A Little Ditty About Jack & Kanye

This is another article that originally appeared in The Stall.......

When it comes to popular music, the 00’s (or Naughts or whatever the hell it is) was chock full of crappy genres like “nu metal,” “snap music” and “crunkcore” featuring terrible artists like Nelly, Brokencyde, Nickelback and Soulja Boy. However, some artists stuck out like roses in fertilizer. Artists like The Roots, The Killers, The Hives, Talib Kwali and Common, while not being as popular as their less-talented brethren, give hope for people who actually like good music. However, there were two musicians who stood out even among the crop of talented artists for flipping the script on their respective genres and changing people’s perspective on popular music. With all that being said, my two choices for “Artists of the Decade” are Jack White and Kanye West.

Both West and White are rather eccentric in their actions (In Kanyeezy’s case, when he uttered “George Bush doesn't care about black people” while the entire back-story of the White Stripes shows the warped sense of humor White has.) In addition, both men have been known to exhibit somewhat malevolent behavior i.e. the highly publicized moment when West completely blitzed a clueless Taylor Swift Rex Ryan-style at the VMAs while White caught an assault charge for beating the snot out of the lead singer of fellow Detroit band The Von Bondies. However, high jinks aside, both Kanye and Jack White, through their mind-blowing work in their respective genres, brought pop music kicking and screaming into the new decade.

Chicago-raised West first gamed fame as a top producer on both rap and R&B albums due to his artistically brilliant meshing of old soul songs and electronic music into his beats, this is most notable on Jay-Z’s 2001 album, “The Blueprint.” After being in a car crash in 2002, which left him with his jaw wired shut, he was inspired to create his breakout single, “Through The Wire,” which he recorded while his jaw was still ensnared with wire. Since then, West’s daring mix of wordplay-riddled rhymes along his signature sound, which is like Alvin and the Chipmunks singing old Aretha Franklin songs mashed up with Daft Punk, had rappers of different statures from icons like Jay-Z to up-and-comers like Drake and Kid Cudi thinking about how far they can take the “game,” as it were, to the next level. To this day, West is still thinking of new ways to be innovative when it comes to hip-hop, most notably on his last album, “808s and Heartbreak.”

West’s true defining moment was on Sept. 11, 2007, when both he and 50 Cent dropped on the same day, Kanye releasing “Graduation” and Fiddy pushing “Curtis.” Music fans all over the world called this a battle over the future of the hip-hop movement, whether it continues in the vein of the street-laden swagger of 50 or head into a more socially-conscious, experimental sound that West was at the forefront of. The people spoke loudly with their scrilla as Kanye moved 957,000 copies of “Graduation” while Fifty lagged behind with only 691,000 units of “Curtis” sold. This proved that Kanye was the future of rap and hip hop and the people were ready to follow his lead.

Much like Kanye, Detroit-reared Jack White rose out of the Motor City garage-rock scene and via the use of cattle prod-like guitar sounds and a sledgehammer-like backbeat courtesy of his partner-in-crime, ex-wife, sister, band mate, whatever it is Meg White. Their second album “White Blood Cells,” which made all of the stupid rap-metal bands take notice by overloading everyone with their raw, unapologetic and brutally honest sound. However, their follow-up, “Elephant,” with the lead single “Seven Nation Army,” turned the music world on its collective ear and on the next two albums, “Get Behind Me Satan” and “Icky Thump” both which incorporated a more bluesy sound without losing the razor-like teeth of the previous albums enforced the fact the Stripes and other like-minded bands (The Killers, Kings Of Leon, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club etc.) will be the face of rock & roll for years to come. White has only strengthened that sentiment with his side projects, The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather.

The 00’s have given us a lot of things that are either hit-or-miss, like Facebook, Uggs and Ashton Kutcher’s career. However, when it comes to music, the 00’s gave us Kanye West and Jack White, both of which gave their respective genres, hip-hop and rock ‘n’ roll, the collective kick in the ass that the two genres needed so that they can stop posturing and mean-mugging and get back to what makes both genres so compelling, well-crafted songs that move whoever listens to them. By being able to do that consistently, both men are deserving of the title of “Music Artists of the Decade.”