Returning with his forth book (fifth if count the Writin’ Dirty anthology, which was just a collection of Bol’s XXL posts so I don’t), Byron Crawford blesses us with another highly entertaining and surprisingly informative summary of Kanye West, the artist and fairly fucked-up human. What’s great about Kanye West: Superstar is the attention to detail in regards to Bol’s theories on why Kanye has acted increasingly bat-shit crazy over the course of his career. I won’t give away the game at this stage, but it’s pretty water tight from where I stand. The book also documents the way in which Bol and Kanye have had a major impact on each others careers up to this point, from the legendary “Ban Kanye From The Grammys” movement (which I’m proud to say I was involved in as a contributor to the site), jokingly suggesting that his readers “hunt and kill” Kanye’s late mother (before her untimely demise) and a litany of jokes relating to Ray J‘s “package” (nullus) and how many black guys that the Kardashian sisters have “gotten off.”
Reading the eBook version on my phone while on the train proved to be a poor choice along the lines of Ron Burgundy‘s decision to drink milk on a hot day after being fired from his job as an anchorman, as I frequently found myself having to suppress bursts of laughter, else I violate the Conservative Rap Coalition policy regarding unwarranted chuckling and/or smiling on public transport. Following hot on the heels of the victorious prose that is Nas Lost, Bol seems to be at his sharpest when focused on one specific target, and was even able to elicit a tiny degree of pity from me regarding the plight of the disturbed young man sometimes known as Yeezy. Even with one eye, Byron Crawford continues to put other writers to shame with his self-effacing humor and willingness to punch below the belt whenever he deems necessary. At this stage I feel confident in declaring him as the Rap Blog Game Jack Kerouac. Much like Batman, he’s the hero that the Rap Internets’ deserves.
Pre-order from Barnes & Noble or iTunes.
I don’t get why Hiphop sites STILL report on KanYe Kardashian. He’s not representing Hiphop Music & Culture anymore. If you’re a Hiphop head and you’re still thinking about KanYe or caring about anything with him, then clearly you’re NOT Hiphop. Just sayin…
Wicked just summed it up right there. Am I the only one who still bumps the older tracks he produced for Grav and Madd Rapper?
@ScholarWenis No. As a Chicagoan, I still rock the Grav album heavy.
I’m currently in progress of creating a rap blog (15 years after the rap blog bubble) and I have a piece in progress called Kanye the anti-hero. Gonna have to read this book before I post that ish. I know the saying goes “don’t judge a book by it’s cover” but I gotta say seeing Kanye cry with a burger king crown on feels good for some reason.