February 16, 2016

DENSON | Greatest Ever

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“I’m the Jordan and Steph Curry of music, meaning I’m the best of two generations.” His highness, Air Yeezy, Kanyeezey, the self described “top-five of all time.” Kanye West was never one for subtlety, humility, sanity or self-awareness. But the creative genius has a habit of trolling pretty much anyone, especially the actual greatest of all time, his Airness Michael Jordan. At every end of Kanye’s never ending saga, I find that every tweet, conversation and news report from him is viewed as both absurd and as the words of a gifted madman.

Then we go into the stratosphere of American sports, where players are quantifiably better than one another. Kanye wants a spot among the greatest. As we all know, the best way to assert your dominance among the best is to berate and insult them. With the release of “The Life of Pablo,” we have just reached the apex of the intersection between Kanye’s career and the sports universe. Get ready for senseless name-calling and audacious accusations. Praise be Kanye.

Bearing in mind that Kanye implied Steph Curry is better than Lebron James, Yeezy is more outspoken now than ever. His song “WE SHOULD HAVE NEVER EVER LET MICHAEL JORDAN PLAY FOR THE WIZARDS” has a message that we can all agree with. But keep in mind Kanye has reason to feud — for if nothing other than our pure enjoyment — with Michael Jordan.

Both West and Jordan worked with Nike for a few years and while Jordan is still with his Nike-sponsored Air Jordan brand, West is with his Air Yeezy’s. Singing that Nike “treats [its] employees just like slaves,” gives us reason to believe that their relationship has gone sour, or at least Kanye wants it to. In short, West is comparing himself to Jordan, claiming both are the best of their respective generations and then indirectly throwing shade at him. Yes, he’s insulting Nike as a company and not Jordan as a person, but as per West’s usual modus operandi, creating an arbitrary feud will always garner attention. The funniest part of it all, as one would expect from the humble Jordan, is that the feud is completely one sided. We see a pattern of Kanye insulting someone for an undisputed fact, and apologizing for the insult.

It’s worth exploring anyone who genuinely thinks he or she is the greatest of all time. We know Jordan is the undisputed greatest. Arguably the most creative of our generation, West still has some time to go before he is the best at what he does. Self-righteous narcissism, however, is a talent in itself — something he does not share with Lebron, Curry and Jordan. Imagine someone with the ego of Kanye and the athletic talent of Lebron James … sorry my head hurts thinking about it too.

I’m excited for the new rivalry between Michael Jordan and Kanye West. Kanye will continue to indirectly battle Jordan for the title of “greatest of all time” — through tweets, mentions in media and subsequent apologies. While Adidas’ Air Yeezys and Nike’s Air Jordans are the most visible sign of competition between the two, there is definitely more to come. In a battle that cannot be won, Kanye is merely showing us his usual insanity. It’s the type of insanity that complements creative genius. Just sit back, appreciate the Twitter rants and hope that the self-imaged “God,” Kanye West, stays off his Lexapro.