Rumours circulated this week that Kanye West is to release a spoken-word album later in the year. There is obviously much in this story to concern us, specifically the words 'Kanye West' and 'spoken-word album'. Yet need a Kanye West spoken-word album be nothing more than an instrument of evil? We say no. Here, then, are 10 reasons to look forward to Kanye's career diversion with joy in your hearts.
1. Any time Kanye spends on the spoken word is time Kanye cannot spend making rap records, jumping on stage to disrupt awards ceremonies, comparing himself to Jesus, making anti-Semitic remarks and giving babies stupid names. That has to be applauded.
2. Actually, that's being unkind about his records. When he's on top of his game, as on tracks like School Spirit and Diamonds from Sierra Leone, Kanye can be a supremely talented MC. It's just that he just often chooses to rather fax it in. Even so, there are little twinkles in his body of work that suggest a spoken-word album could be good if he puts his mind to it. We say this with more than a hint of caution.
3. There's just the tiniest chance that Kanye's effort could open people's ears to the outpourings of those who are actually good at spoken word. And if that leads to an interest in the works of UK artists such as Kate Tempest, Dead Poets, Adam Kammerling, Harry Baker and Dekay, to name but a few, that can only be a good thing. However, given that the stories hold the album is to feature Kanye offering his opinions about the state of the world, rather than constructing pieces, it may serve only to warn people away from spoken word for ever.
4. If the album is going to last for three hours, as has been mooted, then the simple law of averages states that there has to be something half decent on there. Doesn't it?
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5. In dipping a toe into the waters of the spoken word, Kanye continues a proud American artistic lineage that includes the Last Poets, Gil Scott-Heron, the Watts Prophets and William Shatner.
6. Fatherhood may well have unlocked a more mature and reflective side that will reveal itself through Kanye's lyrics. That, or an ever-deeper journey into the swirling vortex of his own backside.
7. Kanye actually has decent form when it comes to the spoken word. He has made some lauded appearances on the Def Poetry Jam show, and that's not to be sniffed at. Credit where it's due and all that.
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8. You just know that, somewhere in proceedings, there is going to be a paean to Kim that will redefine the boundaries of toe-curlingness in pop, and will provide unintentional amusement to millions for years to come. We'd bet the farm on it.
9. Whatever happens, the results cannot be as hilarious as the funniest - unintentionally - spoken-word track in the history of pop music, the actor Richard Harris's There Are Too Many Saviours on My Cross. Track it down on his Man of Words anthology. It's preposterous.
10. Preposterousness in pop music is to be encouraged at all points. If there were no preposterousness in pop, then we'd have no - totally random examples - Abba, Sparks, Sleaford Mods or Oasis. So if one of the biggest hip-hop stars on the planet wants to take a three-hour journey into the spoken-word ether, a commercial move that defies all logic, then we should applaud the decision. If not necessarily the final product.
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