The 41-year-old American producer, rapper, fashion designer, and most recently, Trump advocate, is no stranger to the spotlight. Kanye West is one of the most critically acclaimed artists of the past two decades, and has often been at the forefront of cultural and political relevance. West’s musical work is commonly cited as some of the most important works in hip-hop and pop music; every single studio album he has released has gone platinum, he has won 21 Grammy awards, and is frequently named in best-of-all-time lists. West has been compared to titans of music history Michael Jackson, David Bowie, and perhaps most poignantly, Prince.
Recently, Kanye West has been increasingly active on social media outlet Twitter, announcing a change of name to “Ye”, a commonly recurring nickname of West’s and also the title of his 8th studio album released in June of 2018. West reportedly recorded Ye in just two weeks whilst holed up in a ranch in Wyoming. West released Ye among a string of 5 releases, collaborating with artists Kid Cudi, Pusha T, Nas and Teyana Taylor.
In April 2018, West announced his intentions to write a book on philosophy, before clarifying he would be sharing his work on Twitter. Since, West has been increasingly active, sharing musings often nonsensical and sometimes hilarious. West has tweeted about need to reduce global plastic consumption, and the importance of pursuing solutions to combat waste.
Most recently, West shared a 9-minute rant on “mind control”, and various other things that have been troubling him. West states he feels like “poisonous” social media is “controlling him”, and when people try to tell him what to do he feels like they are “touching his brain”. Here we witness a great man at his most vulnerable; West reaches out to fans explaining how he tried to buy the publishing rights to his music from Sony, who refused to sell.
Despite this, West finishes on a positive note; “Open up your heart, let the spirit guide you, let your conscious be free. We free.” West goes on to list himself as the greatest living recording artist, and that the spirits of Fela, Marley and Tupac flow through him.
Kanye West is undoubtedly one of the most brilliant artists of the modern age, but his behaviour as of late has been increasingly erratic. West’s recent antics reached their ominous peak when he met with hugely controversial U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House. During this meeting, West ranted in the Oval Office for nearly 10 minutes, all- the-while wearing Trump’s “Make America Great Again” hat, the campaign slogan for his 2016 election campaign. In the interview, Kanye stated that wearing the “MAGA” hat “gives him power”.
We wonder… just what will he do next.
