by Brandon Reiter
I miss the old Kanye…
No but really, I remember the first time I listened to The College Dropout. I was spoiled. As a rap/hip-hop fan, I thought that every album should be that great. Kanye followed it up with hit after hit, cementing himself, not just as one of the most talented rappers, but as one of the most talented musicians of our generation. While this is my opinion, it is hard to argue that his historic rise wasn’t due to incredible talent as he followed up his 2004 debut album with now-classics like Late Registration, Graduation, 808s & a Heartbreak and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, all of which peaked at #1 and went at least triple platinum. (I even liked Yeezus and The Life of Pablo which both went double platinum).
Everyone handles success differently. We’ve seen many young stars fall off early and others able to handle the limelight. As for Ye, it has become increasingly evident that his stardom, combined with mental illness, has turned him into a man who now believes he is untouchable, or as he would probably put it: God-like.
In addition to being a historically great musician, Kanye has supplemented his success with other ventures, especially as a fashion designer. His shoes still sell for thousands of dollars on the secondary market even though they’re pretty hideous.
Kanye, like any successful artist, has developed a devout following. I was definitely a big fan but never considered myself to be a Kanye “Stan”. In case you don’t know what a Stan is, it is a slang term that means die-hard fan. It is a reference to the song Stan by Eminem, in which he raps from the point of view of a crazy fan who murders his pregnant girlfriend because the fictional version of Eminem had not been responding to his fan mail. Kanye’s “Stans” love him and will go to bat for him, probably due to all of the great memories his music has provided them over the years.
Stans will buy his shoes and clothing, go to all of his concerts, and often defend his racist remarks. Ye still has many Stans, even though his last four albums were borderline unlistenable (yes, that’s my opinion but look me in the eye and tell me you like Jesus is King).
It’s hard to admit your childhood idols aren’t who they once were. Usually, that happens to us in sports, as I’m sure most Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers fans could probably relate to right now. (I’m sort of kidding I think Brady will still somehow win another Superbowl). Nonetheless, it is hard to admit the talent has faded from those we once thought to be indestructible.
Over the last few years, however, Kanye has made it quite hard on his Stans to remain on his side as he continues to go on these despicable tirades, support white fascists, run for president, and in his latest work, SAYS HE WANTS TO KILL JEWS.
As a Jewish person whose great-grandparents hid in haystacks in 1940s Poland to avoid the Nazi’s, it’s not a difficult decision for me to say, “yeah, I don’t like this guy anymore”. Not to mention that his music is essentially just Church Choir music these days. I do find it perplexing for anyone to still be defending this man. Unless, of course, you yourself are a white male fascist.
In case you are unaware of his anti-Semitic remarks let me break it down for you: On October 8th, he tweeted that he is “going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE”. Not leaving much up for interpretation here, but Kanye goes on (in the same tweet) to claim that he “can’t be Anti-Semitic because black people are actually Jew[ish] too”. If your confused it’s okay, I had to look this one up. What he is trying to reference here is a theory that black people are decedents of Israelites. In fact, Kanye clarified by saying, “When I say Jew, I mean the 12 lost tribes of Judah, the blood of Christ, who the people known as the race Black really are.” (The tribe of Judah was one of the 12 tribes of Israel.) Kanye is not the only famous person to support this theory.
He also went on to say that he thinks George Floyd died from a drug overdose, and not from the knee of Derrick Chauvin being pinned on his neck for nine minutes. So if you don’t feel bad for Jews being slammed by Kanye, at least (hopefully) you’d find it rather despicable for him to mitigate the death of Floyd. Right? RIGHT?!?!?!?
Soooo Kanye thinks that Black people are Jewish, but that Jewish people are manipulating and controlling Black people. “Milking them for everything they’re worth” he often says. He blames every person who does not want to do business with him on the “Jewish Media”. He specifically called out Ari Emmanuel, CEO of Endeavor and who the Entourage character, Ari Gold, was loosely based on (fun fact), as another powerful Jew doing anything to mute him at all costs.
In an interview last week with Piers Morgan, when asked if he would walk back the ‘Def Con 3’ remark, Kanye laughed it off, admitted it was racist, and said he needs to “fight fire with fire”. So he is blaming Jewish people for everything going wrong in his life, thinks he is actually Jewish, but that Jews are manipulating everyone to “cancel” him. It probably doesn’t help the fact that Pete Davidson (a Jew) was dating his ex-wife and rubbing it in his face.
How are Kanye’s corporate partners/collaborators dealing with the backlash? Well, Adidas finally announced that it is cutting ties with him following the likes of Balenciaga, and various media platforms, including Lebron James’ show, The Shop, that have Kanye content in production. His agency, CAA, dropped him, and it looks like pretty much every partner associated with Ye has finally had it with him.
Adidas said they expect to take a $250 Million dollar hit by dropping Ye, which is kind of an annoying thing for them to point out. Essentially, they are whining, “hey look at us giving up all this money because his STANS still buy his ugly sneakers no matter what he does or say.” Good for you Adidas, so noble of you to give up all that money your making off of a self-proclaimed racist. MAZEL TOV.
Now let me say this: nothing will stop you (or me) from listening to The College Dropout occasionally and reminiscing on the good memories that the “Old Kanye” brought us as a talented musician, and yes, he may still get some royalties from that, but we all need to STOP SUPPORTING THIS MAN. Stop buying his stupid sneakers, stop listening to his terrible music, stop defending him because he’s bipolar. I empathize with mental illness but being bipolar IS NOT an excuse to incite fascism and to blame everything that goes wrong for you on a specific culture or race. This man has consistently showed us that he is a menace, and a threat to the Jewish people by calling on his Stans to share his belief that the Jews “control everything” and are responsible for everything bad that happens in this world. Sounds exactly like something Hitler would say.
Let me spoil something for you. Jews do not control everything. I mean if they are, I guess my secret Jewish Illuminati meeting invitations are getting lost in the mail. But seriously, if Jews DID control everything, I’m sure there would be a lot less people getting away with blatant Anti-Semitism. If we controlled everything, Donald Trump probably wouldn’t have been president (don’t give me that Jared Kushner is a Jew crap). If we did control everything I WOULD HAVE WAY MORE CLIENTS.
Are there a lot of Jews in Hollywood? Absolutely. Are there a lot of Jews in the media? Sure. Are there a lot of Jewish lawyers? Plenty. That does NOT mean every Hollywood exec, media personality, or lawyer is Jewish. In fact, it’s pretty racist to assume that if I say so. If the powerful Jews in those industries go after you for making anti-Semitic remarks… it’s probably because we fear anti-Semitism.
Here’s one thing I do want you to take away from this long winded rant. The reason so many Jews have gravitated to those professions and are indeed considered “powerful” is because 6 MILLION OF US WERE KILLED IN THE HAULACAUST SO WE HAVE DEVELOPED A TIGHT KNIT COMMUNITIES THAT FOCUS ON FAMILY, AND APPRECIATING WHAT OUR ANCESTORS WENT THROUGH TO ENSURE OUR SURVIVAL. WE MAKE SURE TO RAISE OUR CHILDREN TO BE KIND, EDUCATED AND SUCCESSFUL SO THAT WE CAN PUT OURSELVES IN THESE POWERFUL POSITIONS TO ENSURE THAT PEOPLE LIKE KANYE DON’T KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH THIS AND TO DAMN WELL MAKE SURE THAT ANOTHER GENOCIDE NEVER HAPPENS AGAIN.
Anyways, although it was a little late, good for Adidas and all of the other companies and people denouncing Kanye West over this. It should not have come to this point, but I’m sure Adidas and Balenciaga will survive without Ye just as they did long before him.
And as for Kanye, I know you had a dream you could buy your way to heaven but too bad you woke up and spent it on a necklace.
