The Cultural Impact of Kanye West

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxx

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2. Revisiting the Pharmakon: Artistic Gifts / Human Complexities

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. Now I Ain’t Saying He’s a Crate Digger: Kanye West, “Community Theaters” and the Soul Archive

      • Mark Anthony Neal

      Pages 3-12

   3. Kanye West: Asterisk Genius?

      • Akil Houston

      Pages 13-28

   4. Afrofuturism: The Digital Turn and the Visual Art of Kanye West

      • Reynaldo Anderson, John Jennings

      Pages 29-44

   5. You Got Kanyed: Seen but Not Heard

      • David J. Leonard

      Pages 45-63

   6. An Examination of Kanye West’s Higher Education Trilogy

      • Heidi R. Lewis

      Pages 65-77

3. Unpacking Hetero-normativity and Complicating Race and Gender

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 79-79

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   2. “By Any Means Necessary”: Kanye West and the Hypermasculine Construct

      • Sha’Dawn Battle

      Pages 81-96

   3. Kanye West’s Sonic [Hip-hop] Cosmopolitanism

      • Regina N. Bradley

      Pages 97-107

   4. “Hard to Get Straight”: Kanye West, Masculine Anxiety, Dis-identification

      • Tim’m West

      Pages 109-125

   5. You Can’t Stand the Nigger I See!: Kanye West’s Analysis of Anti-Black Death

      • Tommy Curry

      Pages 127-145

4. Theorizing the Aesthetic, the Political, and the Existential

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 147-147

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   2. When Apollo and Dionysus Clash: A Nietzschean Perspective on the Work of Kanye West

      • Julius Bailey

      Pages 149-165

   3. God of the New Slaves or Slave to the Ideas of Religion and God?

      • Monica R. Miller

      Pages 167-179

   4. Trimalchio from Chicago: Flashing Lights and The Great Kanye in West Egg

      • A. D. Carson

      Pages 181-193

   5. Confidently (Non)cognizant of Neoliberalism: Kanye West and the Interruption of Taylor Swift

      • Nicholas D. Krebs

      Pages 195-208

   6. Kanye Omari West: Visions of Modernity

      • Dawn Boeck

      Pages 209-228

5. Back Matter

   Pages 229-261

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Through rap and hip hop, entertainers have provided a voice questioning and challenging the sanctioned view of society. Examining the moral and social implications of Kanye West's art in the context of Western civilization's preconceived ideas, the contributors consider how West both challenges religious and moral norms and propagates them.

• Friedrich Nietzsche
• gender
• society

"Provocateur, egotist, sage, and artist, no figure in the past decade of popular culture has reflected and defined the zeitgeist better than Kanye West. This collection lays bare the tangle of complexities and contradictions that have made the artist and the art indispensable to our era and proves that if game recognizes game, wisdom does too." - Jelani Cobb, author of The Substance of Hope: Barack Obama and the Paradox of Progress

"If Julius Bailey was a song, he would be that surprise banger DJ Red Alert drops around one in the morning as the party is at its peak. He is humbly one part scholar and two parts philosopher, yet all hip-hop. Respected for his integrity as a cultural critic and archivist, it's no surprise that, like a master beat maker finding the perfect sample, he was ahead of the curve when he proposed to explore the cultural impact of Kanye West . . . but right on time." - Toni Blackman, US Hip Hop Ambassador

"The Cultural Impact of Kanye West is a much-needed addition in today's diluted hip-hop cultural criticism. By deeming West, his chameleon persona, and iconic brand worthy of scholarly examination, this book takes us on a philosophical odyssey like no other in the modern academy." Rahiel Tesfamariam, founder and Editor-in-Chief, Urban Cusp

Reynaldo Anderson, Harris-Stowe State University, USA ShaDawn Battle, University of Cincinnati, USA Dawn Boeck, Texas A and M University, USA Regina Bradley, Florida State University, USA A.D. Carson, University of South Carolina, USA Tommy Curry, Texas A and M University, USA Akil Houston, Ohio University, USA John Jennings, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA Nicholas Krebs, Purdue University, USA David J. Leonard, Washington State University, USA Heidi Lewis, Colorado College, USA Monica R. Miller, Lewis and Clark University, USA Mark Anthony Neal, Duke University, USA Tim'm West, Artist and Activist

Policies and ethics