Wow, I logged on to our site this morning and realized the last blog I posted was "I'm Inspired by Kanye West". Interesting how timing has a way of being 'just on time' or 'just at the wrong time'. I thought to myself should I take the blog down considering the ultimate 'dumb-dumb' move he made a few days ago when he decided to yank the mic from a 17 year old country singer? Or do I leave it him up on the blog? After all, I meant exactly what I said in the last blog about him, he inspires me, mainly because he's just being himself for better or for worse.
I think it's times like these when I think about the complexity of human beings and what it truly means to be human. As I prepare to take the stage this week, I realize that my character, Candice, while an upstanding member of her church is clearly not without fault. Her anger and her bitterness at times gets the best of her, and her faith is put to the test. Hell, at some point don't we all do things that we wish we hadn't? Maybe some of us don't ever walk out on a limb, testing what we really do believe...and that's just it. Some of us are content with not living at all, not figuring out for ourselves what is wrong and what is right. Of course the danger of really "living" is that there are things that we will do along the way that we can't come back from doing, that leave a Hester Prynne like mark permanently attached to our reputation.
And while I don't agree with Ye's antics the night of the VMAs (I would have grabbed the mic back), as an actress, he made me painfully aware of the range of free human expression. Most of us are not free to be who we really are for better or worse, we hide behind who we think we should be, what we think society thinks we should be. When I think of Ye, I can't help but think of Emerson who says, "No law can be sacred to me unless it's a law of my nature. Good and bad are but names very readily transferable to that or this; the only right is what is after my constitution, the only wrong is what is against it." DAMN...if that ain't gangsta then what is? The question is what if one's nature is volatile, creative, temperamental and unstable? Well I think we know the answer to that question.
And while I personally would never snatch a mic from a kid at an award's show; I'm not qualified to say what I have and would do that appalls society. I've never liked the crackerjack box-like comfort of being labeled the 'nice' girl. I mean God forbid the day I break that particular mold by doing one thing that shatters that image. When that day comes, I only hope folks realize, there were no drugs, no crazy boys to 'put me up to it', no forms of depression that induced my crazy behavior. The truth is it's already in my nature, always was and always will be.
Shak
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Hi Shak I am so excited about your up and coming performance I pray you kill it, I know you will. To comment on Kanye What he did was wrong but still he is not a bad guy he just has bad judgment on when to do things. It's always a time and place for every thing. I will always stay inspired by Kanye especially as an artist. I wish I had the guts to say or do some of the he says. And musically come on he is off the chain I feel like no one can touch him right now as far as being creative,innovative, and honest. I can keep on for days but I pray you have a great day and you do well Break a leg!!!!
ReplyDeleteWhile I do agree with you on the concept of "living", I also believe there is a correct time and place to voice one's opinion. We, especially in America, have taken freedom of speech/expression to a level of extreme that borders on endangering these very freedoms themselves. If Kanye felt that way, the VMA's was not his platform to speak his mind. Heck, I don't agree with everything our presidents do, but what would happen if I tried to bumrush president Obama during a State of the Union address (barring I could even get that close). The fact of the matter is that Mr. West has been pulling these adolescent-type stunts from the very beginning! Afterward, appealing to the masses that we understand it's his passion as an artist (or even as a Black man) that causes him to do these things. If we were to all take Kanye's stance then our nation would live in a state of anarchy, eventually stripping us of the very right we have to express ourselves. That's just my two cents.
ReplyDeleteGreat Post Shak.
ReplyDelete-Dez
here's the thing...you can't grow w/o making mistakes. i, also, don't agree w/taking anyone's shine like that esp not a youngster's. but let's not throw out the baby w/the bath water. having freedom of speech enables people to have million man marches, protests, and the kkk to exist. it enables us to watch mtv, food network, order netflix or none of the above. that's the beauty of it all. the deal is not to ration the way people use their inalienable right, it's to promote education and compassion so that people won't want to be a part of the kkk and we won't have to have peace rally's b/c people love and respect their neighbors.
ReplyDeleteye is a work in progress, just as we all are. i don't stop being friends w/someone b/c they got plastered and did smth ridiculous and i won't vilify him b/c he did the same. "he w/o sin cast the first stone."(or smth to that effect) if i can find compassion for m.vick(& i don't care about football at all), i can for ye, too.
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What's good Bright! I don't deny that freedom of expression allows us a multitude of privileges that we once never had. And yes, we all make mistakes and are constantly growing. But when you make the same mistake repeatedly when does it cease being looked at as a mistake and begin to being looked at as just ignorance? When you were a baby and were told not to touch a hot stove, you touched it anyway right? What happened next caused you never to want to touch a hot stove again. That's learning from your mistake. I can't compare Vick to Kanye yet because Vic, God forbid, hasn't done the same act repeatedly. I'm not saying I can't forgive Ye for his actions but I can't sit back and just say "oh, that's just Kanye being Kanye". I think the brother is in serious need of help and has the wrong people around him who don't want to or can't give him that help. Did you see how he reacted when Jay Leno asked him what his mother would think? He was tearing up! I believe that Ye is trying to find his way now that his mother is no longer around for guidance and support. He's out of control. HIS issue is much bigger than the VMA's but that still doesn't excuse the act. That's like me going to Shak's play on opening night and right as she's about to deliver her first line, I jump on stage and say, "Shak that's cool but you know, Sidney Poitier was the best actor ever!" Ya'll would look at me with so much disgust and that would possibly ruin my friendship with all of you. I'm not trying to throw the baby out with the bath water; I’m trying to prevent bathing the baby in the same dirty water. None of us can cast stones, but we all have a moral and civic duty to point out what's right and what's wrong, and Kanye was flat out wrong for pulling that stunt.
ReplyDeleteHey, Mr. Williams :) hahahahahahaha Shak would prolly cut you right then and there. the thing with vick & after this i promise we don't have to talk about him again, is that this is the 1st time he was caught, you feel me? he was doing that crap for a long min, i assure you, before he was found out. that being stated, i don't agree, as aforementioned, with what ye did. and yest, shak & i were talking about that very thing that he is really trying to find himself right now. another comparison i brought up was the whole fact that these are ppl who are learning how to deal with things on a level that most of us wouldn't have to ever undergo...the limelight. britany spears had to go through falling in love with a (possible) douchbag, ending the relationship, breaking down and all that that entails in front of our very eyes. who gets to see you or i go through that? our friends & loved ones. that heightened sense of notoriety, i'm sure, makes things more intense. that does not excuse him being a jerk but his true remorse inspires compassion and that's what i'm after. how many times have you or ppl you love fallen for the same type or exact same person over and over again. you're like you've got to be kidding me, not this again. but they have to learn in their own way. i just don't think ppl should expect more out of celebrities just b/c they're celebrities as long as they actually are performing their job. ye makes albums and designs clothes. cool, that's his job. he's also a person who happens to be hurting and is a "bit"(lol) egotistical. he's been egotistical for oh, maybe forever. how does one break themselves of that? not over night.
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