If I don't win, the award show loses credibility.
Kanye WestRead
It wasn't until I hung out with Dead Prez and understood how to make, you know, raps with a message sound cool that I was able to just write "All Falls Down" in 15 minutes.
Interpretation
The quote reflects how collaboration and inspiration can lead to creativity and artistic expression.
In this quote, Kanye West emphasizes the importance of creative influences in his artistic process. His experience with the group Dead Prez showed him that it's possible to combine meaningful messages with a cool, engaging style. This collaboration not only enhances his creativity but also influences his songwriting, allowing him to write significant pieces quickly, such as his hit 'All Falls Down'.
In practice
During a music workshop, I quoted Kanye West's take on collaboration to inspire young artists.
If I don't win, the award show loses credibility.
I am God's vessel. But my greatest pain in life is that I will never be able to see myself perform live.
God show me the way because the Devil trying to break me down
I said Yo Jay, I can rap. And I spit this rap that said I'm killin' ya'll *****s on this lyrical sh*t, mayonnaise colored benz, I push miracle whips.
All these walls that keep us from loving each other as one family or one race - racism, religion, where we grew up, whatever, class, socioeconomic - what makes us be so selfish and prideful, what keeps us from wanting to help the next man, what makes us be so focused on a personal legacy as opposed to the entire legacy of a race.
I didn't want to play it boring and safe. I also didn't want to innovate too much. Second albums, man, they're even scarier than first ones.
Michael Jackson carried urban America and eventually American society on his vocal cords for a good 25 to 30 years before even hip-hop became the vox populi of America, and then as an adult he shattered racial barriers.
I learned from Jimi Hendrix. They all wanted him to do the tricks, and at the end of his career, he just wanted to play. I lived longer than he did, and I can see how those pressures can really play with your head.
In hindsight, if I could go back in time and relay a message to my younger self, I would tell him to work on his time keeping, and that the job of a drummer is not to be the one that gets noticed the most on stage, or to be the fastest, or the loudest. Above all, it is to be the timekeeper.
Bach takes you to a very quiet place within yourself, to the inner core, a place where you are calm and at peace.
I'm well past the age where I'm acceptable. You get to a certain age and you are forbidden access. You're not going to get the kind of coverage that you would like in music magazines, you're not going to get played on radio and you're not going to get played on television. I have to survive on word of mouth.
If it's illegal to rock and roll, throw my ass in jail!
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