Anyone who’s been online at all in the past month will know that Kanye West, who now legally goes by Ye, has been courting plenty of controversy. He’s had quite the year for himself, so much that it has become nearly impossible to keep track or predict what he will be trending for tomorrow. The public antics and social media rants are often inexplicable, and it’s a shame that they seem to cloud his public perception.
When people say “man, I miss the old Kanye,” it begs the question: to which Kanye are they alluding? The young, hungry producer whose musical aspirations no one took seriously? The wide-eyed kid from Chicago who rapped about God, social consciousness and internalized racism? The boy genius who brought soul back to hip-hop and served it to the masses?
These are things that Kanye is still doing in 2022, and hasn’t stopped doing over the last 20 years since he burst onto the scene. His dreams have always been larger than life. Albeit now, he has a vast amount of wealth, power and influence, and therefore the means to bring these dreams to fruition entirely on his own. People can scoff all they want, but one thing they can’t minimize is his earnesty and will. He will not rest until he proves every last naysayer wrong. Furthermore, to argue that he should regress back to a previous version of himself is a cheap dismissal of the artist he has always been. Kanye didn’t achieve such prominence by being satisfied or comfortable. No matter the height of his successes, he’s always strived for more. Some call it greedy, some call it egotistical — but prolific artists aren’t born out of complacency.
Kanye is arguably the only artist of his caliber with such an uncompromising vision that he’s willing to antagonize his audience in the process — sometimes to his detriment. Say what you will about certain aesthetic choices he’s made within the last five years, a few of which are definitely head-scratchers, but his sincerity and commitment to the vision is noteworthy. We can go back and forth over the quality of some of his recent work, but at least he never grows complacent or allows obstacles to deter him. His ideas seem so fantastical that they border on the absurd at times, yet logistics or corporate interests never seem to interfere with their execution.
While he might function as more of a gatekeeper these days than an underdog, he nevertheless remains at odds with the industry. He seems to be in a perpetual dispute over something, whether he’s railing against record labels and streaming platforms, or luxury fashion houses and political parties. It’s been said that Kanye has become the very machine he’s always fought against, but he’s actually fighting the establishment from a machine he has built on his own.
Some might argue that his art has suffered because of his hubris, or since his involvement with the Kardashians, or due to his forays into other creative and political ventures. However, it’s futile to constantly compare whatever Kanye is currently doing artistically to whatever bygone version of himself that people seem to prefer. From the time he was the “old Ye,” he had odds to overcome. Kanye’s entire career arc is both extraordinary and tragic. And yet, calamity fuels his creative work. His first hit single, “Through the Wire,” came out of a near-fatal car wreck that left his jaw broken and needing to be literally wired shut. What could have been a potentially career-ending circumstance for a rapper was actually a triumph, as he delivered his verses despite the metal gear that kept his jaw intact. Soon after a meteoric rise to fame, his mother, Donda, tragically died during an elective cosmetic procedure that he was financing. Although his personal life has been plagued by immense suffering and trauma, his artistry has continued to mature and push the boundaries of popular music.
The mental gymnastics involved in supporting and defending Kanye can be admittedly tiresome. In this cultural climate, it seems to have become difficult for many people to compartmentalize their emotions and feelings of betrayal from their evaluations of the actual craft itself. Kanye’s cult of personality and his polarizing presence has rendered so many incapable of judging the quality of his work with fairness and good-faith. Perhaps we should not look to Kanye as being an informed or prudent spokesperson on important issues. Rather, we should look to him solely for his aesthetic instincts.
Kanye’s impact on culture cannot be overstated. Try resisting the urge to bop your head to the beat of “Jesus Walks” or deny the nostalgia of an album like “Graduation.” Look at the numbers he does on streaming services or the over a billion in revenue his Yeezy sneaker empire nets annually, and there’s no denying it. He’ll always be a complex and contradictory figure, and will likely continue to inspire mixed feelings in both fans and critics alike. It is possible to be frustrated by him, and at the same time show him both the reverence and empathy he deserves. Behind the messiah complex, he is only human.
Melissa Newell is an Opinion Intern for the winter 2022 quarter. She can be reached at mrnewell@uci.edu.