He also announced two new albums that are in the works.
Photo by Jason Persse/Flickr.
Creative people often perform an ongoing balance of internal strength and external openness.
Few creatives know this delicate balance more than rapper Kanye West, the multifaceted artist who faces both critical acclaim and public scorn on a daily basis.
After an 11-month absence from Twitter, West recently returned to the platform to annouce two new albums and deliver a long list of advice and rules for creatives who may be struggling with inspiration fatigue.
\noh by the way this is my book that I'm writing in real time. No publisher or publicist will tell me what to put where or how many pages to write. This is not a financial opportunity this is an innate need to be expressive.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 18, 2018\n
\nI will work on this "book" when I feel it. When We sit still in the mornings We get hit with so many ideas and so many things We want to express. When I read this tweet to myself I didn't like how much I used the word I so I changed the I's to We's.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 18, 2018\n
While West’s impromptu rule book – let’s call it the “Tao of Kanye” – emerged on social media as a new kind of philosophical study, his aphorisms address universal questions that appeal to everyone who has struggled to express their own creative ideas.
After all, creatives must have the mental toughness and self-discipline to hone their craft. They also have to deal with criticism while maintaining the fortitude necessary to go against the crowd.
To maintain that internal balance, there’s a longstanding tradition for artists like West to espouse a manifesto to help clarify their creative process. (For instance, artist and filmmaker Julian Rosefeldt’s 2015 film “Manifesto” was meta-manifesto in itself, as actress Cate Blanchett recited some artistic and political treatises ranging from Karl Marx to Werner Herzog.)
To help clarify his own ideas on music and life, jazz pianist Thelonious Monk created a famous list of advice to himself which included such pearls of wisdom as, “What you don’t play can be more important than what you do.”
Thelonious Monk's Advice to self 1960h/t: lists of note pic.twitter.com/NLQXmVNSrI
— Dr. X (@pagingDrX) April 17, 2018\n
West offered advice in a style similar to Monk’s; his series of tweets highlighted the power of originality, being in the moment, and finding true happiness.
Experience West’s Twitter tone-poem and advice avalanche below.
\nSome people have to work within the existing consciousness while some people can shift the consciousness
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 16, 2018\n
\noften people working with the existing consciousness are jealous of those who are more in touch and they become hard-core capitalist in hopes of creating the illusion that the value of money is worth more than the value of time and friends
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 16, 2018\n
\nAs a creative your ideas are your strongest form of currency
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 17, 2018\n
\nYou have to protect your ability to create at all cost
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 17, 2018\n
\ntry to avoid any contractual situation where you are held back from your ideas
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 17, 2018\n
\ndistraction is the enemy of vision
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 17, 2018\n
\nSometimes you have to get rid of everything
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 17, 2018\n
\neverything you do in life stems from either fear or love
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 17, 2018\n
\nFear often causes people to be manipulative
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 17, 2018\n
\nbe transparent as possible. Stop setting plays. Stop playing chess with life. Make decisions based on love not fear.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 17, 2018\n
\ntrend is always late
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 18, 2018\n
\nwhen you first wake up don't hop right on the phone or the internet or even speak to anyone for even up to an hour if possible. Just be still and enjoy your own imagination. It's better than any movie.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 18, 2018\n
\nYou have the best ideas. Other people's opinions are usually more distractive than informative. Follow your own vision. base your actions on love. Do things you love and if you don't absolutely love something stop doing it as soon as you can.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 18, 2018\n
\nDon't follow crowds. Follow the innate feelings inside of you. Do what you feel not what you think. Thoughts have been placed in our heads to make everyone assimilate. Follow what you feel.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 18, 2018\n
\nI don't believe in the concept of an enemy. We have been conditioned to always be in competition. Stop looking for something to beat and just be. You don't have to do all the work. Once you start moving in love the universe will assist you.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 18, 2018\n
\nYou will be a drop of water with the ocean as your army. If you move out of fear than your on your own. Then it's just you and the money and the countless people you have to lie to and manipulate to build a man made path that will never lead to true happiness.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 18, 2018\n
\njust stop lying about shit. Just stop lying.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 18, 2018\n
\nin life, we are all trained actors. When we're born we're ourselves and then one of the first things we're thought is how to act. If you see a kid screaming at a restaurant because he feels something and can't express himself in a conventional manner
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 18, 2018\n
\neveryone will say he needs to learn how to act. At home parental acting classes are one of the first steps to us loosing who we really are to "the simulation". Parents are our first acting coaches.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 18, 2018\n
\nme and my friend Anthony Schiller always ask questions about time. Is time linear? I recently did an interview where I placed a high value on time. Everything means nothing until you make it something. You are your validator.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 18, 2018\n
\nBe here now. Be in the moment. The now is the greatest moment of our lives and it just keeps getting better. The bad parts the boring parts the parts with high anxiety. Embrace every moment for its greatness. This is life. This is the greatest movie we will ever see.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 18, 2018\n
\nThere's love stories. Pain happiness. It's 3 dementional. There's taste touch sound. It's the most entertaining for of entertainment. Just being. We believe time is a man made construct. Actually time and money are both man made currency. Because you can spend them both.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 18, 2018\n
\ntoo much emphasis is put on originality. Feel free to take ideas and update them at your will all great artist take and update.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 18, 2018\n
\nCars have four wheels. Hoodies have hoods. It's amusing to me when some one says this is an original hoodie. Bro... it's a hoodie
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 18, 2018\n
\nI find myself getting stuck in the idea of originality and letting my ego push me to say things like "this person stole this from me" and the funny thing is it'll be a reference I took from somewhere
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 18, 2018\n
\nlet's be less concerned with ownership of ideas. It is important that ideas see the light of day even if you don't get the credit for them. Let's be less concerned with credit awards and external validation.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 18, 2018\n
\ndon't trade your authenticity for approval
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 18, 2018\n
\ntruth is my goal. Controversy is my gym. I'll do a hundred reps of controversy for a 6 pack of truth
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 19, 2018\n
\nif you wanna see the true character of person watch the way they treat someone who can't do anything for them.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 19, 2018\n
\ntoday will be the greatest day so far. Life keeps getting better and better.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 19, 2018\n
\nwe're all servants
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 19, 2018\n
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 19, 2018\n\n
\nit's not where you take things from. It's where you take them to
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 19, 2018\n
Share on Facebook
