The lead singer of The Killers, Brandon Flowers, said rapper Kanye West “makes me ill.”
Everyone seems to have strong opinions about the rapper, producer and designer. Many people admire him, perceiving his uncommon and aggressive antics solely to be that of creative releases. In contrast, others hate him, calling him a crazy, power-hungry and egotistical schmuck.
The one aspect of Kanye West that no one can disagree with is that he sells albums. Not only does he sell albums, he sells stadiums, and his songs have millions upon millions of streams. If not the most, Kanye is one of the most popular rappers of this generation, and all time.
His accolades include that of a colossal 22 Grammy awards and 75 nominations. His recent album, “Donda,” has been nominated for album of the year. He is listed on the “Titans” list within the Times 100 most influential people, nominated by none other than Tesla’s Elon Musk. His resume is more than impressive, maybe even that of a genius.
Even if Kanye is, in fact, a creative genius, his vast array of negative behavior indeed takes away from his lengthy curriculum vitae, and the list of “Things that Kanye probably should not have done” sometimes seems as long as the list of his billions of song streams. This reality destroys Kanye’s image and undermines his true talents.
The rapper has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and publicly discusses it. There is nothing funny about Kanye’s struggle with mental health, though many laugh at him for it. It would be fair to speculate that his past actions might be due to his mental illness. For example, Kanye West ran for President of the United States as an Independent in the most recent 2020 election, where at his rallies, he would wear a bulletproof vest with the date 2020 shaved into his hair.
His speeches were emotional, even wild. “I almost killed my daughter,” he yelled, referring to when and his then-wife, Kim Kardashian, and he discussed abortion for their daughter. He regretfully raised eyebrows when he asserted that slavery “was a choice” for Black people in the U.S. declaring that “Harriet Tubman never actually freed the slaves” at a campaign rally. He then sued the state of Wisconsin to get on the presidential ballot though he missed vital filing deadlines.
Just last week, Kanye was banned from Instagram for 24 hours after ruthlessly attacking his ex-wife Kim Kardashian, Kardashian’s new boyfriend Pete Davidson and comedian Trevor Noah on the social media platform. Kanye, who has a whopping 15.9 million followers, took to Instagram, making grotesque and offensive comments. For example, he posted a photo of Noah, who is half-Black, with the offensive caption, “All in together now… K**n baya my lord K**n baya, K**n baya my lord K**n baya, Oooo lord K**n baya.”
It is important to note that Kanye himself is Black, and the slur used, “K**n,” is employed by some to describe a Black individual who rejects or undermines their race or ethnicity. Instagram’s parent company, Meta, confirmed that Instagram removed Kanye’s account due to a violation of the company’s hate speech, bullying and harassment policies.
Noah took the high road when he responded to the post.
He said, “You’re an indelible part of my life Ye. Which is why it breaks my heart to see you like this. I don’t care if you support Trump and I don’t care if you roast Pete. I do however care when I see you on a path that’s dangerously close to peril and pain … Don’t ever forget, the biggest trick racists ever played on Black people was teaching us to strip each other of our blackness whenever we disagree. Tricking us into dividing ourselves up into splinters so that we would never unite into a powerful rod.”
Noah is hosting this year’s Grammys. Due to Kanye’s social media use, the rapper was disinvited to perform at the event. Noah responded to Kanye’s Grammy ban with a tweet, “I said counsel Kanye not cancel Kanye.”
This is Kanye’s problem. He attacks those who support him, alienating himself from those who love him. He makes it difficult for even his most loyal fans and followers to preserve his vision.
Recently, he outraged a large chunk of his followers by reporting that his newest album, “Donda 2,” will only be available to play on his product, the “Stem Player,” a device that costs $200. This move was unprecedented, and many fans cannot afford a $200 speaker solely to listen to an album. The last thing a musician should do is come between their fans and their music. A world-famous musician like Kanye must know this.
Perhaps Kanye is not a genius. After all, it was the great critic William Hazlitt who wrote in an 1826 essay that, “No really great man ever thought himself so,” and, “He who comes up to his own idea of greatness, must always have had a very low standard of it in his mind.” Kanye has compared his talent to every established genius, from Pablo Picasso to Steve Jobs. The rapper refers to himself as a genius more frequently than former President Donald Trump, and those who have watched Trump know that this is a feat quite challenging to accomplish.
This begs the question, if Kanye truly is a genius, but prohibits many of his fans from listening to his music, verbally assaults his ex-wife publicly on Instagram, calls a late-night talk show host a “K**n” and grossly states that slavery was a choice for Black people, among the many other perverse acts he has committed, does it even matter?
