Read the attached article to answer the following questions.
1. Many of us are probably familiar with Kanye West, either as musician, as figure of controversy, or both. If you do have an opinion on Kanye, how do you feel about him? Has your opinion changed over the last few years? Has his music been meaningful to you in the same way it has to this author?
2. In the first two pages, Coates talks about Michael Jackson, not Kanye. What does he mean when he says “who can really stop a black god dying to be white?” What did it mean to Coates as a child to watch Michael Jackson undergo surgeries to look whiter? What comparison do you think he is drawing between Michael Jackson and Kanye?
3. On page 5, Coates describes his first experience listening to Kanye, on Jay Z’s The Blueprint. What was that experience like for him? Can you relate to this at all?
4. Coates sets the article up as pure criticism of Kanye, but on page 6, his tone shifts. He believes Kanye deserves to be held accountable for his actions, but he also suggests Kanye deserves empathy from the public. He writes that Kanye’s career has shown “a paucity of wisdom, and more, a paucity of loved ones powerful enough to perform the most essential function of love itself, protecting the beloved from destruction.” What does he mean here? (Paucity means lack!)
5. On page 7, Coates shifts the discussion, and begins to tell the reader about his own experience becoming famous. (He wrote a book called Between The World and Me that came out in 2015 and has been on the bestseller list since.) What was his experience of fame like? Why do you think he chooses to tell us about it?