Can trading eight hours for 20-minute polyphasic naps make you more productive? Could crystals be the secret to happiness? Read the rest of the VICE Guide to Self Improvement here .Back in 2013, Kanye West sat down for an interview with the BBC's Zane Lowe. The conversation began with his work, but it eventually got to the racial glass ceiling and Kanye's plan to overcome it. This interview has since become sacred to me. It was the first time I realised Kanye West is the life coach we all need.
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If you hate Kanye, as many do, his name wouldn't be the first you'd think about when considering being a better person. Sure, I can see why you feel like that. Kanye is complex and messy. He says and does indefensible things. How can you forgive him for meeting with Donald Trump during the US Election, or defend his tweets supporting Bill Cosby?But for me, Kanye West is who I look to for inspiration. And I'm not alone. "Yeezy taught me" is a mantra adopted by his fans everywhere. Through his music, his interviews, and his brutal honesty Yeezy has taught us so much over the years.And here's what we've learned.
Don't Worry About Making People Uncomfortable
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And yet Kanye was demonised for speaking out, effectively forced into hiding for a year.Kanye's lesson here is clear: stand up for what you believe in, even if in that moment you make other people uncomfortable. The VMAs, and pretty much all award shows, are guilty of shunning very deserving black artists in favour for their mediocre white peers.Watching Moonlight's moment get stolen at this year's Oscars, my mind went immediately to Kanye. Because Kanye would've never sat there and let another white person overshadow the achievements of a black artist. He wouldn't have given a second thought to making people feel uncomfortable in that moment to rectify an injustice.Twelve years ago, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Kanye West told America that "George Bush doesn't care about black people." The clip is incredible. It comes from a live TV fundraiser for the Red Cross, hosted by Kanye and comedian Mike Myers.Standing beside Kanye, Myers reads word-for-word from a teleprompter. He squirms as Kanye goes off script: decrying how black Hurricane survivors are being profiled as looters and shot at, while white victims are just "looking for food." Kanye trembles as he talks, in outrage and in sadness. "I hate the way they portray us in the media," he says. Mid-sentence, the cameras cut away from him. You can almost hear the producers scrambling.
You Can't Separate Politics From Pop Culture
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In these moments, Kanye teaches everyone how to enact change, how to stand up against a system that works against the disenfranchised. Bush's response to the Hurricane Katrina was not only painfully slow—with no initial plans to implement food sources or emergency shelter—but actively demonised black people with military orders to shoot looters on sight. More often than not, when Kanye West rallies for change and expresses disdain at the choices laid before him, he is labelled an Angry Black Man. He still does it anyway.
Vulnerability Isn't Weakness
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