OFFICIAL Ye fka "kanYe West" x G.O.O.D. Music Thread - ¥$ (AKA YE X TY DOLLA SIGN) - VULTURES (NOW AVAILABLE WOWWWW)

[dahuhuhyah]

Steve Jobs killed Bill with those Pc and Mac commercials homie made him look like a complete socially inept nerd.Bill had all the talent in the world yet he couldn't design a product that looked great and performed well . pcs and MP3 players were all chunky and cumbersome I mean Christ remember the Zune.

Bro your speaking in aspects of Fame between Bill and Steve? Them dudes weren't looking for fame. Like why are you arguring about commericals and mess and using a couple failed products as to why one is better than the other. Once again stuck in the things like materialism and fame, which for the most part fades.

Also your acting as if the PC is not one of the most important creations of our generation. Majority of the world is on PC bro

 

[dahuhuhyah]

Man, after watching that second video....

**** all ya'll talkin' that ********.

Kanye is the TRUTH.

Dude is talking about wanting to design and build things, while he's hit a ceiling where people only want him to promote things, even though the ideas he's had shot down have gone on to become successful when other people with the ability to produce them did so.

Son was speaking on wanting to design his highschool's basketball team's uniforms through his own company, and have it be so dope that they can sell as popular apparel. That's sick, and totally concievable. Same with the theater experience that was so nasty surrounding the Mercy video.

I really don't understand the hate, other than it stemming from a lack of being able to concieve of yourself as ever being able to reach those heights as well. He literally broke down the whole way of thinking that ya'll are following, the "I can't relate to him, he's arrogant! A god? How dare he!" way of thinking. Who do you think 5 percenters think is God? Who do you think Wu-Tang, Nas, Jay Z, Andre 3000, etc think is god? Their damn selves. He straight up told ya'll to stop putting your identities in a box, where you can only be so great. There doesn't have to be a limit.

Dude is over here quoting Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead, speaking on real subjects and ya'll are attacking him with that peasent's menatlity.

"Waahh, Kanye can you please come back down to us regular folk? Waaah, Kanye stop thinking you are so great! Waaaah, Kanye why you gotta be so hype about your visions? Waaaah, Kanye please please go back to before you were this high up on the cultural foodchain. You were so much easier to relate to for us peasants! Waaaah, Kanye please stop viewing yourself in ways that i could never imagine viewing myself!"

Bruh. Dude is over here talking about Ray Kurtzweil. Like, bruh. How many rappers are talking about Ray Kurtzweil? How many PEOPLE are even talking about the singularity?

Man, ya'll can keep your limited thinking.

/rant.

Bruh at Kanye's level, the hell with other people think. I ain't even gotta tell you why I'm doing stuff.... Imma just do it and you like or hate what you don't.

 

[thorrocksjs]

Bro your speaking in aspects of Fame between Bill and Steve? Them dudes weren't looking for fame. Like why are you arguring about commericals and mess and using a couple failed products as to why one is better than the other. Once again stuck in the things like materialism and fame, which for the most part fades.



Also your acting as if the PC is not one of the most important creations of our generation. Majority of the world is on PC bro

Your not really reading what I'm saying if you can't tell how the basic shift in design and interface with Apple products streamlined and made brands care just as much about the design of the product and ease of use as much as the hardware and specs of it .Even from a marketing stand point apple helped close the gap between tech and the casual consumer by making it accessible and much more welcoming .one of the biggest selling points of macs has been the fact it's streamlined . What Steve jobs did was pretty much say let's try to make a pc and mp3 for everybody to use lets not limit it to gamers etc let's make using a computer and knowing computer language as important as knowing how to speak English .

 

[trynafeelmink]

Part two is interesting I feel like Kanye is struggling as an artist and as a brand because he is a black man who came in the door through hip hop and now he is locked in the room and will do anything to get out even saw his own legs off .Its a seriously messed up situation because black artist intellectuals are either forced to make propaganda that pigeon holes them into speaking for a group .Thats his struggle he can't legitimize what he does or what he says .The major problem is that his approach to things is extremely heavy handed and he has to brag about his every move .It reminds of when bill gates was all over tv on how successful Microsoft was and then Apple finally hit its stride and Bill went from iconoclast to apartof system that was rigid soulless with no artistic or human merit.

Kanye thinks money will allow him to leap hurdles that stop him proceeding but the fact he continues to go to the same fashion shows as the people he clearly doesn't like work with shoes with a corporation that doesn't respect his creative vision completely and work with people who don't seem to completely give reigns means he really wants these peoples respect instead of rejecting them and carving his path by himself for himself.Also he is giving steve jobs too much credit to be honest

I get where your coming from and i honestly believe that if there was an option to completely say **** these companies i'll do it myself then he would. but look at the world around you and the people around you.... most people aren't ready to accept innovation or a unique idea without them being told something is innovative. You look at the yeezy i liked both shoes from a design standpoint and i agree that they would have sold well based off his celebrity alone. but if Nike doesn't put that check on em do you think there are lines weeks ahead of time for these?... several thousand dollar price tags? hell no.

I don't think his problem is that he has to work hand in hand with the companies it's more of why is it so difficult for him to get his ideas taken seriously but it's no problem for a young european male to get that respect. This is a man who has had a majority of the fashion crowd in his palms for years and has popularized what PLENTY of these huge brands are now trying to do and include in there designs.

He knows he changed the direction of fashion and that the people appreciate it but the companies would rather take the advice from someone who fresh out of a fashion institute. I mean the man took a step down from his growing celebrity to INTERN at a ******g company and learn all he could and do it the "right" way and despite all he's done to change the culture they turn away from his ideas.

That's why i don't get why people are saying he's not relatable anymore.... He's dealing with the same thing any ambitious human goes through on a different scale. It's no different than you working a sales job and for months your telling your managers/supervisors look this new promotion is going to do wonders for our company, i've studied it the proof is there this is the next big thing... they tell you no your wrong, they wait a year or two, watch as someone else puts that idea to use and the same company that told you it was a bad idea is now using it because its "the norm".

 

[dahuhuhyah]

Your not really reading what I'm saying if you can't tell how the basic shift in design and interface with Apple products streamlined and made brands care just as much about the design of the product and ease of use as much as the hardware and specs of it .Even from a marketing stand point apple helped close the gap between tech and the casual consumer by making it accessible and much more welcoming .one of the biggest selling points of macs has been the fact it's streamlined . What Steve jobs did was pretty much say let's try to make a pc and mp3 for everybody to use lets not limit it to gamers etc let's make using a computer and knowing computer language as important as knowing how to speak English .

LOL Bro the Mac isn't available for EVERYBODY. The people who own and use PC OUT WEIGHS MACS. THE PC IS MADE FOR THE CASUAL CONSUMER!!!!!!!!! OMG THAT WAS THE MAINPOINT OF A PC SO IT CAN BE IN YOUR HOME. DID YOU KNOW PC STANDS FOR PERSONAL COMPUTER!!!!!!!!! OMG. Your just ranting for no reason. You have no idea what your speaking of and just trying to BS your way into a argument.

 

[thorrocksjs]

I get where your coming from and i honestly believe that if there was an option to completely say **** these companies i'll do it myself then he would. but look at the world around you and the people around you.... most people aren't ready to accept innovation or a unique idea without them being told something is innovative. You look at the yeezy i liked both shoes from a design standpoint and i agree that they would have sold well based off his celebrity alone. but if Nike doesn't put that check on em do you think there are lines weeks ahead of time for these?... several thousand dollar price tags? hell no.

I don't think his problem is that he has to work hand in hand with the companies it's more of why is it so difficult for him to get his ideas taken seriously but it's no problem for a young european male to get that respect. This is a man who has had a majority of the fashion crowd in his palms for years and has popularized what PLENTY of these huge brands are now trying to do and include in there designs.

He knows he changed the direction of fashion and that the people appreciate it but the companies would rather take the advice from someone who fresh out of a fashion institute. I mean the man took a step down from his growing celebrity to INTERN at a ******g company and learn all he could and do it the "right" way and despite all he's done to change the culture they turn away from his ideas.

That's why i don't get why people are saying he's not relatable anymore.... He's dealing with the same thing any ambitious human goes through on a different scale. It's no different than you working a sales job and for months your telling your managers/supervisors look this new promotion is going to do wonders for our company, i've studied it the proof is there this is the next big thing... they tell you no your wrong, they wait a year or two, watch as someone else puts that idea to use and the same company that told you it was a bad idea is now using it because its "the norm".

I agree he probably can't negotiate the creative freedom he wants with these brands even the APC collabo the brand owner said he had to sit down and tell Kanye look these ideas are dope but we don't have the means to putting out your ideas by the exact means you want man we gotta do it a certain way to make money

 

[trynafeelmink]

His status as a fashion icon is completely overstated, he's more of a middle man between rich white people and rap fans who have never seen a Vogue before. Everything that he is directly responsible for (Kilts, Leather Sweatpants, Shutter Shades, Yeezy's)... aesthetically trash.

He's good at going to Europe and naming things that he sees. I guess that makes him Karl Lagerfeld to the people of KTT and such.

This comment is exactly what has to irk him right here and it's completely understandable. At only 35 despite what he has done already people continue to tell him you will not surpass or even be in the realm as some of the greatest. I really don't think its that he doesn't like people not liking his stuff it's more of people putting a cap on what an overall artist could do.

Like yea we know that you influenced a large part of fashion over the past five years.... many of the designers who's work you chose have heavily grown there brands and are being proclaimed genius or visionaries..... but you kanye? nah you just a rapper shutup and rap, it doesn't matter if you DIRECTLY effect a demographic that we are JUST now trying to acknowledge... you don't know anything about that

As a black man america and the media have set up max heights on where you can go and over the past few years Ye & Jay specifically been at that Ceiling burning that **** up.

 

[mr marcus]

 

His status as a fashion icon is completely overstated, he's more of a middle man between rich white people and rap fans who have never seen a Vogue before. Everything that he is directly responsible for (Kilts, Leather Sweatpants, Shutter Shades, Yeezy's)... aesthetically trash.

He's good at going to Europe and naming things that he sees. I guess that makes him Karl Lagerfeld to the people of KTT and such.

This comment is exactly what has to irk him right here and it's completely understandable. At only 35 despite what he has done already people continue to tell him you will not surpass or even be in the realm as some of the greatest. I really don't think its that he doesn't like people not liking his stuff it's more of people putting a cap on what an overall artist could do.

Like yea we know that you influenced a large part of fashion over the past five years.... many of the designers who's work you chose have heavily grown there brands and are being proclaimed genius or visionaries..... but you kanye? nah you just a rapper shutup and rap, it doesn't matter if you DIRECTLY effect a demographic that we are JUST now trying to acknowledge... you don't know anything about that

As a black man america and the media have set up max heights on where you can go and over the past few years Ye & Jay specifically been at that Ceiling burning that **** up.

 

[trynafeelmink]

Confidence/arrogance is something I understand well. And I agree with what you're saying for the most part.

The belief that you've achieved "perfection" is preposterous.

Because where do you go from there?

Infinite reps above me as well. That's why I can't see him as a "cultural leader". Jay is more of a "cultural leader" than Kanye is just on the strength of his accomplishments.

Fashion though? Big Boi kicked off the throwback era. Jay ran with that. Kicked off the button ups. Pharrell was right there at the start of the sneaker boom, rocking Dunks etc.

Plenty of rappers have their moments in fashion. That's all they are. Moments. Some may last longer than others. But that **** hardly makes you a "cultural leader".

Pharell & Kanye are BOTH cultural leaders... I don't think ya'll dudes really understand how much those two made it OK for kids from the hood to feel like okay i don't have to fit this image anymore... This is far past the clothes and more based on the attitude that comes with it.

what they represent to the culture is a vision of a innovation. when these two got big young black kids across america deemed it okay to like more than baggy jeans and jerseys, you can still love hiphop and all that hood ****, but these other Genre's also have good music and good concepts. It isn't soft or weird to talk without using slang all day.

Ten years ago the thought of seeing guys in the hood who look and acted like these two was blasphemy. fast forward today you have a new set of cats in the hood who know it's okay to shop in different areas, know it's okay to listen to different genre's, know it's okay to take interest in something other than hood culture in general..... those changes in culture are directly influenced by Ye, Pharell, Jay-Z, & Swizz beatz. & another person who made a huge splash as far as culture is 50 Cent in terms of being healthy physically.

 

[flossb15]

Tyisny is speaking the gospel and articulating what I and others meant

Thank you Ty

 

[trynafeelmink]

Nah thanks ya'll for having this conversation and i hope we could keep it going without focusing on small aspects but the overall messages and themes being pushed around.

Not even involving Kanye i think this becomes a discussion of a generation not trying to be deemed great down the line in history but showing appreciation and recognizing greatness and proclaiming it from early on. I could understand how that rubs certain people the wrong way because it's not politically correct and it's something that they're not use to..... but by waiting for someone else to give you the credit you put the power of your legacy in someone else's hands

 

[gllahone84]

illphillip with the real in here 

 

[illphillip]

Confidence/arrogance is something I understand well. And I agree with what you're saying for the most part.

The belief that you've achieved "perfection" is preposterous.

Because where do you go from there?

Infinite reps above me as well. That's why I can't see him as a "cultural leader". Jay is more of a "cultural leader" than Kanye is just on the strength of his accomplishments.

Fashion though? Big Boi kicked off the throwback era. Jay ran with that. Kicked off the button ups. Pharrell was right there at the start of the sneaker boom, rocking Dunks etc.

Plenty of rappers have their moments in fashion. That's all they are. Moments. Some may last longer than others. But that **** hardly makes you a "cultural leader".

Pharell & Kanye are BOTH cultural leaders... I don't think ya'll dudes really understand how much those two made it OK for kids from the hood to feel like okay i don't have to fit this image anymore... This is far past the clothes and more based on the attitude that comes with it.

Pharrell did this. So by the time Kanye came through, it had been done before.

Kanye came through on some LRG ****. That all morphed over time. Even to this day, Pharrell represents more of what you're talking about than Kanye does.

Is Wayne a "cultural leader" because he's made it OK for kids to dress like fools as well?

As I said, Jay is more "cultural leader" than both of them. He is the only "artist" I feel comfortable saying that about right now. If you're saying that about anyone else, I feel sorry for you.

 

[illphillip]

Funny how no one has mentioned that despite all this talk of civil rights and inequality, dude's city is on fire right now and I don't think I've heard of him doing one thing recently to try to help out there.

People are getting toe-tagged by the tens every week in the Chi and son is acting like leather sweatpants and beefing with Hedi Slimane makes him a revolutionary.

He's a musician. An amazing one, but that's all. Stop drinking the Kool Aid and making this about more than it is.

Once again, all of this.

 

[flossb15]

Define dressing as a fool ? Because 70's had bell bottoms and men platforms

90's had jnco's

So once again just because you don't agree with it doesn't mean it's foolish or wrong

And why can't they all be cultural leaders (which they are)
Don't feel sorry for anyone, Kanye has had a major impact on music and pop culture, that's undeniable ! If he didn't , no way we are having this conversation

Is Kanye over the top? Yes, but he been this way, y'all just don't like the music - cool, but dont try to box him in or discredit him

 

[illphillip]

If you're just going to fall back on this all being opinion, you're just stating the obvious.

I never wore bell bottoms and platforms and I never wore jnco's so that **** is all foolish to me.

Again, if those are individuals you deem "cultural leaders", I wish you nothing but the best.

Let's not even get into why "we are having this conversation". With Kanye, it's not always because of his "impact on music and pop culture".

It can be just as much about his antics and his behavior. His contradtictions. Which is fine. He's human. But let's call it what it is.

 

[trynafeelmink]

Pharrell did this. So by the time Kanye came through, it had been done before.

Kanye came through on some LRG ****. That all morphed over time. Even to this day, Pharrell represents more of what you're talking about than Kanye does.

Is Wayne a "cultural leader" because he's made it OK for kids to dress like fools as well?

As I said, Jay is more "cultural leader" than both of them. He is the only "artist" I feel comfortable saying that about right now. If you're saying that about anyone else, I feel sorry for you.

the problem with your statement is that you are basing this off of what YOU feel instead of looking at the impact they have had on hiphop culture in general. Pharrell may have started it first but Ye came through and also had his own movement and style.

Pharrell has always been someone who IMO was NEVER trapped in the Hiphop only world because quite frankly nobody thinks of Pharrell as a rapper first. Kanye was dead in the middle of one of if not the best Hiphop crew around, and was a POLAR OPPOSITE to the content that was coming from that crew. he arrived wearing **** and mentioning things that most mainstream cats wanted nothing to do with.

He was directly in rap, creating classic rap records, that he both produced and performed and did it in his own way. at a time where everything was ALL hood he came in and changed the direction and image of what a "hood" dude could be.

He is DIRECTLY the reason why a Wale, J.Cole, Kendrick, Cudi, Big Sean can come out today and have the impact they do. How can someone influence an entire wave of new music and not be a cultural leader.

what's he's done to enhance videos and bring details to performance and concerts over the past decade is something that is already regarded as some of the best work in those categories.... once again how is that not a cultural leader?

I'm a HUGE jay fan but it's clear as day Ye has influenced a lot of what hov has done in the past few years yet somehow he isn't a cultural leader how does that work?

 

[trynafeelmink]

Originally Posted by J A M E S View Post

Funny how no one has mentioned that despite all this talk of civil rights and inequality, dude's city is on fire right now and I don't think I've heard of him doing one thing recently to try to help out there.

People are getting toe-tagged by the tens every week in the Chi and son is acting like leather sweatpants and beefing with Hedi Slimane makes him a revolutionary.

He's a musician. An amazing one, but that's all. Stop drinking the Kool Aid and making this about more than it is.

So he sits down and has an interview about revolutionizing ART and the perception of how black man should be viewed in the corporate world.... and your response is why isn't he helping in chicago?

So he's not enough of a visionary to even help create something outside of t-shirts or bad rap as ya'll like to say.... but he should also be helping solve a Social problem that an entire city, country, and dozens of years have helped form?

where is the correlation in this point....

He called himself a visionary and revolutionary in the world of art yet you expect correlate that to him some sort of political activist.

then these out the same cats who say man yeezus is soft, it's trash lyrically, this ain't hiphop, this ain't hood etc etc and complain about the state of the hood.

Maybe if some of those same kids gettin gunned down in Chi had some other interest besides street **** and rap and had someone who's from the same place as them making moves in industries he has NO business in things would turn out differently.

 

[gllahone84]

Ya'll blind 

 

[illphillip]

Pharrell did this. So by the time Kanye came through, it had been done before.

Kanye came through on some LRG ****. That all morphed over time. Even to this day, Pharrell represents more of what you're talking about than Kanye does.

Is Wayne a "cultural leader" because he's made it OK for kids to dress like fools as well?

As I said, Jay is more "cultural leader" than both of them. He is the only "artist" I feel comfortable saying that about right now. If you're saying that about anyone else, I feel sorry for you.

the problem with your statement is that you are basing this off of what YOU feel instead of looking at the impact they have had on hiphop culture in general. Pharrell may have started it first but Ye came through and also had his own movement and style.

I couldn't even read past this nonsense. Pharrell did start it. As for Kanye's movement and style, realistically, it wasn't far off from what a lot of us were already doing. Dude came in rocking LRG + Polo. Dudes been talking Louis + Gucci for years.

And you'll have to excuse me if I give more credit to the guy who "may have started it". And again, I don't really view either as a "cultural leader", though you've made a good case for Pharrell.

Me basing this off how I feel is somehow different from you basing this off of what YOU feel? That's "the problem"?

**** atta here

My man in here typing his lil' heart out.....

 

[knowledgebones72]

illphillip really is making some leaps and bounds to discredit Ye.

acting like the whole LRG / Talib Kweli / Size M t shirt / dressing preppy thing was cool when Ye was doing it. Even if he didn't invent the 'Lo Life style, even if he wasn't Jonas and didn't create LRG, none of those things were popular to the masses when Kanye brought it to the table.

He really caused a huge shift in the way the hip hop community dressed even before College Dropout dropped.

Remember when "backpacker" was a derogatory term that mainstream rappers used to discredit the whole Rawkus thing? Cause I do.

Then remember when Kanye made it a cool thing to be about backpack rap and still be fly?

 

[awwsome]

at what this thread has turned into

 

[illphillip]

illphillip really is making some leaps and bounds to discredit Ye.

acting like the whole LRG / Talib Kweli / Size M t shirt / dressing preppy thing was cool when Ye was doing it. Even if he didn't invent the 'Lo Life style, even if he wasn't Jonas and didn't create LRG, none of those things were popular to the masses when Kanye brought it to the table.

He really caused a huge shift in the way the hip hop community dressed even before College Dropout dropped.

Remember when "backpacker" was a derogatory term that mainstream rappers used to discredit the whole Rawkus thing? Cause I do.

Then remember when Kanye made it a cool thing to be about backpack rap and still be fly?

Not at all. But look at your words. He invented nothing. He HELPED re-popularize. Puba and mad dudes had done it before. Jay had already started cleaning up the attire in Rap.

It's some of you making him the epicenter of all of this. Any rational human being would know no one man is responsible for that. Especially if he didn't even "invent". And some of you arguing acknowledge Pharrell set it off with your own words.

Plenty of cats modeled for LRG. Is Kanye the more popular of them NOW? Sure. But let's call Just Blaze a fashion icon and "cultural leader" then for his insane sneaker game.

Polo wasn't popular in the hood before Kanye Do you hear yourself?

But Kanye is somehow THAT guy? That makes no sense. Kanye wore mad Bape. Funny, I could have sworn Pharrell did the same.

People in here acting like Kanye is the ONLY one that is responsible for certain rappers careers today? Cudi is more NERD than anyone. Cole is more Jay.

And somehow Kanye influencing Jay, ONE man, who Kanye calls "Big Brother", makes him a "cultural leader"?

The **** some of y'all say and the way you perceive things.....that is a special level of affinity you have for that dude.

 

[trynafeelmink]

My G since when do you have to literally be the first to do something in order to popularize it and bring it to the masses?

So him and Pharrell both changed the personification of what hiphop could be but because he didn't do it 100% by himself he's suddenly not essential to it.

YOU claimed Jay-Z is a cultural leader which he is.... You admit that Ye has heavily influenced him..... so he influenced a cultural leader but he isn't a cultural leader?

That one man he influenced is more like millions of people he's reached.... sounds of music that he has changed.... style of rappers who came after him.... changed the view on what a rapper could do as far as making moves.... and yet somehow he isn't a cultural leader....


I'm sorry if someone is constantly advancing the culture and making changes to it it makes them a leader.

this all boils down to you having a certain affinity on what kind of hiphop you like and how the hiphop world should be as opposed to how it really is and the changes that have been made. You want **** one way, certain artist have made it another and naturally you don't want to give any credit. so with that said enjoy me typing my lil heart out before you come quoting all sorts of dumb things and getting away from the bigger discussion and harping on **** like who wore polo first.

 

[knowledgebones72]

He invented nothing. He HELPED re-popularize. Puba and mad dudes had done it before.

that means nothing. we're talking about 2003, not the early '90s. Style was completely different by then. You don't have to invent something to bring it to the forefront, even if you're bringing it to the forefront for a second time.

AND he brought it in a preppy way. it wasn't just oversized RL and Tommy gear. he was rocking the whole boarding school look.

Jay had already started cleaning up the attire in Rap.

c'mon, bruh. Jay was "grown and sexy" no momo sure. But Kanye was on some high end Yohji Yamamoto Adidas shopping at Barneys type stuff. Jay wasn't dropping these designers names that had young dudes wanting to learn more about fasion.

It's some of you making him the epicenter of all of this. Any rational human being would know no one man is responsible for that. Especially if he didn't even "invent".

Nobody's putting him at the epicenter. You don't have to be at the epicenter to make an impact on your culture. You also don't have to invent something or even be the first to do it.

In 2002 i was a black kid who got kicked out of boarding school and had to adjust to inner city high school. I was rocking size medium Polo with my jordans and all that expensive stuff that was fly to rich white kids but had all the black kids in my school clowning the HELL outta me.

Then the next year Kanye starts getting cool and all of a sudden I'm in on some cool little movement at my school amongst the "fly" kids,

then 2004 comes and College dropout drops and all of a sudden I'm actually cool and girls love how i dress and people wanna figure out where I get my gear and I'm stealing football players' girlfriends.

I didn't impact these kids, Kanye did. I was always the same kid doing my own thing that I thought was cool, but Kanye West changed these other kids' perception of me.

Plenty of cats modeled for LRG.

Sure, like Kanye and Just Blaze who were the two most recognizable cats to the mainstream hip hop fan in 2002/2003.

Polo wasn't popular in the hood before Kanye Do you hear yourself?

I never said that. You said that. Please see the above statement.

But Kanye is somehow THAT guy? That makes no sense. Kanye wore mad Bape. Funny, I could have sworn Pharrell did the same.

You're right, and so did Beastie Boys and Biggie way before either Kanye or Pharrell. But look at who had the most impact on the hip hop culture when it came to Bape: Pharrell. He was part of the impact just like Kanye was. One doesn't discredit the other. Pharrell was responsible for skate culture and the whole SB movement being accepted in the hip hop community. Pharrell had a huge impact on the hip hop community in terms of people being open to listening to other genres of music and liking stuff that isn't "hood".

People in here acting like Kanye is the ONLY one that is responsible for certain rappers careers today? Cudi is more NERD than anyone. Cole is more Jay.

And somehow Kanye influencing Jay, ONE man, who Kanye calls "Big Brother", makes him a "cultural leader"?

I don't think anyone in this thread is saying ONLY Kanye. But there are a select few and this includes Kanye.