About two weeks ago, rapper Kanye West has been flooding the feeds and timelines of users across various social media platforms. Following his hiatus from Twitter and Instagram, Mr. West returns to share his upcoming projects, controversial political views and his "free thoughts" that have sparked much debate and outrage. Many of the fans and friends of Kanye West were disappointed and appalled to hear what one of the most influential rappers of our generation had to say about slavery, former President Barack Obama, and racism.
Kanye's tweets within the past weeks range from sharing his support for President Donald Trump by wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat and calling out Barack Obama for not contributing anything to the city of Chicago. He went on to express that racism is a "silly concept" that's used to create more division. He referenced his favorite "free-thinker" and conservative commentator Candace Owens, a right-wing unapologetic black woman who views Trump as a savior and views the black lives matter movement as useless.
Following the heat he received from his fans, Kanye's wife, Kim Kardashian chimed in to defend her husband claiming people are trying to "demonize him" and denies any concerns regarding his mental health. Close friends and acquaintances of Kanye reached out to him via text and phone calls to speak to sense into him. One of which was popular singer and songwriter John Legend. Kanye responded by exposing screenshots of the personal messages on social media to prove that despite the opinions of people around him, he refuses to be "manipulated" or change his mind.
The most recent and scandalous "free thoughts" shared by Kanye were brought to light by Kanye in a TMZ interview. Kanye bluntly addresses a wide array of controversies. He began the interview by sharing his short battle with opioid-addiction following his hospitalization in November 2016. It was a time where Mr. West was facing a lot of anxiety from his personal and professional life. His latest album "Life of Pablo," was not receiving the attention he wanted and it was also around that time that Kim was robbed at gun-point in Paris. Following these traumatic events, Kanye experienced what he refers to as a breakthrough, or better yet, breakdown sparking all of his newfound "free thoughts."
He continues on in the interview to express his thoughts on racism, citing lyrics from his new song "Ye vs. The World." In this song, he claims to support integration through his messages, instead of further division.
The final straw was when he referred to slavery as a choice by expressing his disbelief that slavery could be around for 400 years. West would rather refer to slavery as a "mental prison" instead of what it really is; the systematic oppression and enslavement of black people at the hands of white people.
He concluded with the typical and ignorant defense when someone says something blatantly racist, " I do not see color," setting off another TMZ interviewer who was angry and extremely disappointed to hear those words coming from a black man.
Dedicated Kanye fans everywhere are very disappointed by his rhetoric on such sensitive issues. His blatant disregard and ignorance has caused him to lose fans, friends and business deals. Many believe Kanye is sparking debate as a means to promote his new upcoming album. Nonetheless, Kanye should reconsider and educate himself further on an issue that has always affected people of color.
