made that bitch famous: a rant
I am having a bunch of feelings about Kanye West’s song Famous so here I am, Tumblr, to let it all out.
First of all: nope, you don’t get to use Taylor Swift as part of rehabbing your public image, play nice with her and splash that all over social media and the motherfuckin’ MTV awards... then publicly roast her for that badass street cred. Pick one, asshole.
Okay, so we start with West rapping to the people who ‘know me best’. You know, his REAL self, his TRUE self, not his fake fuck self who just PRETENDS to hang out with stuck up no talent princesses like Taylor Swift. And then we reach this gem: “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex.” Where do I even start.
These presumptuous statements from dudes about who they are going to have sex with just have all the wrong connotations. It’s a power play. Using his platform, where she has no voice, no say, no chance to say no, to throw that out into the universe? It’s gross. It’s violating. It’s disturbing.
Then we get to it: “Why?” Yes, why, Kanye? Why would Taylor Swift want to have sex with you? Is it cause you’re talented? Cause you both love to express your feelings? Is it for your winning personality?
“I made that bitch famous.”
Oh wow. Wow.
I am reminded here of Kim’s call about Kourtney: “I'm not buying her a fucking pair of shoes. I bought her a fucking career.” I’m pretty sure that line was completely scripted, but it was funny because it rang true. The Kardashians are only famous because first, there was Kim. But when Kanye says it about Taylor, it is not true, or playful, or remotely amusing.
Let’s forget the fact that Taylor Swift is vastly more successful than Kanye West and always has been. We can also set aside the fact that Kanye’s fame these days is more about his more famous wife than his artistry.
Let’s just hone in on that sick idea that women sleep with men as a form of repayment.
Once upon a time I used to go to clubs on the weekends to dance with my friends. Sometimes I’d go to the bar to buy a drink and the total stranger next to me would step in, unprompted, and cover it for me. And I’d turn to him and thank him and then I’d walk off with my drink. And I’d feel guilty - cause like, I should not have let him pay for my drink when I didn’t even intend on speaking to him, right? Poor guy was just trying to get laid and I’d just wasted his money and his time, yeah? I should have TOLD him as he was handing over the cash, “Bro, I’m not interested.”
But I don’t have sex for money and I don’t talk to men for alcohol. I’m not going to participate in the narrative that says I owe a man something when he chooses to put me in an awkward situation to try to force my hand. To force me to pay attention. Nope.
So fuck it: waste your money on me boys, I’ll choose to believe in your better self, that you buy alcohol for ladies cause you’re just generous like that.
I’m sorry, Kanye, if your sexual history is a series of transactions. That’s seriously messed up. But you have a daughter, and I saw her dancing along to this song, to these lyrics, and one day she’s going to know what they mean. You talked a lot recently about how you’d feel if someone did to your daughter what you did to Taylor Swift seven years ago. But I guess it just didn’t stick.
When your art is so heavily reliant on words, you know how much words matter. It matters when a man feels the need to aggressively cut down a woman more successful than him and it matters that he does it using sexually degrading language. That means something. It can’t be so easily brushed off.
