I listen to a lot of comedy stations via Sirius XM in my car. There's tons of comedy bits by a gazillion comedians and its a great way to kill an hour or two. Well, there was a particular bit by Aziz Ansari talking about the time Kanye West invited him to his house, presumably in the Hollywood Hills. He said that while he was there Kanye just kept listening to the greatest music of all time to him…his (Kanye's) music. This struck me as neither odd nor unexpected seeing as if there is any artist that I'd expect to listen to his own shit constantly, Kanye West would be ace numero uno on said list. But I also think that its entirely possible that Kanye ONLY listens to his own music…or music he's produced or created, which given his output would include a significant amount of music.
It's also probably not true…but if you were to find out that it was true, would you be surprised? Probably not. This got me to thinking about other artists that probably (or at least potentially) only listen to their music. You know, artists possibly so self-centered to think that their output is actually the greatest shit ever created. Kanye is so passionately attached to his output that it seems like it would pain him to NOT be listening to it. And it would pain him to not expose YOU to his music if you were in his presence on the off-chance that you ain't up on game. But there has to be other artists that feel that strongly too right? I'm going to wager that answer to be yes, at least in the world I live in. Again, the chances of it being true are nil, but fuck it, its my party and I can cry if I want to.
I'm going to limit this to R&B and hip-hop artists, but feel free to add your other genre artists as well.
1. Kanye
(Stated above)
2. Nas
Hear me out on this. We all love Nas. He's the street poet with a heart and shit. He wrote "Project Window" and he snuck an uzi on the Island in his army jacket linin. Even though Nas doesn't seem to be the most violent out there, he monkey flips rappers with the funky rhthym he be kickin'. All that jazz and stuff. He's extreme with pen, man. He also seems like he's fakin' the funk with the humble shit. He wants you to say he's the greatest rapper of all times so he doesn't have to. He's like the passive aggressive rap legend. Which is why I can see him only listening to his shit, mumbling into the ether while sipping white zinfandel, "I just don't see why folks think Jay is better than me…Jay could never write this shit…" or why if you were in his presence, he'd smooth toss on The Lost Tapes and be like, "oh you ain't heard this? Yeah I was just fuckin' around one day…" Something. I'm just saying. Nas seems like enough of a fake humble arrogant nice guy to only listen to his own music because he can't understand why everybody else isn't.
3. Timbaland
I can see producers doing this. Especially those like Timbaland who unequivocally think they're the greatest music producers in history. I'm fairly certain his short-lived beef with Jay-Z was about this very issue. Mind you, Timbaland is responsible for some great music. And he's in the convo. But this post ain't about that. This is about the fact that I could totally see Timbo ONLY listening to his music all day long because he thinks it's so far ahead of everybody else's compositions. I'll bet he even listens to the shit with Magoo. And no Virginia, the bird was not the word. Real spit, Magoo was possibly the worst rapper ever to have such a great flow. He was Flo-Rida before Flo-Rida was Flo-Rida. This is not a good thing.
4. Bobby Brown
The Undisputed King of R&B has been listening to Don't Be Cruel since 1988. On repeat. Even when he was making new songs I'm convinced he was still listening to Don't Be Cruel. I'm ALSO convinced that this is why he keeps having so many disputes with the rest of New Edition. Every time they're on the tour bus or in the dressing room…from somewhere, fuckin' "Cruel Prelude" starts coming over speakers and everybody groans, especially Ralph - Bobby's best friend though Ralph being the de facto lead singer clearly caused problems - because it's a reminder of how badly his solo career went, at least comparatively speaking. Point is, you know Bobby still listens to his own shit CONSTANTLY.
5. Mariah Carey
I probably don't even have to explain this. I'm sure when you saw her name you were like, "I can see it". Might as well toss Nick Cannon in here because him listening to it is the only way anybody will ever listen to it. I'm pretty sure their arguments at home are because Nick keeps turning off "Vision of Love" and throwing on "Gigolo" and Mariah gets pissed.
6. Robin Thicke
Given those sales numbers, apparently nobody else is. BAZINGA! Okay okay, not fair. But because of his relentless inability to see how non-sensical his Paula debacle was, I'm pretty sure he sits at home every night listening to his music trying to figure out how everybody doesn't see what he sees. Robin Thicke is not Ray Charles to the bullshit.
7. Solange
More people listened to the audio from the elevator kick heard 'round the world than her music. And if you'll remember, we never got audio. This makes no sense to her seeing as there are people online who swear she not only sings better than Beyonce but has been singing for Beyonce for years. She possibly also had Beyonce's baby for her. So I can see her listening for the same reason Robin Thicke does, she thinks its thebomb.com while wondering if everybody else hears the beauty in what she's created. She will be wrong.
Let's stop there. I gave you prophecy on my first joint and you all lamed out…didn't really appreciate it til the second one came out. So I stretched the game out, etched your name out, put PJ on top and drop fire non-stop for you niggas!
I just felt like gettin' my Jay on.
What artists do you think could plausibly listen ONLY to their own music?