Kanye West clowns books (and himself)

I'll risk being called out by Tolu Olorunda as a "hater" but he's all wrong about Kanye West's derisive dismissal of reading.

The author James Baldwin, who contributed more to the culture of Black America by accident than West has on purpose once said, "It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, or who had ever been alive."

I would not trade the contributions of a Toni Morrison, Walter Mosely, Terry McMillian, Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, E. Lynn Harris, Sapphire, Alice Walker or Zora Neale Hurston for the egotistical, self-absorbed mumblings of a Kanye West. The fact that he boasts of how little he thinks of literature and by effect, the thousands of great Black authors who have enriched both the race and this nation, is proof of how unworthy of serious consideration West is.

Sorry, but I'm not buying into this alternative education crap. Kanye is celebrating his own ignorance with a 52-page "book" (pamphlet would be more appropriate) that required a co-author and wants to charge people for the privilege of him boasting about his ignorance.

I'm a fan of a few Kanye West songs, but most everything else about the guy annoys me, not the least of which is his mistaken belief that he is a genius.

When he said, "George Bush doesn't like Black people" I gave him a "right on, brother," but all that proved was even a blind squirrel can trip over a nut.

Kanye West is just a symptom of a bigger disease: the glorification of stupidity and ignorance. It's bad everywhere and worse in the Black community where speaking proper English and having aspirations beyond being a rapper, basketball player or mommy gets a kid branded as "acting White."

I see Kanye working here. He's great at generating controversy even when's not doing anything particular special. One way to start a buzz about his book is to dog out reading books at all.

But when Kanye sneers at reading, he seems to forget he wrote the foreword for his mother, Donda West's 2007 book, Raising Kanye: Life Lessons from the Mother of a Hip-Hop Superstar. Was he not a fan of her book?

More likely than not Kanye doesn't believe some of the stuff that spews out of his mouth bypassing his brain entirely. I'm a bit more concerned about a kid who may already be struggling with reading seizing upon his hip-hop hero as a reason to give up trying.

If Kanye were interested in being part of the solution instead of perpetuating the problem he would celebrate, not denigrate reading and the possibilities it opens up for those whom embrace it.

I would hope at some point when he isn't so immature, self-centered and shallow he would look back at some of the things he has said and done and stop acting like a ignorant child and become a wiser man.

Ever hear of Native Son, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, The Color Purple, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, or Invisible Man, Kanye? No, those aren't titles of rap songs. Those are books and if you were so stupidly wallowing in foolishness, you might know how vital and important great literature is to any society's culture.

But on the other hand, thanks Kanye for proving yet again that a mind is a terrible thing to waste.