Kanye West Is Making a Video Game About His Mother and We Should Be Excited
Odd tribute to his mother, masterpiece in the making, or a call for attention? Kanye does what Kanye wants.
Kanye just released his seventh studio album, “The Life of Pablo,” as well Season 3 of his Yeezy fashion line to a crowd 20,000 strong at the Madison Square Garden. It was a listening party and a fashion show rolled into one. But amidst the sullen faces of the models standing on the platforms and the surrounding crowd nodding their head to the music, Kanye made an announcement: he was making a video game. And his mother, who passed away last 2007, is the protagonist.
As the crowd looks on, Kanye flashes the trailer. The trailer goes like this: Donda West, Kanye West’s mother, flies alongside white clouds and blue skies, donning pristine white wings, as an acapella rendition of Only One plays. Only One is also the name of the video game being released. In Swahili, Kanye also means “only one.” Neat, huh?
Not satisfied with the crowd’s response, he plays the trailer a second time, saying “That’s not easy to do, man! Y’all just be acting like that s**t is regular.”
Kanye West is a man of many hats, and wears several of these hats at the same time for one project at a time: rapper, music producer, filmmaker, fashion designer, and now, video game producer. So what does it mean when West finally comes full circle and enters the realm of video games? Will we see a hallmark example of video games as art? Or will we just see a one-time thing?
In an interview for Details, Kanye shares how trying to make video games got him into music:
“First beat I did,” he recalls, “was in seventh grade, on my computer. I got into doing beats for the video games I used to try to make. My game was very sexual. The main character was, like, a giant penis. It was like Mario Brothers, but the ghosts were, like, vaginas. Mind you, I’m 12 years old, and this is stuff 30-year-olds are programming. You’d have to draw in and program every little step—it literally took me all night to do a step, ’cause the penis, y’know, had little feet and eyes.”
Freudian analysis and self-awareness issues aside, this sounds like a compassionate tribute to his mother only Kanye West can think of, let alone accomplish.
Kanye may not be the first in the family to venture into video games (his wife, Kim Kardashian has a successful mobile game called Kim Kardashian: Hollywood), but he might be just be the one to break the idea of games as mindless and simple, the players being testosterone-chalked preteens whose visual diet comprises of loud noises, flashing lights, and beautiful women.
Let’s admit it: although video games are classified as art and protected under the United States Supreme Court, most video game titles have been overshadowed by old, stagnated ideas, as per public perception. The idea of an accomplished artist venturing into video games to overturn archaic assumptions sounds pleasing, but the idea of a celebrity is equally, if not more, promising. Who can change the game more than the game changer himself?
Whether we love or hate his music, his clothes, or himself, Kanye West has and still is an influential figure, in the runway, or in the stage. His albums have set trends, from the departure of ganster rap brought about by College Dropout, to the use of autotune and drum beats in 808s & Heartbreak, to his fashion collections which have influenced streetwear. West draws from a number of influences beyond music—Nietzsche to anime such as Akira and Ghost in the Shell.
Before you chuckle and call all of this an attempt to satisfy his already large ego, consider this: In an industry stifled by allegations of catering to white males (#Gamergate anyone?), a video game about a woman of color ascending to heaven sounds like a welcome change. And even if you praise or dismiss this venture, Kanye West will come through, and, as Dave Chappelle says, “do dope shit.”
Peep the trailer right here:
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