How West was won: Students revel in free show
SAMOHI — A “Dropout” was welcomed to Santa Monica High School with open arms on Monday, as students beat out other area schools to lure a performance by Kanye West, a Grammy-award winning hip-hop recording artist and budding superstar.
More than 3,500 students bopped their heads and clapped along to West’s music on Monday, after garnering more than one million votes in an online radio contest sponsored by KPRW 105.9 FM.
The hour-long concert, treated as a pep rally, was staged at 2 p.m. at the Santa Monica High School amphitheater, and featured songs from West’s most recent album, Late Registration, which has sold in upwards of 2 million copies.
The event was organized by 105.9’s “Big Boy in the Morning,” a local radio personality who invited Los Angeles schools to register online to win a private event with West.
The contest drew more than 5 million votes from some 100 schools in the metropolitan area that participated during the two-week window. Samohi students contributed 20 percent of the vote — many of them voting multiple times, they said. The event was organized, in part, to provide $150,000 in college scholarship money to high school students.
Santa Monica police officers worked with campus administrators to beef up school security in anticipation of the event. Sidewalks around Samohi were taped off, and entry on campus was restricted to event organizers and members of the media. National news stations were present, including NBC, ABC and CBS.
West — who’s known for his critical political message and clean-cut presentation — recently landed on the cover of Time Magazine. The article describes how West, winner of three Grammys, was once a college dropout who had his first success playing with popular R&B artists on their albums.
Due to his appearance and overall style, West struggled to find a way to get his own voice on record. Multiple record companies put him aside due to the fact that West is not a former 'street hustler', and does not wear the orthodox hip-hop apparel and would, therefore, not be as marketable as an artist portraying the "typical rapper image,” according to the article.
West has accused American politicians of insensitivity, claiming they "[ride] home in their Benzs and Bentleys while poor Africans starve."
On Aug. 22, the MTV special "All Eyes on Kanye West" aired, during which West said that the term "gay" is the exact opposite word of hip-hop to many. He said that hip-hop always focused on "speaking your mind and about breaking down barriers, but everyone in hip-hop discriminates against gay people." West then reflected on a personal experience.
He said that he had... "a turning point" when he realized that his cousin was gay. He said, regarding this experience, "Yo, this is my cousin. I love him and I've been discriminating against gays." He further said that, "not just hip-hop, but America just discriminates" against gay people. He concluded by saying "... And I wanna just, to come on TV and just tell my rappers, just tell my friends, 'Yo, stop it.'"
He also drew comparisons between the struggle of African-Americans for civil rights and today's gay rights movement.
On Monday, introductory remarks celebrating Samohi’s student body diversity were made by Principal IIene Straus, City Councilman Richard Bloom and Big Boy.
“There were lots of schools who wanted Kanye West, but one of them worked harder than the others to get him,” Big Boy said. “Lots of times you hear reports in the media about what’s wrong with our schools, but you don’t always hear what’s right.
“We don’t think there’s a better school that deserves something like this.”
Straus said all periods were held on Monday. The campus was on a pep rally schedule, which meant some periods were shortened.
Matt Wizan, a Samohi freshman, clapped loudly during Big Boy’s remarks and shouted “yeah, Samohi” as the event began.
Wizan said he’s a fan of West and is especially fond of “Gold Digger,” a hit single which organizers said lasted on the Billboard Hot 100 for 10 weeks.
Wizan said he is proud to attend Samohi and likes the fact there are nontraditional pep rallies on campus, such as the one held on Monday.
“It’s pep rallies like this, when Kanye West comes, which make them a good time,” Wizan said. “It’s the kind of thing that happens only at Samohi, which is one of the reasons why I like going to school here.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 6, 2005. Read the original PDF.