Kanye West, the Art, and the Artist

A statement on the recent drama regarding one of the West's most influential musicians

There are a lot of things you could call Kanye West after the newest Info Wars interview and his more, let’s say, un-PC tweets; a Nazi sympathizer, an alt-right figure, an enabler for horrific figures such as Nick Fuentes and Milo Yiannopoulos, an extreme anti-Semite (intentional or otherwise), or so insane that ALEX JONES is a voice of reason by comparison, but there’s one thing you can’t call him; inauthentic. Ye has an extensive history of saying whatever deranged lunacy comes to his mind without fear of repercussion, and it’s landed him in trouble more than a few times. He’s become a mouthpiece to his own faux-Christian, alt-Right delusions more and more by the day, which raises the question of whether or not it remains morally okay to enjoy his work, or if his art is separable from his personal failings.

In 2008, Ye said that he thought he would ‘go down as “the voice of this generation”, and now I hope we can all look back and say god I hope not. Only 10 years later, he went on to say (in reference to slavery) that “400 years? That sounds like a choice”. The more you read about his history, the more difficult it is to believe that he’s a real person, and not an artificial intelligence that fried it’s circuits in 2016.

He’s compared himself to a lot of different people throughout the years, but the one I find the most apt is the connection to Walt Disney, as both are horrible people who make good art and make us question whether or not it’s okay to continue enjoying their artwork.

My ultimate objection to all of those arguments and discussions is that Kanye, like Walt Disney at the time, is already a very public figure, and not listening to his music isn’t going to make it any less so. He has a rabid fanbase that would take bullets for him, and online blog posts like this one are never going to make that not the case. Even if, by some insane set of circumstances, he didn’t have any fans anymore willing to support him monetarily, he still casually sits on millions of dollars. He’s not going anywhere anytime soon.

Ultimately, by not engaging with a massive artist because of a desire to not support their bad behavior, you’re sacrificing more than they are, because you're sacrificing enjoyment, while they’re sacrificing pathetic amounts of money relative to their dragon’s horde of wealth. If you don’t want to listen to Kanye’s music anymore, or even encourage other people not to because of his awful beliefs and behavior, that’s fine, and there’s no problem with that. The problem comes in when policing the behavior of others - particularly the affected minority groups - in attempt to get them to drop potentially one of their favorite artists in exchange for an insignificant tax on a man with a $400 million net worth.

The art isn’t always completely able to be separated from it’s artist, though, depending how blurred the line is between the media and the individual. For example, Max Karson (or Mr. Girl) is one of the media figures I’ve been obsessed with lately, and he is the product, with videos and songs reflecting essentially his direct stream of conscious, and the art is very difficult to parse from the artist, which is tough to reconcile with the fact that Max is by all means, a toxic, narcissistic person. Max is an example of art that is entwined with the artist’s image; the two have a particularly inseparable relationship. If you want to enjoy Max’s art, you must necessarily accept that the art is the result of, and a tacit endorsement of, narcissistic and abusive behaviors and mindsets that lead thereto and enjoy them in spite of this.

This point is important because it makes or breaks the intuitive meaning of ‘separate the art from the artist’. For example, Notch, the developer of Minecraft, is an awful political figure, supporting Q-Anon and other far-right ideologies, but these beliefs are not reflected within the game itself. Another example is Kendrick Lamar using the F-slur repeatedly in Auntie Diaries, but it is heavily overshadowed by the song’s overall very positive and supportive message towards marginalized communities and the desire to meet the general audience where they’re at with the song, so there are some instances where the work is likely separable from it’s artist.

But the problem with the Kanye story is that it’s definitely somewhere in the middle, so I don’t really want to decide for you where he falls on that spectrum, since it completely depends on your engagement with his music, and with him as a whole. And regardless of what Twitter would have you think, artists are still fundamentally people, people with trauma, goals, dreams, and mental illness, Kanye being no exception. Kanye’s infamous at this point for his extremely bizarre and self-destructive behavior, and has also extensive public record of extreme mental illness. He’s been hospitalized multiple times for paranoia (notably the delusion that rapper Jay-Z had plans to assassinate him) and has referenced taking Lexapro (an anti-depressant) in his music. Obviously this doesn’t justify his actions, nothing can. He has undeniably alienated Jewish aspects of his fanbase, contributed to the wave of neo-Nazi conspiracies sweeping America, and had a massive part in supporting the rise of harmful Nazi-adjacent figures such as Milo Yiannopoulos and Nick Fuentes. But there is a definite conversation to be had on the effect of his mental health and the media propagation thereof that has led him to this point. And if that turns you off from his music, that is completely understandable. And if you can separate the art from the artist in this case, more power to you.

Part of the problem here comes from a question of to what extent should we ought to cancel figures revealed to be problematic. A question of whether the art is necessarily supporting the artist’s views and existence by virtue of existing and generating revenue, a question of whether publicly spreading the person’s bad deed is sufficient punishment, a question of pragmatics in how to deplatform people who’s opinions are too problematic, a question of how to disincentivize holding such vitriolic beliefs, all questions that can depend heavily on the person, and are subject to a mountain of debate and interpretation from every side.

In short, if you want to stop liking or listening to Ye’s music, go ahead, and if someone else wants to continue enjoying his work, let people enjoy things.