and it’s time to let him go.

photo from Kanye’s personal archives

For far too long many of y’all have dragged people suffering from/living with/flourishing in spite of mental health issues into Kanye’s narcissism and it needs to stop. Is it possible that Kanye suffers from a mental illness? Yes. Does that mean he has to position himself alongside white supremacy as a result of it? Hell no. That is his choice.

Kanye fans have long attached some level of “genius” to him. Mistaking his passionate way of sharing his opinions (and frustration with not getting as much praise or adoration as he thinks he deserves) for him being highly intelligent. But often times, Kanye ends up with his foot in his mouth as he lets his emotions rule his mind and says things with no facts to build his arguments on (which are usually arguments for the glorification of whatever he feels he’s good at and should be given access to). For example, during his entire “rage against the machine” rants regarding the fashion industry he completely ignored the work of Black fashion pioneers like Ozwald Boateng or Tracy Reese or Karl Kani — -who to this day owns one of the largest denim manufacturing warehouses in the country — -relegating them to “urban” and “not Ralph doe” when what he meant was “not white”, and in a telling self admission, not as good as white fashion designers/fashion houses. And this was all in the name of getting to make his line of clothes, missing an incredible opportunity to highlight the achievements/contributions of people of color in the fashion world to yell at us about buying his glorified thrift store sweats. But something tells me he did no research at all which is why he spazzed at the first mention of possible solutions.

Then there was his speech at Oxford where he spoke candidly about how racism no longer exists and built his castle on the sand of interracial relationships, namely his own, being a point of proof. And as thinkpieces roll out about how this isn’t the Kardashains doing, I want to say that there is no doubt in my mind that a man who would choose to be part of that family and elevate them as a pillar of beauty/success/inspiration while publicly dissing Black people and the very real struggles we still face as nothing more than us playing “victim” would be enticing to their bottom line. And him choosing Kim was a direct reflection of what he believes: his proximity to whiteness (even whiteness that is dying to be Black) will elevate him — -and it must kill him that it seems to have done the opposite…

Kanye and Trump are, indeed, two sides of the same coin. They both believe that they are smarter than they are and are good at convincing others of the same. They both use “I’m rich and famous and successful” as a marker of their intelligence when they are not always linked — -more now than ever, they rarely are. They both equate whiteness to superior thinking and beliefs. They’ve both convinced themselves that their ideas/contributions alone are more important, more right, more necessary than those of any other — -least of all lowly God-fearing, slavery obsessed, self-victimizing Black folk who “follow the herd”. They both LOVE attention and will do/say anything to get and keep it. ANYTHING. Even positioning themselves in line with hate mongering, delusional scared little boys who are parading around as great leaders while needing outside validation so bad that they mistake any adverse reaction to their madness for lack of higher “elevated and free” thinking. Just like Trump when he made his bid for the White House, Kanye wants to sell whatever he’s been making in the sunken place so he’s going to be “provocative”. He knows, at least, he’ll get people to support him who may have at some point written him off as just another Black rapper but now he’s “one of them”. One of the fearless few who isn’t afraid of being disliked or unpopular.

For a long time Kanye has been parading around acting entitled/being problematic af (wasting people’s money doing rants at his shows, wearing confederate flags, being trash to Black women, MEETING WITH TRUMP) and y’all let it go because he sampled a few dope old school tracks and made George Bush cry. Enough is enough.

Kanye isn’t a genius.

Kanye isn’t misunderstood.

Kanye West is a White supremacist.

And like all white supremacists, he doesn’t need your support or understanding. He doesn’t need you to make excuses for him — -likening him to a lost grieving boy still crippled over the death of his mother. He doesn’t need you to be the lone voice that echoes what he once was. White supremacists have always had a friend in the US government, in secret organizations that uphold their beliefs and on cable news shows that appeal to Chad Crow and his band of tiki-torch carrying misfits. White supremacists are not outliers. Nothing about them is revolutionary or “edgy”. They don’t need protecting. They think us sheep while ignoring the fact that they, in fact, wolves as they may be, survive in packs — -feeding off of the ignorance, hate and need to draw blood from the “least” of us to fuel them. Let them die on the sword they knight one another with — -and let Kanye go with them.