Kanye West's lastest track, "New Slaves," began a dialogue among hip-hop fans and black intellectuals, and Global Grind's Brittany Lewis says the MC's biggest struggle, apparent in his music, is choosing which life he wants to live. And while he jostles back and forth between luxury and speaking truth to power about America's racial strife, listeners are caught in the middle.
The fact of the matter is, Kanye West is conflicted soul distracted by the things that distract us ALL - money, fame and the opportunity of capitalism.
No one wants to be poor, and sometimes, to avoid living a life of mediocrity filled with commonness, one must choose.
And it's the burden of having to choose what we know is right over what our mind desires, which plagues so many of us "successful" black folk, including Mr. West.
It's the issue and the unforseen flaw behind W.E.B. DuBois' Talented Tenth theory of "the best of this race (black race) may guide the mass away from the contamination and death of the worst."
Kanye is the anti-consumerism consumer.
Read Brittany Lewis' entire piece at Global Grind.
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