Kanye West sporting the most useless sunglasses on the face of the earth. Photo from Google Images.
I was reading Radical Queer News and came across an article from Pink News that explains how Kanye West, hip-hop star and that guy that told former President Bush that he “hates black people,” is trying to reinvent the word “gay.” Warning: When reading the following direct quotations, hilarity may ensue.
Kanye said “that the term will be used in future as synonymous with fashionable and stylish.
“Speaking in an interview with Details, West said:
‘I like to embody titles or words that have negative connotations and explain why that’s good. Take the word gay. Like, in hip-hop, that’s a negative thing, right? But in the past two, three years, all the gay people I’ve encountered have been, like, really, really, extremely dope. I haven’t gone to a gay bar, nor do I ever plan to. But where I would talk to a gay person, the conversation would be mostly around art or design, it’d be really dope.
‘From a design standpoint, kids’ll say, “Dude, those pants are gay.” But if it’s good, good, good fashion-level, design-level stuff, where it’s on a higher level than the average commercial design stuff, it’s gay people that do that. I think that should be said as a compliment. Like,”‘Dude, that’s so good it’s almost gay.”‘
West has talked about his perception of gay men as fashion icons in the past, drawing speculation over his sexuality. He said in a statement: ‘Stereotypically gay people got such good [style] … they were smart enough to take a fresh-ass logo like the rainbow and say that it’s gonna be theirs.’”
You just let that all sink in.
And while I thank Kanye for his support and enthusiasm for the queer community, I don’t exactly think he will help the cause. I mean drawing on stereotypes that gays are snappy dressers, artists and designers isn’t exactly constructive, and his affinity for the rainbow is just plain hilarious.
But I suppose it could be worse: He could be saying negative things about queers, or maybe former President Bush could speak out on our behalf.
22 Comments
February 24, 2009 at 2:30 pm
the hilarity did ensue… he sounds like the most dumb as fuck person i have ever met
March 13, 2009 at 3:50 pm
I got them shades, so come and say they useless to my face.
Searcy, Arkansas nigga.
March 17, 2009 at 4:27 pm
all you guys are so dumb like at least hes not gay doigggh
March 24, 2009 at 1:46 pm
wow that guy is hotttttt! who cares about gay people?? why waste ur fricken time?????? kanye west sunglasses rock and so does he!
March 31, 2009 at 2:22 pm
this article proves just how dumb redundant kanye really indeed is. He is the voice of mindless hipsters and todays club “popping” crowds, which aren’t that impressive anymore. I mean look at his hit cd a 2 or 3 years ago that song diamonds are forever Sierra Leone remix he says:
“I thought my Jesus piece was so harmless ’til I seen a picture of a shorty armless and here’s the conflict It’s in a black person’s soul to rock that gold.”
It’s like the conflict ISN’T that these kids are getting their arms chopped off, it’s that their nubs are now in the way of getting his gold ‘Jesus Chain.’ And for awhile everyone was like, “Wow that’s deep Kanye, yeah you tell ‘em what’s up in the world. . .” As he buys and creates these upscale clothing, and shoes, and gold chains, it’s complete cr*p. Kanye West is probably one of the worst major influences on my generation today, he sees the problems but instead of doing anything he makes money off the benefits of pretending to do something, or throwing a little bit of is money at them and then reimbursing himself, its like a big investment almost. Pay for a few huts, and a pig roasting. Get back a royals royce and a high end hooker.
Sorry about going so long, it just was so easy to flow about how worthless Kanye West is to anyone who is actually cultured, but there’s new meanings to everything, like the n word for your 90 year old grandma who saw the worst vs. the 15 year old kid, (along with every white bro in the U.S.) who thinks its part of his right as a black person, (or it’s just cool to say it instead of ‘dude’, or ‘bra’) to be able to say the word without a negative response toward that one person.
April 16, 2009 at 7:40 pm
you know he is not gay i like him ! and thoses glasses and people stop haten cuz u no u haterz if u hate kanye west or dont like him!
April 16, 2009 at 7:41 pm
you know he is not gay i like him ! and thoses glasses and people stop haten cuz u no u haterz if u hate kanye west or dont like him! so leave him alone !
April 20, 2009 at 3:59 am
he is a gay fish
April 28, 2009 at 7:20 pm
k. west is waste of human flesh. put the thing is the dump where he belongs. end of story.
May 2, 2009 at 8:53 pm
Good article, great laughs. I just think it’s stupid that people do not pay attention to the article. Instead they just talk about his glasses. How stupid is that.
May 7, 2009 at 3:56 am
so what if he’s gay. why are people so hooked on that, when they should be hooked on his music
May 8, 2009 at 7:58 am
AFBobb dk6LpqdFf2n5MzCh
May 10, 2009 at 9:26 pm
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June 7, 2009 at 10:20 pm
honestly I have no idea whether he is gay or not and personally it isn’t any of my damn business.
But I do agree with the fact that gay people have great style. everything else, idk.
i hate the ignorance ive seen with people thinking these glasses are new though. “Kanye glasses oh im gonna get me some kanye shades.” Just because he brought them back doens’t mean he invented them.
June 8, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Embrace the stereotype! I didn’t know West is a hip-hopper but if any group has taken the stereotype of the N word and run with it it’s definitely hip-hop artists (if Britney Spears is an artist so is everyone including my dogs and cats). My only previous exposure to Mr. West was his infamous “Prez Bush…” and as a (pasty white) New Orleans native and Katrina survivor I appreciated that.
If in his way he wants to tell others homophobia is wrong I appreciate it, too. So what if he’s using one stereotype (of many)? As someone whose fashion sense stops at all-cotton fabric I couldn’t care less if he wants to apply “gay” to haute couture in a positive way. If I ever meet Christian LaCroix I’ll congratulate him on his gay styles.
” “Stereotypically gay people got such good [style] … they were smart enough to take a fresh-ass logo like the rainbow and say that it’s gonna be theirs.”
He also admitted in an interview with MTV that he “used to be scared to talk to a gay person,” but in a recent concert in New York, urged fans to reject homophobia. ”
Please tell me you get his joke about the rainbow… I think it’s hilarious. I have enough rainbow stickers and doo-dads (the rainbow slinky is my fave) to qualify as 100% “gay” but prefer the pink triangle. That harshes too many people’s buzz so the rainbow it is. Life is about making compromises, which is one reason I’m single… and sane(r).
June 10, 2009 at 11:46 am
NO MATTER WHAT U SAY HE ROCKS. LIFE WOULDN’T BE FUN IF WE ALL CN LUV HIM
June 10, 2009 at 1:52 pm
no matter what u all say K. WEST rocks big time. i like his sunglasses , he is unique man.
June 13, 2009 at 7:59 am
ghdfghdfghdfgh
June 16, 2009 at 8:51 pm
In 1991 I went to a gay bar in NY with a friend.
After that, I changed the way I dressed forever.
Mr. West is inarticulate, but there is truth in his words.
June 30, 2009 at 5:19 pm
he says queers have a great since of style && he’s always worried about his apperance as if he were trynna fit in with tha queers as if he were gay
August 17, 2009 at 3:37 pm
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October 19, 2009 at 1:21 pm
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