This is why it's so critical to really think about how and why folks are calling him "crazy." There's a great Dave Chappelle quote from his Inside the Actors Studio interview that really gets to the heart of this. In a conversation about the difficulties of black celebrity life, Chappelle explains, "The worst thing to call somebody is 'crazy.' It's dismissive. 'I don't understand this person. So they're crazy.' That's bullshit." To continuously label what Kanye says as "crazy" is to dismiss him as not worth understanding and to flatten his deeply complex work and complex personality. Kanye told Rolling Stone in 2004, "I'm the rap version of Dave Chappelle. I'm not sayin' I'm nearly as talented as Chappelle when it comes to political and social commentary, but like him, I'm laughing to keep from crying." "Laughing to keep from crying" is a tone that captures so much of both of their work, but it's also a survival mantra. Originating with Langston Hughes, this expression encapsulates a history of black artists who have used wit and satire to capture their exasperations and make light of the world's absurdities. The humor shouldn't be overlooked here; people seem to miss that Kanye is very tongue-in-cheek, that he is constantly making jokes. As Vulture's Jody Rosen puts it, "Anyone who gets riled up about 'I Am a God,' or about the album's title, is missing the joke — or rather, taking the bait. More than ever, West is aiming to provoke." Yes, and also, sometimes he's just making fun of you.

The jokes are fun, but the difficulty and power of his vanity cannot be emphasized enough. To assert that, despite the boundaries of a racist world that strangles your very view of what is possible, you are still going to be out here stuntin' on everyone, that you will love yourself and love yourself excessively, is powerful beyond measure. And as many black artists have said before, for black folks to love themselves is a political act. The poet Audre Lorde captures it best: "Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare." Kanye's "vanity" is meant to be inspiring; it is not a mindless arrogance but it is pointed and intentional. One of the most compelling things he says in his Times interview is that he views his work, in some ways, as an extension of the fight for justice of the activists and artists who came before him. In their traditions but also in his own way, he is fighting for justice: "I'm going to use my platform to tell people that they're not being fair… Justice. And when you say justice, it doesn't have to be war. Justice could just be clearing a path for people to dream properly."