A change of heart about Kanye West

Little did I know what I was to experience when I got to work last Friday. It started off like any other morning, the usual daily tasks and conversations with my intern besties Lucy and Corrisa. We even caught Flo Rida strolling through the office like it was an everyday thing. But that afternoon had to be the coolest experience of my life.

It all began when Corrisa and I got on the elevator to go downstairs to Duane Reade. As we got off the elevator on the first floor, Corrisa looks at me with excitement in her eyes. Our following conversation went a little like this:

"I think I just saw Kanye West," she said.
"What?!" I exclaimed, flabbergasted. "No freaking way. I didn't see him at all!" (I tend to be a little up in the clouds sometimes, as you might already know)
"I swear to God. He had on a black suit and sunglasses, but it was him."
"Oh my God! We HAVE to find him!"

After our mad rush around Duane Reade, we headed back upstairs and did a little investigative snooping of our own around the Us and Rolling Stone office. No luck. We headed back to our post in the library where we were working before we went downstairs. And, lo and behold, when we headed back to the library, there was a crowd of about 10 people in one of the conference rooms next to the library. They were all sitting. But standing in front of the room was a man in a black suit and sunglasses. He was talking about an album.

It was Kanye.

Now I've become accustomed to these random celebrity run-ins (I do not mean to make that sound that self-absorbed, but when you work at a place like Us, you're bound to run into anyone and everyone), but this one caught me completely off guard. I tried to keep my cool, but it's KANYE. How can you keep your cool with that? The whole time I couldn't help but think, "Imma let you finish..."

Lucky for us, the conference room is all glass, so we sat at our trusty computers with a full view of Kanye talking to the people at Rolling Stone. After stealing a few looks and glimpses and acting like I was working, we heard music coming from the room.

No WAY he is playing his new music! I thought. I stole some more looks into the room. Everyone in there was head-banging like crazy. Kanye was practically dancing in the front of the room.

What is going on?!

All of a sudden, like a light shining down from above, Kanye looked through the glass into where Corrisa and I were sitting and staring. He waved and motioned us to come join.

ARE YOU SERIOUS?

A man came into the library. "Come on, guys! Come on in!"

Why not?

So we were invited into the conference room, with the man himself, front and center. He was still previewing his music. He said some of the songs weren't even finished. And he performed them for us from standing on top of the conference room table!

It was like our own private concert. He was playing the music pretty loudly, so slowly but surely more and more people began to gather outside the room. And when Kanye saw them outside, he invited them in.

"Guys, we have room in here! Come in! Make some room! I want you all to hear!"

He spent a good 45 minutes to an hour of him rapping his new material for us (My personal favorite? One that goes something like "This is a toast for the assholes, a toast for the scumbags," with a killer guitar solo at the end, if I remember correctly). He said his new album was called "Donda's Voice," dedicated to his mother who died a few years ago.

After the private concert, he opened the floor for discussion and questions.

"I want to know what you think! Ask me anything. Anything you want!"

The questions begin to fly. "What was your inspiration for this album?" (You!) "How did you regroup after the whole VMA-Taylor Swift debacle?" (It was just my time for a break to reevaluate who I was and what person I wanted to become) "What's the difference between Kanye today and Kanye two years ago?" (Two years ago it was all about me, me, me, now it's about WE, the fans and me). My heart burned to ask a question.

If your mother were here right now, what would she say about this new album and the new you?

But I chickened out. I thought it was great, but I didn't want to bring up such a touchy subject in front of the entire company. So I kept it to myself. Stupid me.

"Enough about me!" he said. "I want to hear about you! What kinds of music do you listen to? Who inspires you? I need to know."

So then we began. He started going one-by-one to everyone around the room and they had to say who they liked listening to. There were the typical bands (The Beatles, Rolling Stones) and the not-so-typical (Hanson). And then, it was my turn.

"How about you? What do you like to listen to?" he asked.
"Well, you know, I like Queen, Foreigner and Styx. ... And then of more recent stuff I love Lady Gaga and Maroon 5." (I failed to mention my obsession with Taylor Swift but I think that was a great decision on my part)
"I love that you love pop music," he said. "I think pop music gets a bad rep because people are embarrassed to admit they listen to it. But some of music's best artists are pop artists. Gaga, for instance, she's changing the world with her music..."

I couldn't help but smile and nod my head. It was probably the single most coolest experience of my life.

After the Q & A session, the mini meet-and-greet came to a close. I realized that this guy really had changed. Like he said, he wasn't the "asshole Kanye" anymore. He says he wants to help people with his new record. I guess that will remain to be seen until it comes out, but, for now, I've decided I've had a change of heart about Kanye West.