Susannigans: Kanye's Ego Trip Getting Old Fast

BY SUSANNAH CLARK
Editor-in-Chief

There are two types of people in this world: people that love Taylor Swift and liars.

Kanye West is a liar.

Along with every other living participant in popular culture, I too was appalled by hip hop’s go-to ego-manic’s behavior at MTV’s Video Music Awards on Sunday night.
In case you missed it, Mr. West rudely interrupted pop-country darling Taylor Swift during her acceptance speech for Female Music Video of the Year. (See story on page 5.)

Don’t get me wrong. Musically, I adore Kanye West. I definitely fall into that category of White Girls Who Claim To Be Into Hip-Hop Because They Have “Touch the Sky” On Their iPod Workout Playlist. Plus, I totally saw him in concert last summer (though I was mostly there for opening act Rihanna.)

Beginning with the “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” gem back in 2005, Kanye’s shenanigans have long provided entertaining tinder for bloggers and Facebook statuses alike. Everyone has their favorite ‘Ye quote. Mine is probably: “My greatest pain in life is I will never be able to see myself perform live.”

Unabashed narcissism is often hilarious; however, the humiliation of an innocent tween idol is never funny.

Taylor Swift is adorable. This is an undeniable fact. Not only are her songs incredibly catchy, but she writes them all by herself, a feat few 19-year-olds on Top 40 can claim. This summer, I spent many a traffic jam belting “MARRY ME JULIET” at the top of my lungs, windows down.

Taylor is also, in her entirety, the Anti-Kanye. She’s humble, bubbly and blogs using lowercase letters. She was also the best-selling artist of 2008, according to Nielson Soundscan. Her latest album, “Fearless,” has sold over 4 million copies, nearly four times as many as Kanye’s “808s and Heartbreak.” Both albums came out in November 2008.

Kanye seems to pull a stint like this every couple of months: some kind of sassy quote, celebrity feud or on-stage antic that causes headaches and headlines. As his album sales plateau, Kanye remains desperate for attention. He just wants us to love him as much as he loves himself, an unattainable goal.

To his credit, the rapper did apologize for his VMA outburst, though his many blog posts and talk show appearances this week have unnecessarily extended the shelf life of this un-scandal.

Maybe Kanye really is sorry for embarrassing Taylor Swift, but I doubt he really regrets his actions. To Kanye West, it doesn’t matter what is being said about him, as long as its Kanye West that people are talking about. As he raps in “Last Call:”

“Now I can let these dream killers kill my self esteem, or use my arrogance as a steam to power my dreams.”

…at least his rhymes are clever.