Day Two: Kanye West

As I begin to pack for Lollapalooza, the reality that I'm actually going to be able to see all these artists that I've been talking about is starting to really set in. And aside for Radiohead, arguably the biggest headliner for this year's festival has to be Kanye West. West is taking a break from his current tour to headline the 2008 event, two years after he headlined the 2006 Lollapalooza. West (along with Wilco) is one of the huge names to be performing in their hometown of Chicago, along with a multitude of less popular Chicago based artists.

As Kanye climbs the popularity and credibility ranking in the music business - denoting Nas' opinion of Hip-hop indeed being dead - he's been starting to eclipse what indeed makes a hip-hop artist an artist. Sure, the usual demographic of influences in Kanye's repertoire are there, but there's also something else that seems different. Never has an artist in his likeness been able to cross boundaries of fan-base with his perfectionist style and context. A simpler way to give you a quick bio of Kanye is to say he's not like other popular hip-hop artists; he doesn't get boring every once in a while. And all the while his public persona seems to make him louder than he actually is, it only seems to be working in his favor. His fashion taste, glow in the dark concerts, and more and more popular blog are also helping him eclipse other artists in his genre.

Of course, citing a small portion of what Kanye West is doesn't too much justice. We all know that something small isn't his style.

For some reason, I think this 'ad' would fit here better.