Is Kanye West going south?

Never far from controversy, Kanye West (now wanting to be known as Ye), has hit headlines again, provoking a lot of reaction from the internet following his appearance on the 44th season premiere of Saturday Night Live last week. Ye performed his single “I love it” with Lil Pump, as they danced around on stage dressed up as bottled water. Many came to ridicule his set; laughing at him and not with him. At the finale of the programme, Ye broke into a passionate speech about the Make America Great Again hat he’s wearing, liberal media and having the freedom of expression.

This is the man who blurted out “George Bush doesn’t care about black people,” at a Hurricane Katrina relief concert back in 2005, much to the shock of Chris Tucker and Mike Myers, who were co-presenting. He does this to highlight the negative media portrayal of African Americans affected by the Katrina and suggesting that the relief responses to black peoples were unfair.

While this was early in Ye’s journey into blooming as the Kanye West he is known as today, we see that this man has no fear of controversy—he is not one to stand in line just because everyone else is. And to an extent he has succeeded in what he set out to do—Ye wants to raise the issue of racism, and he does so by making a provocative statement in the vein of clickbait, which he himself knows how ridiculous it is. Perhaps his methods are too extreme, as the common reaction to anything he does is anger and mockery, but it’s admirable for someone in the public eye to go against the grain. However, we look back at Ye’s comments in amusement, as the gravitas of his statement is survived by memes focusing on the absurdity of the situation.

Now fast track to this earlier this year, when he caused a tremendous amount of backlash with comments praising Donald Trump and about how slavery was a “choice”. Many in the African American community were outraged by Ye, forcing him to apologise. This is certainly a different Kanye than in the example before; this is Kanye the satirical character, Kanye the provocateur, Kanye the absolute meme. It’s clear he’s just chatting a load of shit with the safety net that he is Kanye because he really doesn’t care about what anyone says. Why would he say these awful things? What is the point of pissing off a lot of people at the same time? Publicity, of course, in the way that only Ye knows how. 2018 has been a big year for Ye so far, releasing several singles, a solo self-titled album and a collaborative project with Pusha T called ‘Kids See Ghosts’. And coincidentally, all his controversies arose just before the releases of new music—his latest album ‘Yandhi’ was planned to release during the SNL performance, but didn’t. What he is doing is counterintuitive but effective: the modern world is a saturated place full of all sorts of grey detritus that people forget about in times to come—but if one says something that goes against the politics of a people, it becomes something that latches onto the conscience of society as a whole. What a weird way to sell an album, is he doing anything more than that? What Ye is ultimately trying to achieve is to imprint his mark on the zeitgeist of today, to transcend his rapper status to something more of a historical landmark. So, in being angered by his actions to go vent it out on Twitter is exactly what fuels Ye’s purpose. He frequently compares himself to Leonardo da Vinci, Steve Jobs, Willy Wonka, Shakespeare, Google and many more other culturally important figures and entities. It’s not entirely preposterous to label him as an artist of the 21st century, representative of the narcissism and anti-conformism as a consequence of social media culture. Ye is one of the most influential African Americans alive today and whether he feels a he has duty to serve as a spokesperson for his heritage is a different matter altogether.

If Trump embodies the voice of the disenfranchised right, then Ye could be considered an equal and opposite, representing the disenfranchised left—using freedom of thought and speech as a counterargument to his controversial comments. He claims to have been “bullied backstage” at SNL for wearing the MAGA hat and calls for “debate not diatribe” in the ongoing tussle between the right and the left in modern America. In the closing moments of the show, Ye talks about how 90% of news, LA, New York, writers and rappers are liberal, and how there’s no balance—an almost Thanos-esque statement, while saying he can’t be told what to do because when he puts his “Superman cape” on. He talks with a brio of a messianic preacher, with the lulling organ chords of his song “Ghost Town” in the backdrop. After thanking God for this platform, Ye sings “I feel kinda free. I thought this country said I could be me.” Even though most of what he said is generic and mostly meaningless tripe, the fact that it provoked a reaction is exactly what Ye set out to do. This is the same man who just performed onstage dressed as a bottle of Perrier water; it would be a mistake to take this man seriously. His tongue is always firmly in his cheek. I don’t even think he likes Trump, or even understands what he represents. Ye went on SNL because he craves attention for the sake of it.

In the back of all this is Ye’s mental health; he implies that he has bipolar disorder on the album cover of Ye and grappled with various other issues throughout his career. Obviously, this must be considered when assessing his actions—but I don’t think it’s entirely significant. Ye is just doing what he feels is right; there is no hidden agenda as it all comes from his heart. In truth, I don’t even think he knows what the hell he’s doing. If you like Ye and the stuff he does, then please continue to live your life peacefully. If you don’t, there’s still no good reason to get upset by him.