Foh that clown West wasn’t right on shyt
"Baldwin was a writer, first and foremost.
The Fire Next Time is a beautiful work of art. And I really wanted to make something beautiful."
"I have this fond memory of my time in college – I wasn't a great student, but my time was open and unrestricted. I remember sitting in this library at Howard University and reading
The Fire Next Time in one session. It was such a pleasurable experience, to be lost in a work of art. I didn't really grasp the political points. Did I understand what Baldwin was saying about religion? No, not really. But I knew that it had been said really beautifully. I had that."
"I enjoy the challenge of trying to say things beautifully. The message is secondary in that sense. Obviously, I have something that I want to say that's very, very important to me – but the process of actually crafting it is essential."
"Well, the lyricism doesn't serve if it's not conveying. Chris helped me a lot with that. He'd say, "OK, what does this mean? Clarify, clarify." A lot of the time, I write by ear. So in rough draft form it's probably a lot more lyrical. He'd say, "Ground this. What are you saying specifically?" A lot of times, I actually didn't know. You just have to write, and strip down, and rewrite, over and over and over again, until it's not only beautiful, but it actually says something. It's almost like a melody coming to you before the words."
That's the sort of stuff that bugs me a bit about Coates. Sometimes it feels like he's more about making a good, beautiful argument than getting everything right. So he has this thesis in his head, and he writes elegantly on that thesis, and then he makes sure he does all the research to back up his thesis. The result is a fine piece of writing that makes a great point. But there's nothing in the process to challenge the thesis, to second-guess himself as to whether what he is saying is the whole story, and that's why I think some of his analysis ends up being a bit too single-minded and fails to take into account other factors sufficiently. It makes for better writing, but West was right (while still being jealous and ornery too) that Coates doesn't get the full picture in.
), but I honestly don't blame him for deleting his Twitter. 
