Kanye Takes A Chance On Love

Photo Credit:  Courtesy of Clyde Haygood

What a difference eight years can make. In 2005 rapper Kanye West soared to the number one spot on the Billboard chart with an infectious little ditty called "Gold Digger". Kanye rapped about a woman who was always wearing the most fashionable clothes, being seen at all the "in" places and ruthlessly leaving one man for the next spurred by the size of their bank accounts. During the song Kanye urgently warns his listeners "If you ain't no punk holla we want prenup. WE WANT PRENUP! Yeah".

Fast forward to Monday, October 21, 2013. Kanye West rented out the San Francisco Giants' stadium and proposed to Kim Kardashian in grand fashion, complete with a 15 carat sparkler to seal the deal. The proposal was especially touching because that was Kim's birthday. Now many late night comedians back in the day joked that young party women of the Kim type (although not her specifically) were the basis of Kanye's song.

Kim was catapulted into the limelight when a sex tape of her with R&B singer Ray J was leaked to the public. She had a media-spotlighted relationship with NFL star Reggie Bush, and a 72-day marriage to NBA player Kris Humphries. Like the song says she doesn't mess with broke or struggling. In light of her track record, there was a flurry of fan disbelief and backlash when Kanye West announced that there would be no prenup.

Let's give love a chance. This is Kanye's first marriage and Kim's third. He is stepping up to the plate and doing the right thing by putting a ring on the mother of their child. This might even be an example to the ever fruitful and multiplying Kourtney and Scott.

Kim and Kanye have named their baby North West, but that's a story for another day. Suffice it to say she probably won't have to fill out too many 9-5 job applications where human resources personnel might question her name. Kanye said he loves Kim and she has enough money so that she doesn't have to ask him for anything; and because of that he wants to give her everything. You can't argue with that. Congratulations to the happy couple.

Kim Kardashian...Heartbreak Or Scam?

By now we’ve all heard about the demise of the marriage of Chris Humphries and Kim Kardashian.  But what is a little surprising to me is that some media outlets are implying that the whole thing might have been a scam.  Many are saying that Kim orchestrated the whole thing in order to have a huge wedding celebration as a ploy to continue garnering hefty ratings for her family’s reality show.    She has been accused of using her wedding to attract sponsors to pay for every flower, napkin and decoration in return for their names being featured on the wedding show.  They say she got married for any reason you can think of, with the exception of true love.  Well I believe there’s a possibility that Kim may be getting a bad rap.

Just think about it. If Kim were as coldly calculating as she is being portrayed, none of this would have played out to be the public relations disaster it has become. A shrewd businesswoman, such as Kim has proven herself to be, would have considered all angles of the situation and played it in her favor.
If Kim had considered her marriage a “project” there are many ways she could have handled it. She could have had a $10 million engagement party extravaganza. She could have stretched the engagement over two or three seasons of her show. She could have exploited family relationships on both sides. She could have engineered adventurous plots featuring the besotted couple gallivanting across the globe and encountering all kinds of sticky situations. Then, when the novelty of that wore off, cap it off with a wedding that would have put Cinderella and her prince to shame.

Instead she has almost become a laughingstock, trying to dodge the same answer-hungry paparazzi she’d brilliantly courted for years. I submit to you that I think Kim was in love. She’d been exposed to whirlwind courtships that turned out beautifully. Her own mother Chris Jenner married Bruce Jenner after an admittedly short period of time and their marriage has lasted over twenty years so far. Against strong opposition from many, including Kim, her sister Khloe and Lamar Odom met and were married in a matter of weeks. And even I must admit, they seem to be one of the most loving couples you can find on television right about now.

That being her experience, and we are all shaped to an extent by our environment, Kim had no reason to doubt that true love can happen hard and fast. Now it takes work to sustain a marriage, but no social scientists have come up with concrete proof that it takes “X” amount of time for the feeling of love to be deemed real.

Another of my favorite couples, Nick Cannon and Mariah Carey, fell in love almost immediately and are now reveling in the joy of their beautiful twins. By all accounts, their love is growing stronger each day. I think Kim fell in love, but unfortunately, it just didn’t work out. So, dear readers, what are your thoughts on this issue? Can true love happen in an instant? Or are whirlwind courtships products of lust and doomed to fail?  What say you?