Continuing on my favorite city trend from yesterday, Chicago's very own bastard son: Kanye West
As much as I absolutely love Kanye's music, I really can't stand him as an entertainer and persona in pop music today. Spin magazine called his album Late Registration "as ornate and bloated as (his) ego." Just this past week, he was immortalized on South Park, and we all know what happened at the Hurricane Katrina benefit.
As great as his music is though, what the hell happened to his videos? Homecoming is the perfect example of ego getting in the way of artistry. Kanye has always wanted to portray himself as "hood" (even though he grew up in the suburb of Oak Lawn), and he again fails miserably. Most of the video is shot downtown at the tourist traps that we all know and love (Millennium Park, and The "Bean"), but West also tries to put in his ghetto spin. There are shots of Carbini-Green (the most famous of ghettos in Chicago, but definitely not the most notorious) along with the DuSable Museum. We get it. You're black, hood, and proud -- but soon after, we get a shot of Marina Towers, one of the "whitest" apartment complexes in the downtown area. Does this make any sense whatsoever?
Just like the video for the Plain White T's 1,2,3,4, we have another black and white homage to Chitown (pronounced SHY-town for those of you non-Chicagoans). Kanye however, rather than being artful and bringing that great Midwest vibe, shoots himself in the foot by trying too hard to proclaim his domination over the city that once held him up on high.
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