In 2009, with the help of J. Sakiya Sandifer, Kanye West released a book of “personal proverbs” entitled Thank You and You’re Welcome. At the time of release Kanye had just released his electronic/r&b/auto-tuned album 808’s & Heartbreaks, the first major stylistic change of his career. While people were critical at first, his fourth studio album debuted at number one and produced a hit single in “Heartless”. It’s safe to say that he was feeling himself at that time in his life (the book was released six months before the “Taylor Swift Incident”). Thank You and You’re Welcome is intended for people who don’t have time to read super long books, but still want to find inspiration. An opportunity for Kanye to share the philosophies and stories that have shaped him and his success. Throughout the 52 page book Kanye implores people to “know your worth”, “embrace your flaws”, and “believe in your flyness”. He also gives his take on the keys to happiness, life, and anything else you’d expect Kanye to touch on.

“People who say what they think and then do what they say normally get what they want out of life”, Kanye writes in a section titled Think It Say It Do It. He declares that he loves telling people what he’s going to do because it makes him accountable for what he said. Using the publics opinion as a motivational tool gives him an advantage over simply keeping his thoughts and goals to himself. This life strategy may not work for people that can’t handle pressure, but Kanye has shown that this is what works for him. The more people he tells he’s going to do something, the more pressure he has to do that thing. When he was a producer in the late 90’s/early 00’s he talked shit about how he would be the best producer. After he became the best producer he talked shit about how he wanted to become the best rapper. After that he wanted to become the best designer, and the best creative. Now we’re here. Kanye can’t become the best at these things because he’s looked at as a musician, even though the Air Yeezy II “Red October” shoes he released in partnership with Nike sold out in 11 minutes.

I attended Bonnaroo this past weekend and saw Kanye West’s performance on Friday night. The set maneuvered through his immense catalog of hits from the past 10 years, and of course rhetoric’s about where he wants his career to go and his 2008 Bonnaroo performance when he didn’t go on until 4:30 AM due to technical reasons. His speeches were both parts inspiring and arrogant. At one point he told the crowd that “if you’re a fan of me you’re a fan of your motherfucking self”, and at another point he angrily screamed “WHERE THE PRESS AT!” multiple times, looking for those who wrote bad things about his 2008 performance. Kanye used the Bonnaroo platform as an opportunity to tell 90,000 people that he doesn’t care about his music getting radio play because he’s chasing the success of people like Walt Disney, Howard Hughes, Henry Ford, and other great innovators.

Later that night I attended the Chance The Rapper concert. If you haven’t heard of the 21-year-old Chicago native, you will eventually. So far in his short career Chance has self-released two mixtapes and been featured on music by Childish Gambino, Lil Wayne, and others. His first mixtape release, 2012’s 10 Day, was recored following a 10 day suspension during his senior year of high school. The mixtape was received well locally in Chicago and allowed Chance to make connections with established producers and artists. In 2013 Chance released his sophomore effort, Acid Rap. Following the success of Acid Rap, Chance embarked on the Social Experiment Tour, while remaining unsigned by a major label. This summer he’s performing at every major festival in America.

At 21-years-old (also a Chicago native) Kanye West was struggling as a low level beat producer and college dropout. It was six years before West even released a mixtape. Chance’s ascent from high school pothead to major festival performer took just over two years. The internet accounts for part of this expedited success, but without Kanye rappers like Chance would not be getting a fair shake from many hip hop fans. At Bonnaroo, Chance The Rapper, a 21-year-old kid from Southside Chicago, performed songs entitled “Everybody’s Something”, “Cocoa Butter Kisses”, and “That’s Love” in front of a predominantly white audience that knew every word. At one point Chance actually broke down and cried due to the overwhelming love he was receiving.

It’s interesting how a festival that encourages it’s attendees to “radiate positivity” would book someone like Kanye who causes such negative feelings from people who don’t understand his message. Kanye has been successful for so long now that he isn’t going to change his strategy, but his latest goals are his most lofty yet. It’ll be interesting to see just how much change he can make in the world over the course of his career. Most people I talked to throughout the rest of the festival were mostly irritated that Kanye would spend 10+ minutes talking instead of playing music. When it was all said and done, it was Chance The Rapper who summed up what Kanye was trying to say the best; “everybody can do what the fuck they wanna do!”