College? Ha! I’m way more into University…that is, Kanye’s Universecity (yes, that is how it’s spelled–play on words, duh). The only blog (besides my own) that I say that I truly read is Kanye West’s blog. For those of you who for some ridiculous reason may not know who he is, just stop reading–I have no interest in imparting any kind of information to you, sorry.
Anyways, for those of you who do…Kanye’s blog is fantastic. It’s not even really about self-promotion (the blog, not the site), but more about cultural referencing, sharing findings, and things of the like. It’s just interesting to read about a perspective that’s so different from my own (last I checked I was not a multi-millionaire black male rapper…) and it’s also a great way to view coming trends (people follow celebrities, celebrities do/wear weird stuff) so I think it’s fun to brace myself before the impact (leggings and skinny jeans, anyone?)
The blog itself is very appealing with its futuristic look and colorful graphics. The website has many components–music, press information, an on-line store. The blog has a interactive portion in that readers can write comments on Kanye’s posts, which may then turn into dialogue between the readers of the blog, allowing one to engage deeper in the experience of blog-reading. Blog reading becomes more sensory when listening to the music on the blog and responding to any posts is a part of the experience. Thanks Kanye for letting me know that studded shoes are soon to be in! :/
I’d be curious to see how many people actually follow blogs, if that were somehow measurable….I’m guessing Kanye’s is one of the more often read personal blogs out there. Maybe it’s his frequent need to apologize for transgressions, or maybe it’s just all those amazing capital letters……it’s certainly gripping reading, most of the time.
I actually have a theory (perhaps it’s not that credible) about Kanye’s public image that I should probably save to write out in full for my own blog. Short version: Kanye’s public image is twofold. We have the cocky, asshole, super-confident Kanye that interrupts people at award shows and such. And then we have the totally insecure, perfectionist, “I just care too much” Kanye that comes out in his apologies (both on his blog and on, say, late night TV).
I would like to posit (and maybe this really is pretty outlandish) that Kanye, while maybe not a MASTER spin doctor (hence the Taylor Swift mistake), is actually playing up these two personalities to an exaggerated degree in order to create a Star Persona that is somewhat larger than life. Because you can’t be as huge as Kanye, or Michael Jackson, or Jay-Z, or Bono, without having a “thing” that makes you somehow seem bigger, or MORE, than a normal person. (Though Jay-Z seems pretty damn “normal” by most counts.) Anyway, my guess is that Kanye might be a bit more “normal” than he acts, but he’s just so GOOD at being famous that he has played up his eccentricities to increase his visibility.