging all of his skills and hubris and sincerity into something fascinating and moving (or infuriating). Based on the clips on Stereogum, his installment of “vh1 Storytellers” is the best spectacle I’ve ever seen from the series, which is often musically great and interesting, but visually staid and derivative of the old “MTV Unplugged” specials.

Personally, the three clips featured translate Kanye’s recent work, which I feel to be among his best, surprisingly well to an intimate TV studio live setting. If not as a public figure, then at least as a musician, Kanye seemed to get overwhelming praise for his work on The College Dropout and Late Registration, two albums that, despite organic strains copped from the Roots and collaborator Jon Brion, were heavily derivative of the RZA and various ’90s NYC production whiz kids. Don’t get me wrong, I love these albums, but I don’t quite agree with the common wisdom that they are better than his more digi recent efforts, Graduation and particularly the touching, brave 808s and Heartbreak.

For such robotic albums, those two seem to me to flow with emotion. As exposed (and, yes, occasionally dumb) as he is on the “Storytellers” stage, it is something of a revelation what a wonderful entertainer Kanye is. “Flashing Lights”, “Love Lockdown”, and “Robocop” turn out to be Vegas-ready showstoppers. Rather than overwhelming him, the small orchestra and light show liberate him to be himself and share his persona unfiltered with the crowd. His epic/intimate “Love Lockdown” redux is what I think of when I suggest that Auto-Tune has potential to be more than a silly gimmick. On these tech-heavy tracks, raw emotion somehow bleeds through.

Take a look here. I doubt you’ll be sorry.

Also remarkable is the light show. The set seems to have been brilliantly decorated with bells and whistles courtesy of Martin Phillips and John McGuire. These guys engineered the visual spectacle for Kanye’s “Glow In The Dark” tour with N.E.R.D. and Lupe. They also put together what has shaped up to be the biggest, bestest live spectacle of the new millennium, Daft Punk’s 2007 Pyramid.