#YeezyTaughtMe

29 Sep #YeezyTaughtMe

I feel like Kanye West gets a bad rap—wait, wait. Hear me out.

You probably should know up front that I will absolutely and freely admit that I am a Kanye West advocate. While I’m not joining the church of Yeezianity anytime soon, or ever for that matter, it must be acknowledged that man drops bombs.

Plus, I like a man who isn’t afraid to take style risks. I mean, look at Kim. He changed her whole aesthetic and somehow, by the grace of Riccardo Tisci, got the fashion industry to forget she used to peddle Sketchers in Hervè Leger bandage dresses (see, I didn’t even have to mention that other thing).

I saw him perform during the Yeezus tour in November at Madison Square Garden with my fellow UESider and #TeamYeezus cohort. In short, it was amazing.

Like, actually, amazing. To even call it a concert would demean the experience. Arianna and I thought this to ourselves, only for the rapper to confirm this during one of his stops to New York radio.

“I’m a professional dreamer,” Nori’s daddy told The Breakfast Club.

A professional dreamer. 

“Before you get everything you want, you got to shake that cage. They just ain’t going to give it to you.”

West was also surprisingly transparent with 12 Years of Slave director Steve McQueen for his feature story in the February 2014 issue of Interview magazine. I often revisit this article for all sorts of inspiration.

“I’m opening up my notebook and I’m saying everything in there out loud,” he said. “A lot of people are very sacred with their ideas, and there is something to protecting yourself in that way, but there’s also something to idea sharing, or being the person who makes the mistake in public so people can study that.”

Yasssssss, Ye. Yas.

And so when my sisters-in-Kanye found out that he would be headlining the Saturday show at Made in America—his BFF Jay Z’s music festival in coordination with Budweiser—we knew we needed to be there. We loaded up in the Ford Escape (thanks, Sammi!) and made the trip, banging Kanye all the way to Philadelphia.

This was my first music festival experience. I wasn’t sure what to expect but I was channeling North in her muted tones and leather in the summer. It was an extremely hot, long, crowded day, that was made more than all right by listening to Kanye West perform “All Falls Down.” My number two favorite Yeezy song in life. My as-of-yet-to-be-completed-book’s title came from that song.

Wearing: Gifted Lauren Conrad for Kohl’s Top// Zara Leather Shorts// Gifted Keds Sneaker// Gifted Lauren Conrad for Kohl’s Sunnies// Rebecca Minkoff Morning After Clutch

Me and Arianna acted a fool, jumping up and down, pointing to each other like, you’re going to touch the sky, baby girl!

For as long as I can recall, North West’s daddy has been saying the same thing. [inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”” suffix=””]Protect your dreams[/inlinetweet]. My mom told me told to believe in myself. I can do more than just rap, I have other ideas too, you have to hear me, and I feel like, it’s at that point, the desperation sets in. And Kanye gets frustrated.

Enter said bad rap.

I remember during Jamie Foxx, during an interview with Oprah for an episode of Next Chapter, said one of the things that he was most scared of was not getting all of his ideas out of his head before he died. I think this is similar to how Kanye feels. How most creatives feel.

“I want the power to create what is in my mind,” Ye said in the interview with McQueen. “That’s my dream. I want to be able to have a thought or an idea and bring it into reality.”

He continued, “so success, for me, is in having the ability to get my ideas out there.”

Same here, Ye. Like you,[inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”” suffix=””] I’m just dreaming out loud[/inlinetweet].

#YeezyTaughtMe

Where do you fall? Yeezy lover? Or hater?

Photos by @MyDashofSparkle