Thought I'd post some stuff about Kanye to better contextualise this recent act of his, first of all is his single, which should put to bed any questions about this being him standing up against injustice relative to his own ego:
He's trying to pull a clipping. here (noise/industrial samples with political messaging) though at the same time he has to remind the audience that he is the messenger of God and that this is still about him. That he uses footage from the BLM protests, makes an abstract message of 'division' without anything concrete to say about police violence or racism in America, and that he is the spokesperson of the black community, with the burden of salvation resting upon him and faith just reaffirms the shallow communitarianism-for-profit here. Even by his own standards this is woefully cynical relative to his earlier efforts which had the same message but instead had a rebellious attitude celebrating flouting expectations:
One can already tell the difference in tone, approach and intention between something like We Don't Care and the sanctimoniousness and tackiness of Blood On The Leaves (which is artistically and politically closer to current Kanye), which is just a glitzed up stage for Kanye to project his ego and his success and sexual insecurity. It makes the Nina Simone sample tasteless and is nothing more than a pathetic attempt to imitate a Daveed Diggs, that persists throughout Yeezus and into tracks like New Slaves which compares slavery and segregation to Kanye's bourgeois struggles regarding shopping and fashion design:
www.youtube.com
youtu.be
Compare this with it's reference material (I know clppng came out after Yeezus, but Midcity was already making waves in the underground) and response from other black industrial music artists to Yeezus (in this case, Death Grips responding to Black Skinhead with Black Quarterback):
Also important reminder that he claimed he'd run for President as far back as 2015, it was just as narcissistic then as it is now and his transparent fast-food evangelism is as clear in his messaging as it was in Jesus is Lord when he made a tribute to Chick-Fil-A, which was then followed by a publicity stunt of free Chick-Fil-A dinners during the COVID epidemic.
edition.cnn.com
In summary, Kanye has been scraping the artistic barrel, openly ripping off other more adventurous artists, and has been navel-gazing for a very long time. This is a string of stunts to cling onto relevance and profitability. It's totally pathetic even if he might genuinely be empathising with the situation, since he's been tone-deaf even when he attempted to be confrontative artistically for a while now. Him clinging on to his earlier provocativeness is just an old man trying to pretend that he's as edgy and exciting as he was when he was younger, failing to see that his attitude and his social station can be a locus for oppression whilst also being shielded from the terrorism that those less fortunate face every day. In the end he's left postulating, making grand gestures and nothing else.
He's trying to pull a clipping. here (noise/industrial samples with political messaging) though at the same time he has to remind the audience that he is the messenger of God and that this is still about him. That he uses footage from the BLM protests, makes an abstract message of 'division' without anything concrete to say about police violence or racism in America, and that he is the spokesperson of the black community, with the burden of salvation resting upon him and faith just reaffirms the shallow communitarianism-for-profit here. Even by his own standards this is woefully cynical relative to his earlier efforts which had the same message but instead had a rebellious attitude celebrating flouting expectations:
One can already tell the difference in tone, approach and intention between something like We Don't Care and the sanctimoniousness and tackiness of Blood On The Leaves (which is artistically and politically closer to current Kanye), which is just a glitzed up stage for Kanye to project his ego and his success and sexual insecurity. It makes the Nina Simone sample tasteless and is nothing more than a pathetic attempt to imitate a Daveed Diggs, that persists throughout Yeezus and into tracks like New Slaves which compares slavery and segregation to Kanye's bourgeois struggles regarding shopping and fashion design:
Blood On The Leaves
Provided to YouTube by Universal Music GroupBlood On The Leaves · Kanye WestYeezus℗ 2013 Def Jam Recordings, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.Released on: 2...
www.youtube.com
New Slaves
Provided to YouTube by Universal Music GroupNew Slaves · Kanye WestYeezus℗ 2013 Def Jam Recordings, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.Released on: 2013-01-01...
youtu.be
Compare this with it's reference material (I know clppng came out after Yeezus, but Midcity was already making waves in the underground) and response from other black industrial music artists to Yeezus (in this case, Death Grips responding to Black Skinhead with Black Quarterback):
Also important reminder that he claimed he'd run for President as far back as 2015, it was just as narcissistic then as it is now and his transparent fast-food evangelism is as clear in his messaging as it was in Jesus is Lord when he made a tribute to Chick-Fil-A, which was then followed by a publicity stunt of free Chick-Fil-A dinners during the COVID epidemic.
Kanye West declares 2020 presidential bid at VMAs | CNN Politics
Forget 2016. Kanye West says he's planning to run for president in 2020.
edition.cnn.com
In summary, Kanye has been scraping the artistic barrel, openly ripping off other more adventurous artists, and has been navel-gazing for a very long time. This is a string of stunts to cling onto relevance and profitability. It's totally pathetic even if he might genuinely be empathising with the situation, since he's been tone-deaf even when he attempted to be confrontative artistically for a while now. Him clinging on to his earlier provocativeness is just an old man trying to pretend that he's as edgy and exciting as he was when he was younger, failing to see that his attitude and his social station can be a locus for oppression whilst also being shielded from the terrorism that those less fortunate face every day. In the end he's left postulating, making grand gestures and nothing else.
