Why don't I have any Kanye?

I first heard of Kanye West in 2002 after he was in a serious car accident, lucky to be alive, and he chose to record Through the Wire (with a sample from Chaka Kahn's Through the Fire) while his mouth was still wired shut. I ran in the wrong circles, I guess - didn't hear much else about him after that time.

Then, on September 2, 2005 Kanye spoke a hard truth on live television, during the hurricane telethon:

"I hate the way they portray us in the media. You see a black family, it says, "They're looting." You see a white family, it says, "They're looking for food." And, you know, it's been five days [waiting for federal help] because most of the people are black. And even for me to complain about it, I would be a hypocrite because I've tried to turn away from the TV because it's too hard to watch. I've even been shopping before even giving a donation, so now I'm calling my business manager right now to see what is the biggest amount I can give, and just to imagine if I was down there, and those are my people down there. So anybody out there that wants to do anything that we can help -- with the way America is set up to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off, as slow as possible. I mean, the Red Cross is doing everything they can. We already realize a lot of people that could help are at war right now, fighting another way -- and they've given them permission to go down and shoot us!"

The look on Mike Myers's face was p-r-i-c-e-less.

I am now watching Kanye perform on SNL and I love him. I can't think of a time before Kanye. He has brought me into his world, and I'm glad to be there. Time to buy an album so that I can hold on tight to Kanye and never, ever let him go...