Singing the blues with Mr. Kanye West (Anthony Smith aka Postmodern Negro)

Anyone who has ever experinced heat-break either personal or observed will quickly learn the hoax of "saccharine happiness."
My departure from make belief happy Christianity has brought a lot of doubt and turmoil especially when copnfronted with heart-break. Recently I came across this exerpt from a poem that reminds me to always look for faith to restore hope even whe I feel deflated:

"As swimmers dare
to lie face to teh sky
and water bears them,
as hawks rest upon air
and air sustains them;
so would I learn to attain
free fall and float
into creator Spirit's deep embrace,
knowing no effort earns
that all-surrounding grace."

Anthony, I think you're right on here, and I'm wondering what Cornel West might say about Kanye's latest album. West seems to be heavily into the experience of what he calls "the blues people," and a lot of what you're saying here ties into that kind of thing he talks about.

And I really dig the term "blues-hop." I know Kanye calls it pop art, but I think he's talking about more than just his music. His live shows, clothing line, producing, rapping, etc...all ties into his desire to be a pop artist rather than "just" a rapper. So I think pop art is a good term for the whole of what he's doing, in fact he's probably the only person on the planet doing that specific kind of pop art (as opposed to painting or printing or photography or other kinds of more traditional pop art media), which makes West a real visionary, but I think blues-hop is a much more appropriate term for his music as a specific part of his whole pop art creativity.

Very nice Anthony. I believe we find God more in our pain than in any put-on happiness. God knows where he's needed.