I miss the old Kanye

How do we deal with an artist that is “growing” in all the wrong directions? In light of the last few years of controversy he has been dealing with, Kanye has fallen from being one of the kings of the rap scene to a joke, nearly an afterthought when it comes to his music coming out. He has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons, from a very publicized breakup and divorce from his former wife Kim Kardashian, to appearances within alt-right media such as Alex Jones where he has pushed anti-semitic rhetoric, to pushing his support onto Donald Trump’s presidential campaign before declaring his own campaign, to everything in between. None of what he has done or said has been anything close to alright, and pushing these viewpoints to many highly impressionable young fans is damaging, to say the least. But how does this fall from the limelight impact the music that he spent most of his life making, without any of the extracurriculars going on?

This is far from the first time that he has been making headlines for reasons other than his art, much as it will likely be his last. Following the release of his critically acclaimed 2008 album 808s and Heartbreaks, he made a highly publicized appearance at the VMA Awards, storming on stage and interrupting Taylor Swift’s award acceptance to declare that it was Beyonce who truly deserved it, not Swift. Despite showing some remorse for the event, he later took back any apology he had made about his outburst on stage. While this pales in comparison to what we are currently seeing unfold, it helped to set the stage for what would be to come in the last few years.

Earlier this month, Ye released a collaborative studio album with Ty Dolla $ign, titled Vultures 1. Despite still having legions of fans at his side, ready to defend his every move and push his music to the masses still, most saw this album as a fall from grace, including me. It was sad to see someone who was so musically brilliant, crafting classics such as College Dropout, Late Registration and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy stoop to writing punchlines comparing him to R. Kelly and Bill Cosby. Although he was never the pinnacle of lyrical rap, Ye has time and again proven that he can write some effective songs, whether catchy hits that live on forever like “Stronger” or heart wrenching tracks about his family such as “Roses” or “Come To Life.” It’s hard to come to terms with his spectacular fall from grace, seeming almost as if these two eras of Kanye are completely different people. And to be fair, they pretty much are. 

Still, it’s particularly difficult at times to separate the art from the artist, especially within his most recent music. In the promotion for his latest album, he opted to use imagery that is highly referential to controversial black metal artist, Burzum, and has even baked the controversy into the music, such as with the aforementioned line comparing him to convicted sex offenders. So how can we reconcile this? Should we be able to listen to his former music, continually financially supporting him through the streaming revenue, despite the disgusting things he has said recently and the views that he is spewing out repeatedly? Whether you believe that he means it or not personally, and regardless of your opinion on his recent music, there is no denying that he is setting a horrible example for any youths that may still look up to him. 

At the end of the day, separating the art from the artist is always a complicated conversation. Many, many, many notable musicians and actor and producers and everything in between are verified assholes to say the least, and yet we do not want to cut them out of our media consumption because they play a big part in what we enjoy: Mel Gibson is anti-semitic and racist, but we all love Lethal Weapon still; Johnny Depp and Amber Heard are likely both victims and perpetrators, but Pirates of the Caribbean, Donnie Brasco, and Aquaman still gain television play repeatedly. It’s hard to push away our inherent biases in light of things coming out following our parasocial worship of these massive figures. In my little opinion, consuming their media is okay, but you cannot ignore and disregard the harm these figures have caused, and they need to be held accountable all the same, whether they are in the prime of their careers or not.