Kanye West is outspoken, he is controversial, he does as he pleases and doesn't really care much about what others say about him. Sure, you can call him cocky, you can call him egotistical and you can go ahead and call him an assh*le, too. Any of these claims hold true, and these are the words people use to describe him. But Kanye isn’t all these things without reason, he’s not just crazy without explanation; there is a method to his madness and it has everything to do with his confidence.
An artist, which is what he is considered to be, is a businessman. He is his own business, as an individual, rather than being a company with many employees and variant roles, artists depend solely on themselves because they are both the business and the product. For those that don't know his story, he went from being the man in the shadows, producing beats for Jay Z and many other rappers in the 90s, to finally getting his shot with the hit single "Through the wire" in 2004. It was uphill from there -- with hit, after hit, after hit.
Kanye has solidified himself and his business as a staple in both music and pop culture, bringing countless different sounds to tracks, as well as being responsible for the production on the song and gracing us with his lyrics. Kanye never gave up on his dreams of becoming one of the greatest rappers out there, escaping his big brother’s shadow and showing the world what he is capable of.
Sure, some of his decisions are questionable, the things he says often cross the line and his actions and decisions may not be the best at times, but he is one of the most successful men in music right now, which means he can’t be doing it all wrong. Kanye strays from the path, trailblazing -- one of those people that doesn't conform and writes his own rules. Paving your own path is always accompanied with due criticism and, of course, the requisite amount of haters.
Any time you do something outside of the box, push against conformity and create a new path, people will fight against your struggle, viewing these changes as being inherently wrong.
Kanye is successful because he tunes all of this out. He does as he pleases, he creates what he wants to create and he always says whatever is on his mind. People can hate him for being real, punching out a paparazzo or putting Taylor Swift in her place, but he really doesn't give a f*ck because it seems like the right thing to do to him and he’s not going to fake being someone else for the cameras.
Where most people go wrong and where he goes right is that not only does he tune out the criticism, the hate and the negativity, but he doesn't even bother responding. He doesn’t give attention to the people that are looking for it, because essentially that is all haters are looking for -- attention. His strategy to deal with haters is quite simple, let them hate all they want, let them think and say all they want, but prove them wrong with constant success and by building your own path – and that’s exactly where Kanye prevails.
Not many can be this composed and deal with the large amount of criticism and not respond. The most admirable incident is when Ray J, the man who has a sex tape with Kanye’s baby mama, tried to become relevant once again by releasing a song titled "I Hit It First," which was a direct shot at Kanye West, blatantly explaining to him that he was the one that made Kim Kardashian relevant and that he was the first one to "hit it."
In the rules of war in the olden days, men fought men on the battlegrounds. Only barbarians would cross the line and go after women and children, as that was not considered an honorable thing to do. Sure, Kim K is an industry slut who has slept with one too many guys and has made a public idiot of herself by getting married for 72 days. Should Kanye really be dating her? Probably not, but at the end of the day, that’s still the mother of his child and there is a certain line that Ray J purposely crossed not only to be a hater, to criticize him or to try to make himself relevant again -- but to break Kanye down.
Many, such as myself, thought that Kanye was going to murder him on his upcoming album -- and instead of doing it with a 3 minute song, just one line and a few words would be enough to put this hater down. But Kanye did one of the most admirable things I have ever witnessed, which I truly believe was underplayed. He didn't respond, he didn't give Ray J the time of day and would rather let his success and his number 1 album speak for himself. What Ray J was trying to do was break his focus as well as ruin the relationship he may have with someone that is quite controversial herself.
That is exactly what every hater is trying to do to you when they incite negativity towards your actions. Unfortunately, the world, and the society, we live in today has bred a large generation of haters that don't know how to keep their mouths shut. Instead of worrying about what is actually going on in their lives, they would rather use their energy to bring others down so that they can feel better about themselves. That is truly the one and only agenda a hater has and the only way to give them the satisfaction of their hate is by giving them the attention they are looking for.
Kanye West may not be the ideal role model to look at for many things, but one of the things I respect most is that by not responding to Ray J, he proved that not only is he perfectly okay with his actions and his life, but he also showed that a hater is not worth a minute of his time on any occasion. And it wasn't just Ray J, there were many others, especially with the birth of his child and his public relationship with Kim Kardashian.
The Kanye strategy when it comes to haters is quite simple, if you let them get to you and if you listen to what they have to say that is when you start second guessing yourself and doing things that don't truly feel right inside to appease others -- and that is when you lose who you really are and what you are planning on doing. So approach it the same way one of the most hated and criticized men of our current world handles it today: don't respond, don't give those losers the time of day and don't ever let it alter your decisions because that is what they want you to do with their hate.
Kanye, I applaud you not only for sticking by your decisions, but also for the fact that you won’t let anything or anyone bring you down.
