LBJ, the President, used to say the real hero is the American Negro. I thought Kanye West was one of them. He’s been delivering indisputable classics ever since I was fourteen: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, The College Dropout, Late Registration, and he didn’t stop with music either.
I’d be lying if I didn’t think about camping out for those Red Octobers. And short films like Runaway, coupled with the Yeezy Collections, proved he was an artist, not just a rapper.
Yeezy famously said, “My greatest pain in life is that I will never be able to see myself perform live,” and to those standing under the stage on the Saint Pablo tour, it made perfect sense. Yeezy’s pure performances always gave me the impression that he was brave enough to stand up for the everyday vulnerable strivers.
However, his recent behavior on Twitter doesn’t match the lyrical content of the Old Kanye who made “New Slaves,” said “George Bush doesn’t care about black people,” and gave us the opening verse on “Gorgeous:”
“...Inter century anthems based off inner city tantrums.
Based off the way we was branded
Face it, Jerome get more time than Brandon.
And at the airport they check all through my bag.”
“...This the real world, homie, school finished
They done stole your dreams, you don't know who did it.
I treat the cash the way the government treats AIDS.
I won't be satisfied 'til all my niggas get it, get it?”
The Celtic poet John O’Donohue defined genius this way: “music is what language would love to be if it could,” but the gift of ability often comes with a side of crazy and sometimes people know the words but not the music of empathy.
On “FML,” Yeezy tells us himself, “You ain’t never seen nothing crazier than this nigga when he off his Lexapro,” and in his interview with radio host Charlamagne Tha God, he talks about “taking the stigma off the word crazy,” the importance and difficulty of “finding good information” and the “limits of language.”
Donald Trump has referred to rappers as symbols of ambition in the the past but Ye saying Trump is one of his “dragon energy” brothers is a deal-breaker to many of his fans who felt otherized by Trump and the tactical surrogates who peddled anti-Black, anti-Latino, anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant soft and hard threats.
His comments about slavery being a choice beg the question — how did he forget what his people think is significant and worth remembering? These political comments show no empathy for the fans who are vulnerable to economic exploitation and inequalities in power.
We're all wondering if it's his ego talking. The ego, the evil sister of success, can propel individuals to accomplish great things, but combined with the pressure and madness of fame, it can distort someone’s reality and make them think the world doesn’t recognize their importance.
For example, on the day Julius Caesar was assassinated, somebody tried to slip him a warning note, but he was too arrogant to open it. Caesar didn’t even listen to his wife when she told him to stay home and I bet she didn’t look half as good as Kim Kardashian.
Ye wants to belong with the likes of Caesar and Genghis Khan, who was able to take over more land and people in 25 years than the Romans in 400 because he learned from everyone and swallowed his pride. But, unlike Kanye, Khan knew arrogance clouded judgment and kept you from seeing the truth.
But times have changed. In the current economy of attention, fame is a precious resource and it seems like having no shame has become the best defense against accountability. Unlimited access to young minds is no good if you live in a vacuum and your thinking is so “free” you’ve forgotten your history of bondage.
If Trump’s presidency is any evidence -- no celebrity deserves to have a perch of power in politics, especially if they’re not doing the necessary work to say something accurate and meaningful. Dismantling racism and inequality won’t happen overnight, but that’s America’s next evolutionary step and Yeezy needs to be on the right side of history, especially if he’s serious about running for President in 2024.
Even though considerable progress has been made in America, more people are noticing the fractures that persist in our system, especially as wokeness percolates and the silenced find their voice.
Maybe the out-of-touch comments will do nothing irreversible to his legacy, but Ye should remember that people judge talent at its best and character at its worst. If he stays deaf to criticism and only hears praise, then those five albums better drop ASAP and the songs need to be more impressive than "Poopity Scoop."