What was the first album you ever bought? Pick your favorite song off that album.

:cat-typing:

Oh boy: my first album was The College Dropout. My friend Callie and I pooled our money to buy the album. She ripped the CD and burned a copy for me. I remember this vividly: she drew the teddy bear on the copy she gave me. 🥰 I treasured that CD and I'm pretty sure it's around here somewhere.

That was back in 2004, back when I knew him as Kanye West, the guy who was in a really bad car accident. I loved the album and was a Kanye fan for the next dozen years. His behavior over the last decade has forced me to think a lot about nuance and separating the artist from the art and what it means to cancel someone. (I even outlined a book called "Cancelled" that I wanted to write to explore the whole situation.)

Over the years, Kanye has been both harmful and hurtful. Last month, Ye wrote some of what I had been wanting to hear from him in his most recent apology. It's a fine start but it's incomplete. He'll have to say more and let his future actions and words speak loudly for him in the years to come.

These days, I still enjoy the music that Kanye made when I hear it. Depriving myself of his music would not serve me. But as a self-respecting (Black) person, I can't condone the things he says (or their impact). In researching and writing this post, I learned:

His father, Ray West, is a former Black Panther and was one of the first black photojournalists at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Ray is alive to witness his son's behavior.

Anyway, my favorite song on the album is Spaceship (feat. GLC & Consequence).

🎧 I scrobble on libre.fm, last.fm and ListenBrainz.