«’Cause dreams of being Hova/ went from being a broke man to being a dopeman/ to being the President, look there’s hope man». Despite referring to Jay Z self-made path to becoming Def Jam Recordings’ president, we can find some hints at Kanye West’s announcement on running for presidential bid in 2020 he made at the last VMAs in his 2005 “Late Registration” tune “Crack Music”. Because, yes, the arrogant and rude rapper and producer who calls himself «a god», also known as Kanye West, has recently said he is willing to run for presidential bid in the United States in 2020.
For as far as I’m concerned, Kanye West will be the first musician to be running for such position. Yet, this is not something unprecedented at all, for music legend Frank Zappa claimed in 1992 he wanted to run for the (round) office but did not have the chance since he unfortunately passed away in 1993. Kanye West could possibly be the first ‘mainstream’ musician to actually run for US president then, and (possibly) move into the White House for at least four years. There are a few other (recent) artists who tried to enter politics, former Queen’s guitarist Brian May with his ‘Common Decency’ movement against corruption within the UK Parliament and Blur’s drummer Dave Rowntree who stood for office with the UK Labour Party in 2010 and 2014 despite losing both times, to name but a few.
Also, as long as art has been existing, artists have been filling their works with opinions, and some can be labeled as ‘political’. But such opinions are often taken ‘off stages’ as well as off of artistic works and brought to bigger audiences, like readers of newspapers or tv-watchers. Just think of U2’s Bono Vox dedication to raising awareness on Africa’s poverty, but most of all former Oasis guitarist and songwriter Noel Gallagher’s latest opinion on the last UK general election. Mr. Gallagher branded former Labour Party’s leader Ed Miliband «a fucking communist» and Scottish National Party’s leader Nicola Sturgeon an «unpleasant woman from over the border». It turns out to be really hard to figure out what changed 1994 Definitely Maybe’s (nothing less than a 90’s working-class hymn) author and “former” Scottish Independence “Yes” famous supporter’s mind on his political views, if not a desperate attempt to drawing attention to his new album out of a matter of much greater concern such as general elections.
Just as Noel Gallagher never misses a chance to share his opinions on music as well as politics, Kanye West (who Gallagher recently said to respect) is not new to what most people consider to be «rants» and expressions of his arrogance, but are nothing more than stances. Sometimes “brave” stances. The first to come to most minds is surely 2009 VMA’s “happening”, when Kanye stood by Beyoncé against Taylor Swift’s winning. Yet, that is not the most powerful opinion to be shared by West while being live televised:
«George W. Bush doesn’t care about black people». How powerful was that? A black man is given the chance to express his negative opinion on how a republican president is tackling the tragedy of hurricane “Katrina” and what does he do? He takes that chance. Those with a small or limited knowledge of USA’s history, society and politics will fail to understand how heavy were such words. But this, ladies and gentlemen, is Kanye West.
So what are his opinions? What would his policies on economy, society and foreign affairs be if he ever makes his way to be elected as US president? For what he “stated” on George W. Bush we can assume he is anything but a Republican. «I might even make him be Republican, so everybody knows he loves white people», rapped Kanye in the first verse off “New Day”, a tune off of his collab album with JAY Z, in specific reference to the hurricane Katrina/George W. Bush incident, as he continues saying: «And I’ll never let him ever hit the telethon, I mean even if people dyin’ in the world ends». Kanye, alongside JAY Z, is talking to his “unborn son” and telling the audience how he is going to bring him up, explaining he is going to make his son be totally different from himself. Therefore you can guess where he (doesn’t) stand.
West eventually apologized to Bush. However, when asked to share his thoughts on Kanye running for office a few days ago, former US president responded with a sarcastic fake laugh:
“Crack Music” comes again to my mind to support the idea that Kanye is NOT a republican, for he brings out conspiracy theories to accuse former republican president Ronald Reagan of spreading crack in California to stop the Black panthers and former president George Bush senior (G. W. Bush’s father) of selling chemical weapons to Saddam Hussein.
In spite of the fact that West has reportedly donated 15,000 $ to Hillary Clinton’s campaign, as she is running for office in 2016, the Atlanta-Chicago based rapper seems to stand «left to Clinton» (Guardian), for he’s “anti-war” and especially anti Iraqi and Iranian wars (the US apparently avoided the latter by signing a deal on nuclear matters later this year). Clinton is well known to have supported military intervention in Iraq, but she has recently said she «would not rule out» having Kanye as her vice president. I can therefore assume West is a proper democrat, but I am still not sure how democrat, though being unable to figure out whether he can be addressed as a “bloody pacifist” as well as a socialist, like someone we call Bernie Sanders. In a remix of his critically acclaimed single “POWER” he says:«Take our troops out of Iraq and keep them out of Iran». Well, if he’s not a (righteous) pacifist, then what is he.
However, in a recent interview with Vanity Fair, West stated:«When I run for president, I'd prefer not to run against someone. I would be like 'I want to work with you.'». It’s something that makes him look “unaware” of how democratic politics work and he even described Ben Carson (a republican candidate for 2016 presidential bid) as «brilliant». West will (have to) surely clarify his position, eventually.
What we can get from Kanye’s lyrics to understand his views is that he seems to be much more concerned with “internal” issues, like racism, gun control, violence and the media. «And it’s broke nigga racism/ that’s that ‘don’t touch anything in the store/ and it’s rich nigga racism/ that’s that ‘come in please buy more/ What you want? A Bentley? Fur coat? A diamond chain?/ All you blacks want all the same things», a few lines which speak out centuries of US made stereotypes whose roots are to be found in slavery and racism. “New Slaves” is not a random title for the Kanye West’s song the lines come from.
«314 soldiers died in Iraq/ 509 died in Chicago», sings West in “Murder to Excellence”, off “Watch The Throne”. Here you have another reference to the Iraqi war, but also have Kanye comparing data. 2008 data showing more people were murdered in Chicago than soldiers fallen in Iraq. West is addressing two huge issues, as much more needs to be done in the US to improve gun control and reduce violence and mass shootings. Also, US police is often equipped with former US army’s “tools”, though Kanye rarely seems to be concerned with police violence. At least not as much as he is concerned with «black-on-black» murders, especially in Chicago, because that is where you see «the system working effectively». A system based on violence merged with racism.
But let’s get back to Kanye’s live televised stances, and especially the “Taylor Swift incident”. In his latest work, “Yeezus”, which seems to be his most “politicized” album – at least for a few tracks, we can find one of his greatest raps ever: «If I don’t get ran out by Catholics, here come some conservative Baptists / claiming I’m overreacting like them black kids in Chiraq bitch». In “Black Skinhead”, Kanye addresses religious communities criticizing him for having “harassed” Taylor Swift at 2009 VMAs. Also, there is another reference to the Iraq-Chicago comparison, calling the US metropolis “Ch-Iraq”, as many are getting used to doing in specific reference to violence raising dramatically over the last few years.
So, there you go, the “Taylor Swift incident”:
By saying:«Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time!», Kanye sparkled reactions overseas. Even US president Barack Obama made his stance on the incident, calling West «a jackass». I really don’t know why a president of the United States of America had to have his say on such question, but, unlike me, many have tried to figure out what brought Obama to do so. It’s nothing but conspiracy theories. Theories that are basically proven wrong anytime president Obama shows how much he appreciates West:
However, Kanye couldn’t help but quote Obama in one of his tunes. «They say I was the abomination of Obama’s nation», he raps in “POWER”, for reasons I’ve just explained. But president Obama doesn’t evidently care about the quotation and probably enjoys it, as he gave Kanye some advice on what it’s like to be a president:
«You got to deal with a lot of strange characters who behave as if they are on a reality TV show. […] Saying you have a beautiful dark twisted fantasy, that’s what’s known as off-message in politics.» I’m pretty sure Kanye knows how to deal with reality TV show characters, as he married one. And, well, his “beautiful dark twisted fantasy” and other “off-messages” are going to make the difference, in politics and anywhere else. I guess Obama was just “warning a boy”, though.
If Kanye ever gets to run for presidential bid, one of the toughest issues he will have to address is surely religion. How could someone who calls himself a god not explain this controversial stance to Americans? Although he knows «he (Jesus) the most high» but he is «a close high» – as Kanye raps in “I Am a God” – , Catholics and conservative Baptists are going to run him out for his overreactions and his “self-confidence”.
However, like Rihanna said, if «people are voting for Trump; who wouldn’t vote for Kanye?» . Donald Trump is another candidate (a republican) for 2016 presidential bid, who claims he «hopes to run against Kanye», but support from Rihanna shows us how West could get millions and millions of votes just as his (famous) friends post on their social networks. Artists like Nicki Minaj and Rihanna have as many followers as a country’s citizens. I can only imagine how many votes they would bring to Kanye, and that would be no more politics influencing music, but music influencing politics.
Many questions about Kanye West alleged presidential bid are still unanswered. Will he continue putting out music if he’s ever elected as US President? How will he run his campaign? Is he really going to do it? 2020 seems far, but time flies and will answer these questions. It will probably answer this one too, as West rapped that «no one man should have all that power» (POWER), then should Kanye have?
