R.I.P. Wesley Willis

Weirdest thing: on September 11th, for no apparent reason, I download all these Wesley Willis songs off Kazaa. I had never really had a desire to listen to him before. I had no idea he had died in August until I just picked up the new Rolling Stone. In a somewhat related story, there’s some whack-assed white boy calling himself Pimp Daddy Welfare who adds his own vocals to Wesley Willis songs and they’re listed on Kazaa under slightly different titles. Now I don’t know this Pimp Daddy Welfare’s story, but how bad does your life have to suck for you to be a Wesley Willis wanna-be? That’s kinda’ like being an assistant crack-ho. Anyway, I was thinking: Wesley Willis; here’s a 350 pound guy with leukemia, schizophrenia, and no discernable musical talent and he was signed to a record deal by Rick Rubin, released over fifty albums and his passing was marked by Rolling Stone. How cool is that? There’s hope for all of us.
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3 Comments

  1. …for our mental illness to be exploited!
    Seriously, I find the whole Wesley Willis thing to be so sad, and yet I can’t stop myself from making the odd Wesley quote here and there (e.g., “rock over London, rock over Paris, Budweiser – the king of beers”).
    You probably have the right idea, downloading some of his stuff and listening to the tracks one at a time. I can tell you that it’s almost physically impossible to listen to an entire CD of his in one sitting.

  2. Not Exploited
    Most of Wesley’s albums were originally self-published. He is on record as saying that performing music gave him respite from his adult-onset schizophrenia. That callus on his forehead ain’t from some blind white dude trying to fuck Wesley in the ass. Nah, it takes a Chicken Cow to do that.

  3. Re: Not Exploited
    I agree. I held my tongue on ‘s post, but I honestly feel that all artists exploit their own mental illness and the ones who make a living at it are the ones who find rich people to exploit them. I think it’s kinda’ condesending for we the relativley sane to begrudge someone who’s mentally ill the right to express themselves under the guise that they are being exploited. I don’t think there are many people in Wesley Willis’ condition who wouldn’t have traded places with him if given the chance. He used his creativity to find a way out of what would have most likely been a hellish existence, if the way most mentally ill people are treated is any indication.

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