By Martin Castro (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: January 14, 2015
As many of you may have heard, Paul McCartney and Kanye West are collaborating. Some Kanye fans think this is huge for Paul. Hell, some Kanye fans don’t even know who Paul McCartney is. Fair enough, you don’t listen to the Beatles — that’s all right. The problem I have with the whole “Kanye vs. Paul” debate is: why is it a thing? I mean, if there was some sort of feud between Kanye and Paul, then maybe it would make sense for people to take sides, but there’s no feud — these two men are working together.
Music fans (each artist has many) have become incredibly divided about the collaboration between Paul and Kanye. First of all, a lot of people are saying Kanye is doing Paul a favour. As much as it pains me to say it, he kind of is. I sincerely doubt there are many kids out there that can name any of Paul’s projects apart from The Beatles. We live in a culture that’s saturated with popular music, and, unfortunately, Paul’s Ram isn’t exactly a Top 40 hit at the moment.
Now let’s talk about Kanye. Is Kanye a good rapper? He’s all right, but he’s not great (although I know a lot of people who will disagree with me and rush to Kanye’s defence). He’s also a total asshat. But nobody can deny that Kanye is a ridiculously gifted producer. This is why I am actually looking forward to this collaboration: despite Kanye West’s personality, he has produced some really catchy and innovative tracks (production-wise) in the last decade. There is a reason that people like his music. There’s also a reason Paul has become the legend he is today: he’s a ridiculously talented man.
I’m not saying, “Hey, let’s all jump on the Kanye / Paul bandwagon!” For all I know, whatever they put out could turn out a total flop. What I am saying, though, is that we shouldn’t judge their product simply based on animosity for either one or the other. And as for the comments that Kanye is doing Paul a favour or that Paul is doing Kanye a favour, let’s face it: both men are sufficiently talented and so lauded in their respective regions of musical enterprise that they ultimately need no favours done for them. If anything, it’s simply a hilarious collaboration between two giants in the music industry, a collaboration that I am personally looking forward to as much as a little kid looks forward to Christmas morning.
