Comments on: KANYE WEST (w/ Jay Z) / “Diamonds”

By: chino green

chino green — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:23:22 +0000

fuck Kanye, his an exploiter,,i am from sierra leone n am sick of this shit..

By: Kanye is too Legit

Kanye is too Legit — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 03:50:50 +0000

Y’all don’t know sh*t if your straight clownin on Kanye… He has got that fire’y dank music.

By: nina

nina — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 06:55:15 +0000

i just wanted to know if he was a jehovah

By: Dirty

Dirty — Sat, 24 Sep 2005 22:47:10 +0000

It really saddens me. Kanye could of made this song much bigger by only talking about diamonds, and how basically evil they are.. and not talking about the ROC. I think he should of just BIT baby blak’s song if he didnt have the orignality, creativity and consiousness to bring the truth to light and really making an impact, cuz shit these dumb mothefukas (not you kanye) are still all up in my face on mtv showing me their ugly ass daimonds…….

PEACE TO THE WORLD I LOVE YOU ALL: EVEN IF YOU WEAR DIAMONDS. (y’all just dont know better)

PLEASE LISTEN TO ONE BE LO’s AXIS (kanye could of done that song, well maybe it’ll be on his next album?!)

By: Brittany

Brittany — Sun, 24 Jul 2005 05:26:30 +0000

Despite that it’s taking so long to make the album, true fans will go out and buy the cd, even if it can already be downloaded. I love the fact that rappers are reaching out to the poverty or the world instead of the good life. I got Kanye’s first cd and im definitely getting the new one.

By: Arjanay

Arjanay — Sun, 24 Jul 2005 01:55:09 +0000

Hey whoever reply negative about kanye’s Diamonds are selfish forgive me but it is the truth the video is real the lyrics are real I see kanye as an activist. It is like he is educating us the hip hop generation about what is going on in africa this is a cause and not to be played with. I understand that a lot of us don’t spend tons of money on diamonds but we want princess cut diamonds and diamond this on if it is a half of carat rather we deny it or not and some of us don’t want ice but we know alot of people do. THis message that kanye is sending out is to let us know that over here in america we do take alot for granted when there is other serious issues going on. And kanye is known for his beats but alot of people are reseaching sierra leone history and the conflict diamonds did you know that this war in sierra leone and the blood diamond was current up until 5 years ago so take the positive things that he is saying research the information and be an activist educate others about this cause ans stop searching for the negative things in life

By: Caleb Balloch

Caleb Balloch — Thu, 14 Jul 2005 17:32:26 +0000

I had a lot of faith in Kanye West to bringing something new to an over-crunked gansta hip-hop that seemed to have risen several years ago. I followed Kanye as an MC since he released his first single, Through the Wire, because I heard a humble and grateful MC rapping over a great instrumental. Not to mention the fact that it was straight fire. However, after buying Kanye’s first album as it was released, Kanye has filled me with little more than disappointment.

Kanye has neither the rhymes, nor the flow, nor the lyrical content to be considered even a good MC. Using the same word two or three times isn’t rhyming, that’s repetition. Don’t get me wrong, that can be hot, just as Jay-Z did on ‘22 Twos’ on Reasonable Doubt, but certainly not how Kanye does it. The majority of Kanye’s rhymes consist of him changing the syllables of a word to fit the rhyme, such as his famous “securrre”. While this also works sometimes, with Snoop Dogg as example, Kanye lacks the flow that makes you think twice about the rhyme you just heard. When Kanye does it, you know instantly that something was fucked up. After six or seven in a row, it really kills the song. As for his lyrical content, my initial impression of the man could not have been farther from the truth. With his release of Through the Wire, and some-how-leaked version of Family Business, along with several others, Kanye was poised to be the next big hit, and this time it was a guy who didn’t rap about cars and clothes; but about shit that matters. Some how, even before he sold way-to-many copies of his first album, he was already drowning in bling.
As for his producing, that is another story. Kanye dropped into the game as a producer, and did he ever produce some hot beats! He still does it every once and a while now. But the problem with his production is that it doesn’t change. This need was put into words best by Primo and Guru before on the intro of their classic Moment of Truth:

“That makes me know that, we we we we’re doin
We had the right idea in the beginning
And and we just need to maintain our focus, and elevate
We what we do we update our formulas
We have certain formulas but we update em (oh right)
with the times, and everything y’know
And and so.. y’know
The rhyme style is elevated
The style of beats is elevated”

Kanye doesn’t do that. He did have the right idea, he does have some great formulas. But he doesn’t update them. Kanye still has some flashes, like Corners by Common (talk about change!), but on the whole, his production is just getting complacent. It’s the same shit over and over.
Diamond’s production is just too pop for me. The original lyrics were sour, and made it worse. When Lupe Fiasco put out his own, it was decent because he had the lyrical content and the decent rhymes that Kanye lacked. It made you sit and want to listen to the lyrics. As for the third version, had Mtume not shed light on the timeline of things, I would probably have been relieved to hear that Kanye finally has something to say worth listening to, but now I see he doesn’t. As for Jay-Z, he has my respect (not that he wants or needs it), but that verse was shit.

Kanye is a popular artist because he has catchy beats. A lot of the consumers out there can’t really follow the lyrics, or just prefer not to. Hell, in a club, nobody gives a shit about rhymes. Kanye’s album will sell because its hype, but hopefully we’ll find that there is more than that (although from the first two releases, don’t get your hopes up). Kanye’s sophomore album is going to sell; hell, I’ll probably still pick it up eventually. But like Mtume, I’m not going to be breaking anyone’s necks either. Sorry for the rant.

Peace

By: Adia Blackmon

Adia Blackmon — Wed, 13 Jul 2005 00:08:50 +0000

Amen and Ashe to that shit (sorry for the appearing sacrilige but it is what I could immediately muster)! I peace both of you brothers up. Thank you for showing the beauty in sharing between generations, learning and teaching. I laughed out loud in response to Mtume’s initial response and then to Kalamu’s celebration of discourse between the first two posts (Kalamu’s and Mtume’s). I was tickled at being saddened, delighted, enlightened, shouting in affirmation, and laughing through tears. Kalamu you have raised an awesome son and Mtume you have raised an awesome father. I still want to love hip-hop but so much of it only makes space for me to be someone’s ho, wifey, or gold digger. I appreciate what you two have done here; I pray Kanye or someone with the same exposure reads it and thinks about how much power they’ve been given because what they say is heard far and wide. I am sitting here in drunken delight at your words, back and forth to each other and to us, and the masterful inserts of your links and pictures. At our seminary baccalaureate our speaker said something about our current government and it sounded like he was going to cuss to which he responded “some things are so profane they must be spoken of with profanity.” Peace.

By: senacle

senacle — Tue, 12 Jul 2005 17:43:48 +0000

First, love the site. Second, I think both of you expressed valid points about Kanye and just hip-hop in general. Even though I give Kanye credit for infusing some additional consciousness into hip-hop in a way that others like Common haven’t been able to generate a mainstream appeal, I still think kanye’s full of himself. He can act like he’s had to fight all his life, but at some point he needs to realize that he’s successful now — and righteously that doesn’t give him the inherent right to shit on everybody else. With success comes humility. As for “Diamonds,” it is a hit, a club-friendly tune — one made moreso by Jay-Z who totally removes the song from the Sierre Leone awareness that Kanye started with and turns it into some trivial mess. Good night, for real.

By: Marian

Marian — Tue, 12 Jul 2005 17:09:16 +0000

I did find Lauryn Hill’s lyrics to be a condemnation of the current political and legal environment. (Even I caught the reference to Bush.) However, IMHO, the content is more interesting than the form. If I were more interested in form, the KWest’s entry might be more interesting because he’s layered another rhythmic track on top of hers. Instead, the content is a cynical reaction to caring what is going on in the world. It’s a complaint that Hill is not as exploitive as a young beautiful woman should be. (That’s a woman’s only talent, isn’t it?)

If content is immaterial, then why the verbal jousting between performers? Why is Mtume indignant that these performers’ words don’t match their actions? Meanwhile, I am trying to imagine a scat contest. No content—just pure form. I have at least one Louis Armstrong CD that includes Ella Fitzgerald. Or would a contest with Sarah Vaughan be better?

I am at risk at sounding as if I prefer content – and I’m a true Jazz and modern classical music fan. I love abstracts and ambiguity. I guess my problem is accepting lyrics as mere sound patterns.