Somewhere right now, there is a grown-up on Twitter is ranting about how a man who made his career, albeit great, off sampling other people and using a ghostwriter is a veritable genius.
Somehow, all his antics are merely some masterful chess moves in a world full of checkers players, as if the king ever really cared about the pawns anyway. Now, I will not discredit Kanye’s music, which I for sure have listened to, but a musical genius argument can be made for Mariah Carey, and I doubt that I would vote for her if she decided to run for president.
This stan will dutifully ignore the fact that Kanye West essentially called his ancestors weak because, well, apparently, somewhere in between a bullet, and a barrel aimed at a brain, there is a choice. Let’s be real, Kanye hasn’t made any bangers in a while, and I was a huge fan of his production and music. But I am also very much a fan of reality and accountability. All those music critics can’t be wrong about his music just not being as good as it once was. Even with the help of a murderer and a rapist (hello, DaBaby and Marilyn Manson,) Donda still failed to impress.
People are so hellbent on absorbing the artist enough that we absolve them from accountability and forget that is exactly what art is about.
Art is very much about pushing boundaries but also realizing that if you are pushing your art for consumption, it is subject to scrutiny and responsibility, including making good music, no pun intended. (Shout out to Noreaga. I hope you one day become good enough to chart again.)
We anger easily at struggle rappers for giving us nonsense. But because Kanye made “The College Dropout,” 20 ago, and we hold on tighter than the notion that Ms. [Lauren] Hill will be on time for her performance, we are left standing there looking stupid when it all falls down. The worst thing you could ever do for an artist is clap for their wack sh-t, and Kanye’s stans are somewhere with bloody palms covered in his excrement. Not holding him accountable won’t make his good art come back but instead continue to degenerate.
Art shouldn’t cause pain; it should be a reflection of it. You have to wonder why someone who made his name off being gritty and different and thumbing his nose to the establishment is now so hellbent on being a part of it.
Whether ghostwritten or not, the writing has been on the wall for quite some time.
Kanye warned about what would happen when “he got on” and married a white woman who made her fortune off appropriating Blackness. West also had a song called “Black Skinhead,” sold merchandise with the official flag of the losing team on it, snuggled up to the great MAGAt himself, defamed a murder victim, wore a white lives matter shirt while holding hands with Little Miss Struggle Ends, and made an impassioned plea for the besieged white male voices that are rarely ever heard…ok.
This isn’t some masterful plan created to free himself of the business ties he worked so hard to secure. This is a mind in meltdown mode, and no one is stopping the train headed for collision because we like the sound it used to make whizzing by (oh, and because he’s rich.)
Speaking of which, letting Kanye go isn’t about letting him down. It’s about letting him know that his antics are not ok and are not helpful to him or the community that he came from. I am not a medical professional, but I know someone who should have a therapist on speed dial when I see one. He has more than enough money to seek help, but sometimes when you’re used to proving people right, you forget how wrong you still can be.
You have to ask yourself, what kind of plan involves losing the same billionaire status he made such a huge stink about when he felt that Forbes magazine undervalued how many billions he was actually worth?
IS THIS YOUR KING? The new whipping boy for white supremacy and capitalism?!
This isn’t the Kanye we all once loved, who would clearly be ashamed of himself, and it’s time to admit that if we allow him to continue going too far west, he will never return.
