The Kanye West Twapology
I woke up Saturday morning and went through my routine. Grabbed my phone, answered a couple texts, checked email, then my ESPN app, Facebook, and finally Twitter. When Twitter loaded up on my phone, I noticed a stream of tweets from one particular user: Kanye West.
Kanye has been creating buzz ever since he joined Twitter. He’s just that kind of a person. He speaks his mind, but not in a ranting, nonsensical kind of way. Kanye uses Twitter as an outlet, as a bit of a venting mechanism. The result? We get a glimpse into the mind and thought process of one of the most gifted and creative musicians of our time. That’s not to say his tweets are always newsworthy, but from, “Yo I ain’t gone lie… the diamond teeth be looking crazy dope with tux jackets. The juxtaposition is what I live for,” to “Just wrapped for the day… been shooting 16 hour days … I’m so excited … it’s like a child’s delusions become reality!,” Twitter has given Kanye a place to just say what he wants. And on this particular Saturday morning, Kanye wanted to say a lot.
It pretty much started with this, “Man I love Twitter… I’ve always been at the mercy of the press but no more… The media tried to demonize me.” And for the next several hours, we heard a lot from Kanye that I’m not sure anyone really expected. Here are some highlights:
They wanted yall to believe I was a monster in real life so you guys wouldn’t listen or buy my music anymore. I feel like they were waiting for the opportunity to go in all the way on me and when it came they beat me to a pulp. Even now a lot of articles start there first 2 paragraphs about how much of an asshole I am
With the help of strong will, a lack of impathy, a lil alcohol and extremely distasteful & bad timing … I became George Bush over night
How deep is the scar… I bled hard.. cancelled tour with the number one pop star in the world … closed the doors of my clothing office. Had to let employees go… for the first time I felt the impact of my brash actions … I felt the recession from an ownership side
Remember in Anchor Man when Ron Burgandy cursed on air and the entire city turned on him? But this wasn’t a joke. This was & is my real life
Some people say… Why worry about “the haters?” This is bigger that just the concept of haters.
People tweeted that they wish I was dead… No listen. They wanted me to die people. I carry that. I smile and take pictures through that
And then he mentioned her name…
I wrote a song for Taylor Swift that’s so beautiful and I want her to have it. If she won’t take it then I’ll perform it for her. She deserves the apology more than anyone. She had nothing to do with my issues with award shows. She had no idea what hit her. She’s justa lil girl with dreams like the rest of us. Thank you Biz Stone and Evan Williams for creating a platform where we can communicate directly.
Kanye West was apologizing to Taylor Swift, and to all the world, for stepping on stage at the MTV Video Music Awards and interrupting her acceptance speech for ‘Best Female Video.’ More than that, he was giving us specific insights into how the incident impacted his life, and how that moment had affected him as a person. He was truly remorseful, it seemed. Around 10:30AM EST on Saturday morning, he said it:
It starts with this… I’m sorry Taylor.
Throughout Kanye’s Saturday morning discussion, he talked about larger issues: racism, the entertainment industry, ego (at one point, he called himself a 32 year-old child), the media. It was all quite thoughtful, intellectual, open and honest. I tweeted, “Love what @KanyeWest is doing on Twitter right now. Honest. Raw. Emotional. Public. Follow along.” And the majority agreed. Everyone was talking about Kanye on Saturday morning. He could not have picked a better platform to deliver his apology, and he knew it. Kanye chose a platform over which he had complete control. There would be no interruptions, no secondary agenda. Twitter was the place where he could say what he wanted, when he wanted, and without the bells and whistles of say, a TV special. It was perfect.
I’m not saying that just anybody can deliver a short novel and get away with it, but the lessons are there for all to see. Honesty and transparency win. Those characteristics are attractive, more today than ever before, in an age where everyone has, or is capable of having, a public voice.
Follow Kanye on Twitter and take a look at the stream for yourself. It’s worth it.
So, I guess there’s nothing more to say but “Yo Kanye, I’m really happy for you. I’ma let you finish, but you had one of the best uses of Twitter of all time!”
Author: Sam Taggart
