By now the internet is ablaze with digital disdain and think piece theorems describing the distinctly American phenomenon that is Kanye West. The son of Chicago has created some of the most meticulously laid tracks I have ever heard, and his love for his mother is one akin to that which I have for my own. But African ancestry and American DNA are about as deep as our similarities go.
Over the years some of my favorite entertainers have been revealed to be something less than they purported themselves to be within the lyrics and lines of their greatest hits. Lo and behold, the gangster rapper is not a gangster, the conscious rapper is a misogynist and the soul singer a pedophile. So, it is no surprise that the long-ago humble backpack rapper has been revealed to be a narcissist and a hypocrite over time.
The “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” comment seems like it happened light years ago, and galaxies away. And even that distance isn’t quite far enough to measure how different our impression of the younger West was back then, compared to the elder West today.
Through the Michelle Obama shade and the pro-Trump rant which was followed by a pro-Trump photo op, we still like a 90 percent of the music he puts out. We even looked past his Confederate flag inspired clothing brand he once tried to put out, and how his current clothing line looks eerily like slave clothing, we bob our heads and rock to the beat. So, despite how many of us feel about his Twitter shoutout to pro-Trump black conservative Candace Owens, we’ll still listen to the Nas album he’s reportedly producing when it’s released in June.
But let me help you on those latent Kanye thoughts.
Dear Kanye: We Used to Love You
I must admit that you had me going for a while. Your musical genius was once without precedence, and no one this side of Wu-Tang’s the RZA could match your ability to turn even the most obscure audio clip into the bedrock of a hit record.
Candace Owens was a conservative lobbyist and currently is communications director for Turning Point USA, a nonprofit that spreads right-leaning ideology on college campuses. Owens oversaw the groups earlier urban engagement efforts. Code word for black outreach. She often attempts to dismantle the premise of white privilege during her outreach to black communities Owens calling Black Lives Matter names is nothing new.
KANYE WEST on Twitter
I love the way Candace Owens thinks
BLM protested a speech she gave Friday at UCLA, she accused them of embracing victimhood by focusing on slavery and the systemic racism of the past:
Candace Owens on Twitter
Black Lives Matter protesters showed up to my @UCLA event to protest. Here is a video clip of me smacking them down with the truth; they’re a bunch of whiny toddlers, pretending to be oppressed for attention. https://t.co/riBA0A3J1I
This the woman Kanye called considers a “free thinker”. It goes without saying that people change in life. For some it’s evolution, but devolution is also a possibility. As far as Candance Owens is concerned, anyone who snuggles up to the most reprehensible president in recent memory is awash in the miasma of his bigotry.
Indeed, while her claims that the Democratic Party has purposely crippled the black community does have merit, the Republicans have done no better. Many indicators show they’re at least equally as detrimental to black liberation. So all this talk about freedom, free speech, free thinking, coming from an avowed Trump supporter is a smoke screen.
Being Kanye West must feel like being plugged directly into the matrix via spinal USB cord every day of your life. Money seriously ain’t a thing! Multiplatinum success is so passe for Ye. Luis V is as common as BVDs for Mr. West. To him, exotic cars come in Now and Later flavors and a Barbie doll wife who is heir to a billion-dollar fortune is the ultimate trophy. Legions would trade in their blackness for far less. While I am disappointed, it is apropos for the age in which we live.
Unchecked narcissism and honorary white status will warp even the most resolute minds among us. What is your blackness worth?
