For us Hip Hop fans, we understand when Kanye West rants. His Grammy comments, while unacceptable, were regular Kanye to us. The rest of the world still doesn't quite get how his mind works. This is despite years of giving examples, including his infamous "George Bush doesn't care about black people" line. So, with his comments this time, come a lot of angry people outside of the genre. Shirley Manson had some harsh words in a Facebook post, but Michael McDonald one-ups her.
"I don't think it even really bears too much thought," McDonald said on The Dan Le Batard show. "It's pretty obvious what Kanye's problem is. When Kanye gets to a point where he can actually put a couple of notes together either vocally or two bars of valid music playing an instrument, then he might have a right to criticize somebody else. Until then I think he's just talking to hear the sound of his own voice." He doesn't stop there, though. "The whole kinda cut-and-paste thing is a certain kind of artform all by itself. I don't know if I call it songwriting from a musician's standpoint. ... Beck is obviously a consummate musician. He plays instruments, many instruments. He can make his own record without having a fleet of computer operators onboard."It sounds like Michael McDonald is harboring some unnecessary frustration toward Kanye West. It makes sense to be upset, but this is a step too far. Kanye is one of the most influential artists of our time, so to diminish his impact is disrespectful. And yes, Kanye pretty much did the same to Beck, which, again, was not okay. Michael didn't need to stoop to that level, though.
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