Occasionally I listen to the Russ Parr Morning Show and their segment, “Hot Off the Wire.”  While listening to the program, I heard the Kanye West debacle. After hearing  his melt down on radio I rushed in to pull it up on the web and watch it in its entirety. I thought about it and then I thought about it some more.

I read Russell Simmons’ article on the Huffington Post. I read the comments on Rap- Up, I even read Yeezy’s Twitter tirades. Libergirl, who writes wonderful posts for Theconfirmationfiles, accuses me of having a man crush on Kanye and was sure I would come to his defense. For your information Libergirl, I’m not biased when it come to people I like or respect.

Back to my previous thought. He’s immature, he has the R. Kelly syndrome. In the studio brilliance resonates but he lacks interpersonal skills. Kanye looked uncomfortable and he wasn’t able to express himself. Matt Lauer did his job as a journalist/interviewer. Kanye’s social awkwardness, though, came across more apparently as the interview continued.

He understood the hurt Bush must have felt when he (Kanye) had to deal with the Taylor Swift incident. The ‘R’ word came into play when Lauer questioned him and showed the video of Swift, which is very standard. This made him even more uncomfortable followed by an outburst. In one part of the interview Mr. Lauer gave him a way out of the George Bush controversy, except Mr. West didn’t take it. When questioned about his “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” comment, he gave a coherent answer about feeling empathetic to the former president’s plight. Mind you, this occurred some years ago, 2005 to be exact. It  wasn’t fresh within his mind but at the moment he made the comment, he was very passionate. Mr. Bush and the office had failed miserably with the Hurricane Katrina recovery effort, as if they didn’t care about black people.

I believe Kanye needs better PR people. He needs to be better prepared before a microphone is put in his face. He needs to learn to express his thoughts and conduct himself  better. If not he’ll continue to come off as aloof or better yet; a jerk.

Lastly, Kanye, stick to your guns!  If you made the comment believing what you said is true; don’t back down. Let the situation take  precedence and prove itself out.

John Jones

The NON-Conformist