Hooray for Kanye

So he's a bit of a whiner. A tad full of himself, maybe? Crying, as they say, with two loaves of bread under his arm?

Who cares. As of today, this kid is officially my hero.

Last week, he steps out on that shakiest of limbs in hip-hop to stand against homophobes.

Then, two days ago, he releases an album that is an unabashed personal statement in a genre that has increasingly become a paint-by-the-numbers affair.

And last night he basically told Bush to go fuck himself on network TV. Emotional, inarticulate, blathering, unscripted... perfect.

Contrary to what my good friends have said (and now retracted), I'm glad this guy has a mic in his hand.