The Cray of Ye

I was steering through the fire. I was focused on myself. I'm appear that you admire Dope Knife Lingua Franca. We'll be preaching of the choirs, waiting on reparations. Now the booth can retire. Nigger take chords, swing swords like a showgun. Y'all fair, Now, all hail to the dope one ye yea. Waiting on reprobations, yea, wait in reprobations. Hey, what's going on? Yeah that's good. I'm dope knife Franca and we are waiting on reparation. Well, what good? What's good with you? No?

I started to ask you first. I ask you first. I'm good. I'm good, Like I I you know, the studio thing I've been talking about like the last month, like I'm finally finally like done, you know, fully getting that it's been It's been really it's been rough. I don't know why it's been so slow, but it's like, you know, one day I'll move a desk in there, and then I won't go back there for like another like week, and then you know, but finally I've got like all the stuff in there, so it's good to go.

I'm good to start using it and finally start recording at my prolific MC pace that I I once had going what about you? How was your week? Oh? Also, I'm getting prepared for that Afroman show that August eleventh at Victory North and Savannah, Georgia. So yeah, that's like pretty much preoccupying like every aspect of stuff right now. What about you? Yeah, I mean important thing, I hope. No,

I mean I'm back on my commission grind. We had our first in person meeting at City Hall last Tuesday, first in person meeting in a year and a half, and you know what, actually felt good to be back. I thought I would be like resentful that I can't hang out with like no pants on on camp, you know, on the camera, eating snacks, taking you know, turning my camera off so and go pee mid meeting. But actually it was really nice being back there with my colleagues.

Um sinse of like more of a human element. It's really easy to just hate these bitches sometimes when even here it's just like, yeah, they're like cameras aren't even all you don't even know if they're in the meeting and ship, but it's like, oh, they're there, and you know, like you, oh, I like your raincoat and you know whatever. Just banned this basic banter to bring people together to

remember that we made different. Yeah, we may different ideologically or like in how we move through this political um sphere, but like we're people. You know, It's it's kind of nice. It's kind of nice. It's not gonna lie, but yeah, that's all that's going on on this end. You know. We're all people with our with our flaws and our quirks.

Speaking of people with flaws and quirks, Oh boy, Sir, Kanye West is back in the news again, and this week we're gonna talk about Kanye West again, talk about ye we unpacking some of his his headline making political stances old because some of his old controversies, and then during a Delbo's well into his discography which has interesting

um implications for politics as well. So just you know, before we dive into the episode and stuff, just what are your general I don't even want to say thoughts, what was your general reaction to like this new resurgence and Kanye's popularity during this album cycle for this album Donda He's got coming out. I mean, well, I wouldn't even call it a resurgence because as I as I kind of looked into his recent musical history, his musical

output has really ramped up over the last decade. Where it went from you know, a couple of years between albums, so like we're consistently getting one every two years every year, or you know back in fum with that too, when did you do NASA's album? Shoot on the subject, so back to you know, like producing four or five albums in a single year. Yeah, he didn't push ther tease album and then NASA's album. Yeah, him and Kid Cutty

did a project, didn't there. I think that ghosts in that period, I think yeah, And so I mean I wonder to a degree it does impact the quality. As an old Kanye, a lover of ole Kanye, as many of us are, you know, I just don't feel as inspired by some of the newer material. Do you think some of that's like influenced by some of how your reaction to his personal antics and stuff like that that is affecting how you're taking in the music, or do you think the music itself has dropped in quality at

least become different. I'm far more inclined to give someone's music a chance if I think they're a cool and good person for sure. Um, and so uh hardst like you said some black ship, bra, I don't really. I mean, on the flip side, I have not canceled Connie entirely from my discography and from my like you know, playlist rotations. Um, I don't think on account of the things he said either. It's just that I obviously got his music just because it's on a different tip than it used to be.

And also I don't want to really encourage this ship. Yeah, I mean, I totally agree with you. I don't think Kanye's, at least not to this point, has done anything that like makes what you thought of his older stuff or how you even just interpreted it any different. But I don't know. To me there as somebody who's never necessarily been like a Kanye fan, I have noticed like a change stylistically or like an approach to music making that

that seems like it's gotten different over the years. That first, what do you hope? You know if you if an artist stays making the same sounding music for twenty years, like are they really growing as an artists? Are they really like pushing themselves? Are they really like like hitting their creative like peak? And if you don't enjoy the new music that's coming out that is changing at all of growth? Yea agree, it's just who is that growth for?

I guess you know what I mean? Like I have a feeling that if I if I were like an NBA player, or if I like hit it big and like the Bitcoin stock, if I was like a young rich person, Yeah, I feel like I would really really really enjoy likes to say it is music, you know what I mean? But um, we're gonna we're gonna jump into that and more because I mean, we both got a lot to say on this, and we also got a lot to cover. So we're gonna get into all

this Kanye madness after the job, after the job. So yeah, returned to Atlanta last week, the place of his birth and how the listening party last Thursday for US new but partially unfinished forthcoming album Donda at the Mercedes beIN Stadium. U. There's about forty thousand fans in attendance, which I with the Delta, Barian and everything the people all got the Delta makes me kind of held nervous. But an addition to you know, they crammed for UK people in there

to experience the album five. The event was also streamed exclusively on Apple Music and is said to have broken the record for Apple Music live stream with three point three million people across the world tuned in to listen to the new album. Um, that's before Yeah, It's fine. That same evening, the Atlanta City Council issued a proclamation honoring Kanye West with the citywide holiday in his name, Kanye West Day. They call it. That's right. July is

now officially Kanye West Day in Atlanta. I want that to I want that to sink in. I wanted to sink in and marinate just for a second now, This was presented by the city councilor for the District five, Nataline Archibong, Nataline Archibald, who is currently running for a city council president. And she probably thought this was gonna be like a doll all know, we're proclaimed a lot twenty two Kanye West day. I'll get a great photo

op with Kanye. Put it on my campaign you know card or whatever, and uh, you know, and boost my and boost my you know, my standing in the district. Little did she know at a time that Kanye would be wearing pantyhose over his head and face for the events duration. And so the photos of them together, of him, of her, of delivering the proclamation to Kanye, he looks like he just either has some kids in the back of his vand or sold some gold bars from a

Swiss bank, So it's bad. He was recently at something in um in Paris with a little baby and the basketball player James Harden and there was a picture take of of them all like all sitting together and He's got the mask on over his head and little baby and James Hardener just looking at him like, Yo, what the fund is even going on right now? I mean, you know, it's like this whole thing, and that's I

guess why I was saying, like resurgence and popularity. I guess that was a wrong way to phrase it, because it's not like he's ever lost the popularity, not necessarily, but it's just like, you know, if you if a hip hop artist can't at least see any kind of a hit after like Kanye's run the last like three years, you know what I'm saying, then I think we're at the point where, like if an artist like establishes enough of a of a fan base that they're pretty much

bulletproof to any everything. And I'm not I'm not talking about like canceling, you know what I mean. But it just seems like even people who were like, oh man, I don't like the Kanye did that, or I don't like the Kanye said that, like right now, we're like, oh man, I can't wait for this album, you know what I'm saying. So it's almost like his career is bulletproof, you know. At this point, I guess I really don't

know what he can do. I really know what you could possibly do, and we're obviously going to get into what he's done, but yeah, I can't at this point, I can't think of it really like, yeah, I think these people are all in the tank. So Dr Kevin James, the president of Morris Brown College, private Methodist, historically black liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia, also presented West with

the Merritt how do you say that? Marrit? He also awarded Kanye West with a Meritorious Service Award for his mother, doctor Donda West. His mother, so he said, doctor Donda West started her career at Morris Brown College as a professor and eventual and eventual department Chair of English. We wanted to convey the utmost respect that we have for his mother's legacy. So in addition to I didn't know, first of all, I didn't know that Kanye was born

in Atlanta. I also didn't know that his mother was the department of the chair of English at like an HBCUM.

Which makes sense because I mean, something that was so iconic about Kandye when he made his breakthrough was his like aesthetic that he broke away from, like the gangs, that the life kind of thing, and like learning more and more about his history, it's like, well that's just like authentically, wasn't him like he was kind of like a middle class ass dude, and like was just like that's a I guess like normalized like that as a way to be black. That is fine to be you

know what I mean. I guess that's what makes me wonder about like Kanya is because like a lot of his early a lot of his early stuff, like his early aesthetic very much was like steeped in that sort of like no nonsense, unapologetically black, Like I don't funk with you know, I don't funk with the bullshit type

of ship. And it's just like I don't know, I feel like if I were like a Kanye West fan like that, because like like I said, I don't know, like his whole discography, I don't I don't know like all of the classic lines from all of the Kanye songs and stuff like that. Like, but it feels like everything about him is kind of has to be called into question now, doesn't it, Like did you mean? Like you kind of have to reassess like a lot of like past statements. It's like did he really mean that?

Like did like what was really behind him saying George W. Bush doesn't care about black people and snl if like we see what he's doing. Now, I see what you're saying. I see what you're saying. And it's so funny because like you're like, oh, like you're posting the question and also saying like if I had at that level of investment, I would like want to that like in trogate that and then my end as like a somewhat Kanye fan, I'm like, oh, maybe I can answer this one. Nope,

no one can. No one can't because I actually don't care that much. Yeah, I don't care as much as I surprisingly as I thought I might try. Yeah, I don't. I don't really. I'm not really gonna read into it's a whole great deal. You gonna be real with him. But um, so you know, he was awarded and accolades both from the academic community in Atlanta as well as the UM City Council, which I find hilarious. Um, in upcoming weeks or I guess when I go away for

for a little bit later, uh, you know, like September. Um, I got some episodes stockpile for you. Also, I had an interview with someone who's in Atlanta politics that uh, I'm excited to share and so just like always, it's always like a spectator of Atlanta politics. It's just hilarious to see the city council just do some weird random like silly ship like this, like call it naming it. Kanye West is pandering to super rich people. It's like

very very on brand for them. So addition all of this, you know happening around his um his listening party last Thursday, Kanye West is now a part of living in Mercedes

Benz Stadium. Um Vans took to social media on Saturday with photos of a man at the Atlanted United game who were who was dressed in the same outfit that West dawned at his Thursday listening party, face camouflaged and panty pose and in videos from the game of this individual, the man who should escorted around the stadium with a large security detail and seemingly responds, you know, kind of like waves and looks up when fans called out like Kanye,

Kanye Kanye. So it could be a weird hoax, but I'm inclined to believe it was really him, And increasingly reports are confirming that Kanye and his team have created a studio space, a living quarters, and even have a chef um on call to prepare his meals inside the Mercedes. Benz is definitely not a hoax. It's real. At first, I was like, maybe some guy just dressed up like him and went to the Atlanta United game to be funny, But like it's increasingly seeming like, no, this is actually

this is the man. I saw a video on YouTube of Kanye West and Jay Z recording the Watch the Thrones album in a fucking castle in Australia with Russell Crowe sitting in the background. Watch it, Like, trust me, this Nick is living in the best state. He's all the way up in there. Yeah, just to recap Sims, you know, you've got some of these city officials kind of attaching themselves to Kanye West with all the accolades

and stuff. Let's just do a little quick stroll down memory lane, so like, you know, like seven months ago and ship about like what Kanye's political involvement has been as of late months, removed from Kanye having a sort of kind of presidential campaign that was filled to the brim with GOP operatives who were making albeit stupid and misguided or whatever, but on their front, a genuine earnest attempt to shave the margins of election in favor of

Donald Trump. We all remember the at this point infamous Oval Office visit that. I mean, there's a lot of shocking and driving going on. This is all I'm gonna say in that Oval Office visit. What else We've got him championing Candice Owison's Blexit strategy or in other words, her imaginary plan for African Americans to make a large exodus not just from the Democrat Party but into the

Republican Party and voting for Trump. In his advocating for this whole Blexic thing earned him the praise of Alex Jones. You want to read that Alex Jones quote. Oh God, nothing would make me more happy. I just assumed he was a Democrat and a globalist, says Alex. Said Alex Jones, He's has a lot of courage, and he's a maverick. Connie West has got talent, you name it. I apologized to him for being ignorant myself. See Alex Jones also later on. But they would have like Alex Jones and

Tanya West in the club. I would I would pay I would pay money to be near that, not too near like just kind of like close enough to like binocular distance. Kanye West, Kandy host with shirtless Alex Jones next to them in the club. Hell yeah, oh my god, I would pay to be like just an close enough to just see but not physically you know, be at

risk of physical harm. This is the same Alex Jones who just recently said that there's genetic differences between the intelligence of on racial groups and obviously he believes that on average, white people are genetically smarter. That that's the same Alex Jones that you know. Kanye West is getting praise from great transformer campaign manager and editor right wing and news site Breitbart, even express wanting to bring West on as a columnist after his slavery comments that we

are going to get into a little bit later. So that's Kanye's people for you. You got owns bright Bart news editors, former campaign staff or Trump sort of freaks and goblins, Canda Zens fucking freaky ass yo. Nothing that made me sadder though. Let's okay, quick detour on Candace Owens.

I was seeing on Twitter. It was this was a while ago, but she like posted pictures of her baby right, and I know, and her fan base like who she you know, she thrives off of like feeding invalidating people's racism. Like in the comments, so many people were like, oh, well, that's unfortunate that you have like a you know, on unpure blood or like whatever sort of like because it's

like a mixed race child. It's like, oh, it's like it sucks the way that like MUDs turn out and like saying like people who like, you know, follow her because they like love her work because she is a racist being racist about her baby in the comments on her so because they're racist. And I was just like wow, to be that in the sunken place that I don't know how she even psychologically just manages to live through what she has done. But that's the thing for like

those uh, token right wingers and stuff like that. If you look through if you look through their comments sections, it's all like that. Like Candice Osen's comments section is like that where it's like, oh, like, yeah, you know, your fans are all racist and don't really like you, you're just spreading propaganda. You look on Blair White's comments section,

there's bad transpobs in there. Ben Shapiro always has like Nazis that hate him because He's Jewish and his comment section it's like reaping with you so type of ship. But they're grifters at the end of the day, so they don't care, you know what I mean, to sell yourself to that degree, I mean, I understand to do it for the money or whatever, but to subject yourself to that like level of not from people that disagree with you, but for the people that support you like shit, bro.

So yeah, so Owen's rare breed of black person dollar dollar bills. So we're gonna get into some of Kanye West's most ridiculous statements in and antics and the political spectrum right after the joke. So we're back, and I don't even know where we should start, but I guess we could start. He's been just doing wild ship for years, but it's been coming. I feel like it's becoming increasingly

poltical in recent years. I mean, perhaps everything has become more politicized, um in the Trump and post trump eras. I mean, he did you know he did the basics share with like the Taylor Swift thing that other controversies. I mean, it was like regular celebrity bullshit before, you know what I mean, And now it's like, yeah, now he's up. So okay, let's start with the time that Kanye said that slavery was a choice and his interview

with Charlotte Mae and the God so Um. He said, when you hear about slavery for four years, for four new years, that's look a choice. He said, Um, you were there for four years and it's all of y'all. It's like we're mentally imprisoned. He later unclarified, of course, I know that slaves did not get shackled and put on a boat by free will. My point is that my point is for us to have stayed in that position, even though the numbers were on our side, means that

we are mentally enslaved. Would you know what, I'm not even gonna like, okay, hear me out. I feel like Conny has a point in that we are previously on the show. Listen here, just hear me. On previous almost I've discussed like the Haitian revolution um and things like that, where the numbers were on the side of the slaves and they rose up and like ended slavery. You know, like it's not a historically unprecedented act. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna go so far as to blame slaves

for slavery, like, oh, you know, they're mentally enslaved. It's their fault that has happened, you know. But like the point, the point that he's making that like the numbers were on our side and like slaves, like I mean, there was like Nat Turner's rebellion, there were various you know, smaller slave rebellions that got squashed. But like it is kind of surprising that like it we never never managed to pop off here the way it did in place.

It's like Ja make our Haiti, where people were just like, we're not having it and they just kind of ended the institution of slavery by force. Well, I mean, I think it probably would have had to have been just on a larger scale than it ever was able to you know what I mean, than was ever able to happen for it to really pop off. But regardless of the point, because I I hear the point that you're making, my issue is just Kanye West is like a multi

hundred million dollar Cuban being. So he's got handlers and people and he himself, I don't even want to not give him credit. He himself is a savvy, you know, media navigator and stuff like that. Kanye West knows full and damn well that the amount of people who heard that clarification and that nuanced explanations pales in comparison to the amount of people that heard him say for hundred years slavery. That sounds like a choice. He didn't say

the second one first. Yeah, you know, so like I hear, I hear it. I get the point. But if that's what we were talking about, then I would be able to be here, to be here and say, man, I think people are being kind of unfair to Kanye because if you listen to what he was saying, he was really saying. That's not what he said though, And like I saw the interview, he could have said all of that ship and yeah, yeah, I mean I wanted to

a degree. It was that he continued to think about it and think about how he could make it sounded better, better because the backlash, because the backlash and came back with something that was like halfway imaginable. I was like, Okay, yeah, the numbers were on our side. It's shocking there wasn't a slave uprising broad enough to end the institution of slavery the United States at any point, um, but these things they have to work in like, you know, it

can't be like taken in a vacuum. Kanye West making

these statements on their own is one thing. Kanye West making these statements on is like, and then also fucking with Candice Owens and then also like two years later doing the ship with the GOP Like, all of it together just paints like are really kind of like fucked up picture to me, you know what I'm saying, Yeah, no, And ultimately, I mean with some of the other things that we're gonna discuss today as we move on to you know, look at some of what he said during

its presidential campaign, Like if you take it, I guess out of the political context in which we know Kanye to be operating, He's fucking what Trump people is hanging out with candacel Ones and Ox Jones. If you just like look at face value at some of the things he said, it's not as crazy as it it could seem.

But once you like look at it through the lens of oh you are you like we're a maga hat and white supremacist and ship like they're it's it's it's uh, it's impossible to divorce it from that ideology like you have you know. But so like you heard about you heard about the ship that they're trying to pass in Texas, right, which what and what now the anti critical race theory ship where it's like, oh, you can't teach the I have a dream speech, and you can't talk about Native

American genocide. You can't like slavery, can say the KKK was bad exactly. You can't more like make a moral judgment on like white supremacy and stuff like that. We might not know this now, we might not know it ten years from now. Somebody way smarter than me will have to analyze it and find out how incrementally these things affected it. But there's a ton of right wingers who like, oh word a famous rich black eye reinforce some some like things that I wanted to believe and

said that slavery was a choice. Yeah, that ship trickles down over time. You know what I'm saying, Like people believe like people hear that ship. I mean, look, I know we want to all believe that. It's like we're all like filled with a bunch of like smart people. But it's actually a bunch of stupid people with like smartphones, you know what I mean, And like people are susceptible to believing ship that they want to hear. It's just

the fact we know this. And when you've got the Internet and social media just pumping the whole concept of disinformation and propaganda and like just giving it like a boost of meth. You know what I'm saying. You've you've got like that that in turns it's it's two thousand eighteen. You've got right wingers being like, oh, that black celebrity said slavery was a choice, and then you just fast forward three years later and it's like, I think we

should make that I have a dream speech band. It doesn't make that law now, you know all I'm saying. It's not it's not insignificant. It does definitely like rebound redound in the discourse and get picked up in other places where it does serious harm for sure. Um, So there's that. And then I was thinking about the anti abortion comments he made during his first presidential South Carolina. You don't know about in South Carolinas him Okay, so he would got out there and he cried and revealed

that he said my mom saved my life. My dad wanted to abort me. My mom saved my life. There would be no There would have been no Connie West because my dad was too busy. So like talking about how he was almost not he he was almost apported, and then he continued sobbing, thinking I almost killed my daughter. And he goes into extremely personal detail about his intimate conversations with Kim Kardashian about whether or not they were going to pursue parenthood and like have North, Um, did

you know he was going to do this? No? He even said he even said I don't like, I don't care if she divorces me. After this speech, like yeah, what really that He later apologized to her for saying like very very intimate stuff that no one, I think they're divorced now, Like right, is that? Okay? I didn't

hear about this one. What he was like she had the abortion pills in her hand and like got real, like very deeply personal about their conversations about having North, and so he then went on to propose that she's not cool though, right, I'm sorry, Oh that's not all right at all? All right? Word like no, no, no, no, no, no no, no no, no, no, no, no, no, yeah, what I mean, I would think that in this climate, some sh like that should have made it only like

twenty people in that stadium. Well yeah, so definitely. So this is this is this is again an instantiation of like the thing I was discussing previously, where it's like, okay, so like the media friends, these is like anti abortion comments, which, like, I think, as a person, you're totally allowed to like feel this way if you want to on an individual level, like you know, feeling regret about almost you know, having abortion and then you you're glad you didn't or like

whatever about your own circumstances. You're glad to be alive because your parents didn't make that choice, Like you're it's you're like, on an individual level, you're absolutely allowed to um to feel that way. I wouldn't I wouldn't classify these as anti abortion comments in like a policy sense, as much as the personal stance of like this is something that he does not agree with. Granted, again, it's within the context of the hanging out with Trump hang

O Canada's owens. It's a press supposedly a presidential campaign rally, and so it's extrapolated to be like, oh, this is a policy nts of yours consider Lauren Hill has that same stance, right, Lauren Hill, because Lauren Hills not sucking what Steve Bannon and ship you know what I mean exactly exactly exactly, So we can take it as a personal stance and not as like some fucking plausibly deniable political you know. Yeah, and so, especially when you put

in the context of so West. So he tells these really personal stories about his own debates around parenthood, and then he proposed that there should be no more Plan B, which sounds really scary, um, but then he's then he proposes a Plan A, which is fifty tho dollars per year to help women take care of their child. And uh.

He said that it takes a village, no matter how much money you have, and that society has to be set up for single mothers to never society has been set up for single mothers to never have a village, which like, is it pretty you know, progressive like release of policy. He later went on to say he did

not support making abortion illegal. He just wanted to offer people another option in the form of financial support for raising their kids and so like I've heard this, I've heard an argument very often on the left like if you're pro life, then like be pro life after the child is born, like make sure they have you know, universal pre K and good schools and make sure the parents are adequately supported and you know, make sure they

have healthcare. Dada, da da, and like conservatives generally don't want to talk about that parts like we'll have your child and then and then you're a welfare queen and we hate you and we wish you death and like

you know, all this crazy shit. Um, but like actually saying like if this existed, if like you can get fifty dollars a year if you were uh like a like a new mother, Like imagine how the abortionery would actually drop when people are like, oh, you know what, I can maybe handle this, so I'm not gonna be like a control and just like oh everything. And he says it's bad because I didn't like this and that, so yeah, that sounds good. What I will say to that, though.

You know what I will add to that, though, is I want to see him say that to Steve Bannon. I want to see Kanye West say that exact position to Canada's Owens and see what their reaction is going to be, and to see if Kanye holds that same position, you know what I'm saying, to see if it stays consistent, because like I can definitely picture a Republican politician saying that therefore that and getting booed out of the building

into in today's current Republican climate. So yeah, well, zero Republicans voted for the child tax credit that started pinning people's bank accounts. JU that is like pretty much like a scale down version of what Kanye was talking about of like give families a month to you know, by diapers, pay for childcare five animal cracker is whatever for kids, so that you know, I mean not so that fewer people.

I mean obviously the kids are already alive, so that it's not like it's factoring in the choice, but it's this idea of providing financial supports for families so that it's like less, so like the hardship is no longer factored in for people that are in that situation that he was, you know, or his mom was in. You know.

I think that if we had stuff like universal pre K, if we d had stuff like uh for or like oh my God like like Medicare for all, like dealing right now, like, um, I am losing I'm gonna lose my current insurance at the end of the month, and I'm having a baby on August and so like that whole thing. I can completely understand why somebody would be like, nope,

not having kids, not dealing with that ship. Like imagine how expanding all these like oh socialist support to it, like would actually get people to like maybe have child more children. You know Republicans and Republicans run from that ship and they hate that ship. So I mean, like

I said, I agree with that. I mean I even like agree with literally what Kanye was saying, Like if there was just I agree with you that, Like yeah, if you if you put him in a room with Canada's owns and have him say this, they might get into a fight. On the flip side, I feel like if you put them in a room with Steve Bannon and say that, like a lot of these people like because you know, the whole like Kanye going to see Trump and hanging out in the office and stuff like,

That's what I mean. That was just Oh, let's manipulate him, Let's get the photos and let's like and so they'd be like, and so you put them in a room with Steve Bannon however and see Ben and be like uh huh uh huh, fascinating great, And then they snapped the pictures and then they be like, Okay, how are we going to manipulate Kanye into actually like because I don't know, doing some fun for bringing back up that Trump? That Trump thing? Is this when you think, can you

imagine what that moment could have been? Like one of the most like, what's the what's the word I'm looking for? One of the most outspoken hip hop artists is in the Oval office with a current sitting President of the United States. All of the world's cameras are, they're watching, and you can end you're also you also you're politically savvy and media trained, and you've been a celebrity for a decade at this point, over a decade. Can you imagine what that mode? Can you imagine if that was

Lingua Franca? What what? What? What would what would Mariah Parker, the human behind the artist Lingua Franca, have used to to make that moment regardless of whatever you had to do to get in there. You know, it's like, you're in there, what would you have made that moment as

opposed to the shucking and jiv in that we saw. Well, I can imagine because I've spoken frequently on the preparedness for political life that comes with having been a member of the hip hop community, particularly with regards to like

freestyle and like battle it and stuff like that. Like sometimes you get into mode where you're like, I'm not exactly sure what I'm gonna do what I get in there, but I trust myself because you have because you you know, you stepped on stage and started ranting or are you forgot your lyrics and you free seldom or whatever, and so I I while like, okay, Kanye's like media train, Yeah absolutely when in there, which just like I'm not sure what I'm about to do, but I got this. Yeah,

It's only that's the only explanation. It's the only explanation for what happened. He wasn't like, oh, let's oh so on my agenda at eleven fifteen, we will pivot the topic to uh um lithium mining and like he's not He's just don't even think I got this, And he just wouldn't. I don't even think it has to have

been that thought out. I just think that like he probably could have gotten I don't even know, you know what, I'm not even smart enough to articulate it, but I just can't imagine that I would have been in that situation and that under any circumstances that Donald Trump would come out of this smileing just and that and you know what, And I'm not even gonna put that on

like some Trump ship. I don't see myself being in a room like that with any sitting American president and them coming out of it like thank you guys for for putting for for putting me in a meeting with that person, like thank thank you guys, like yeah, zip tied with a gag in my mouth, like yeah. So that that ship is, That's that's the real funny style ship right there. That yeah, frankly, alright, So what else, Let's get back a little bit more into some of

his pro life comments. This is the last summer as well? Yeah yeah, yeah, so he said that um uh, he would ask how to fun plan as per like single mother. He suggested that Israel and Africa would the concept and build the wall two point I don't know, Yeah, which sounds hilarious if you thinking about the United States provides Israel with about three point eight billion dollars million military

aid at least they did in two is probably more now. Um, and is also benefits from around eight billion dollars in American loan gard he's annually. So it's like, okay, once again, like he's saying some ship that's kind of off the wall, but what if it's real? Pain is back. I can absolutely give every expected mother fift so not not missing the mark terribly, but again it's like, you know, just it's just it's more into the theme of it's like, it's not like the dude is like a rambling lunatic

or anything like that. That's not making any sense on anything that he says. You know, it's just taking into account all the different pieces and everything. Yeah, but let's get into discussion of his discography after the jump. Where do we start. We are going to start where we're all happened. You know, I think that definitely he was making beats for a long time. We all know about the well, you know about making sixty beats or six summers or some ship. Yeah, it was oh yeah, heah

that line. Um, oh I want to um, oh, it's on Spaceships. Yeah, lock yourself in the room doing five because the day for three summers different world like three yeah yeah, yeah, I said sixty beats alright, there's no one that had the kids that made that deserved that made back. Yeah. Oh man, I remember the first time

I heard that. I was just like, so, we know he was making music for a long time, but Kanye West pretty much jumped into the national spotlight with two thousand four albums, College Dropout, Dessert, Somebody Going to Paint deserve that break there. I mean he was sort of like the in house beat maker for Rockefella for a while, working on other people's projects and jay Z Memphis Bleek Crew. Apparently it was like, hey, guys, like put me in coach,

Like can you sign me to be a rapper? And they were like whatever, bitch, get back in the dungeon and keep making beats. They like, we're not for like years, we're not interested in signing him to do his own like folding studio album, um, which is I find hilarious And I think I think when ultimately like saying that about Kanye, his legacy, I mean musically a lot of other stuff we will remember about him now as we

have discussed. But like he like he's a prolific and ingenious producer, Like he's not actually that's special of a rapper, you know, but like but like, uh, his ingenuitou with beats, both in the way that he broke the mold with his production around the college dropout era and even still how he's like progressing whether you like it or not, um, whether you appreciate the way his style has changed over the years that it has evolved so much, Like you know,

he's just been you know, he's just produced up shit. I'm usually always like a sucker for rapper producers, and um, you know, there was even though I was you know, never like super into stuff, there was like a are of that that I really dug. That was like, oh man, he's like rapping on all the songs and he's making the beats and that's that's like really cool and ship. But later on Kanye like he embraces is like the whole you know, the collaborative music making, like you know,

that pop music sort of thing. So I kind of have to question you know, some of the some of the moments that I've heard when you said that he's really kind of a socio rapper. Like, there's definitely been moments that I know, I've heard Kanye as a rapper that I felt like, oh man, that was that was really fresh. But I also know for a fact that I had the prince rights some of this stuff, you know what I mean, And that he's had writers throughout

the year. So it's like, I don't know what what what of it, Not that it makes it bad, it just means no, I don't really funk with it on that this came from Kanye sort of vibe. And I'm also very skeptical of like people who are already in the industry or have ties and like capital back like the backing of like music industry capital, like how that

then allows them to get good at a craft. Like there's no doubt in my mind that in the years since, I mean, like Beyonce was probably a great singer in the Destiny's Child era, but because she's got millions of dollars from Columbia Universal whoever behind her, she can afford the best She has been able to afford the best vocal coaching in the world to get to the pinnacle that she is now at same with choreography, like, oh,

she's an amazing answer. It's like, yeah, if you have people paying for the best choreographers in the world and the best personal trainers imaginable to ensure that you are a great answer, you're gonna become that. And so like the fact that Kanye was already in the world of music there being a producer and yeah, and afford it afforded, the afforded the opportunity to to grow. There's like this quote about Einstein, uh, but thinking about like how many

Einstein's exist, But then like they're they're they're brilliance. It's just like you know, they work in that they work in a cornfield or they work in a shoe factory their whole lives and their brilliance is never allowed to If you grow up playing sports and you know, a rich country, then it's like you have more opportunity to get the best nutrition and the best trading from when you're a little kid, as opposed to if you're athletically inclined and you're in a village somewhere, then you don't

get that same coaching and nutrition and you never get to develop into the athlete. That you could possibly because your circumstances not same exactly. So that's why I don't like while like Kanye is to me a so so rapper who has moments of brilliance where it's like, oh,

that was really cool. But I hope so, I hope you're at least occasionally able to do some cool ship because you're surrounded by all of the like all of this, uh you know, creative stimuli and like access to resources that you would need to become a good word smith.

It's not necessarily a Racks to Riches story. Yeah, I don't feel the same way I sent about him as they do as someone like Kendrick or you can't be like you dropped your first album after like like the way the way it's it's presented is almost he dropped his first album after years of grinding as the in house Rockefella producer, Oh my god, how yeah, slaving away in the basement of rock before anyone knew who So yeah, are you okay after all of those Grammy nominations that

you received in the dungeons of the Rockefeller studios. But we digressed from the album because college dropout was and is a classic hip hop album in my opinion, the whole aesthetic, the whole like college kids aesthetic. I'm not like a gangster like the rest of these guys. I mean, you gotta remember this is two years removed from fifty

cent Taken Over the World. So g Unit gang Rape on a little early two thousand's resurgence of gangster rap, dip set, all that ship d Block, which I love, you know, And then on his personal blog, Kanye said that he was most inspired by the myth educational Lauren Hill in the production of The College Dropout and listen to the album every day while working on the project, which I think you can hear. You can like totally hear when you when you once you know that, you're like,

oh yeah, that makes sense. It definitely sounds like it's coming out of that that vein of like you know, you remember like when a bunch of rappers had sort of a tie into like the neo soul sort of like thing. I know, this was several years after that, but it had that sort of vibe to it where he was like hanging out with Erka Badoo and Andrea three thousand and the Roots, and they all kind of seemed like they were part of the same sort of click you know what I mean, And so up next

you had late Registration, which I learned recently. His first four albums were meant to be a a tetrology about higher education to this college dropout, the registrations graduation. There's supposed to be a fourth one UM, also on the theme of you know, college of graduating, of of making

it in the world of higher ed UM. But unfortunately two thousand seven West mother Donda West, who we mentioned earlier, passed away the age um from complications from life possession to mammo plastic surgery, which actually then inspired UM a law named after her UM signed by then California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. UM the Donda West Law, which made made it mandatory for patients to receive medical clearance through physical

examination before undergoing elective cosmetic surgery. Your thoughts on late Registration, I mean, I I do see, I do see like these first three albums as like uh like a like a phase, like a wave, you know, very similarly styled Graduation. He kind of starts to peel away from the neo soul kind of feel of the first two. Did Graduation did late registration have gold Digger, Yes it did. Okay, Yeah, so so he starts to feeling the start feeling himself a little bit. You know, I don't think I was.

I don't think I was jumping off of the train. Then whichever album, whichever whichever album had the daft punk won the bicker Stronger Oh you mean like Stronger Stronger was on a graduation Okay, Yeah, see that's when I was like, oh so, yeah, so let's actually let's actually I'd love to get into that because um, with graduation.

After spending the previous your year touring the world with YouTube on their Vertico tour, West became inspired watching Bono open the stadium tours every night with like incredible standing ovations and started to seek out composing like anthem rap songs that could operate more efficiently in large stadium than arenas.

So like that sound like on Stronger and like some songs like that, Like he was he had like had a taste of like world fame and was like, I need to start making music for this performing in this particular context and making that audience like what he was doing, yes, exactly, just putting it out there. Yeah. Um. You also mentioned Um earlier. If it's funny about Graduation. Um they had

cosiding release dates between Graduation and Curtis. I remember, yeah, and I remember they had the publicity over the ideas of the sales competition. They had a little pr stunt where they were competing to see who would have the

biggest opening weekend. Fifty was dominating and Kanye was kind of the like from a sales perspective, like fifty cent was number one, then Kanye West was number two, so they kind of I don't know whether they coordinated it to drop on the same week, but because their albums were dropping on the same week, they played up that competition in the public eye. So they were talking about it on talk shows, websites, interviews and stuff like that, like,

oh yeah, you guys, watch Curtis is gonna smash Graduation in. Eventually, Kanye won that. Eventually, Danny do when that, Yeah, Well, they had record breaking sales for both albums. I think as a result of the you know, the fabricated feud, but Kanye did end up winning the winning the fight

between UM those two. So it was like the battle between you know, the prevailing the prevailing UH stereotype I guess of like gangs to gangster rap versus this new pink polo wearing like uh like suburban tinged like flavor

that Kanye was bringing like which one, which one? And it really he really broke them old and like show that all right, even that is only in reputation because this is like two thousand eight or nine, and we gotta remember the fifties set that that he's competing with is pretty much making the same type of music Kanye

West is baking at this point. I mean, we're talking about the album that had AEO technology with Justin to like that was that was what was Fifty was pushing that that that was that was That's what they were going up against each other. So it's not like fifty was pushing the hardcore gainst the street ship against Kanye,

you know what I'm saying us. But on a side note, somebody who was like a fifty fan back then, Fifty losing that little competition with Kanye did cause him to make a underground album called war Angel that is his Yeah, it's his best album. Like he completely just abandoned all like commercial ambition for his next project and just like a straight up released like an underground like hip hop album, hip hop album independently that is like his best work.

I recommend fifty cents war Angel if you like Damn, just learn something new today. Hey, I'm full of useless trivia. So this Bring This brings us to his X project eight to eight and Heartbreak. Yeah, so he broke off from he was gonna do another album in the theme of higher ed, but grappling with the death of his mother, he decided to take it. You know, it was working a more in a dark direction. This was the part I think this coincided with when the whole Taylor Swift

thing happened. Yeah, I did, and so like that come out with this album. I was like, I'm done with Kanye and like the same for me. For even though I kind of like data weights in Heartbreak, it just like was so different that I was like, man, you're slipping for the people who were already off board the Kanye trained by the time all the weird Republican Nazi stuff started happening. This was probably the point where they jumped,

was that, and it was purely musically. I mean, as well, we'll talk about beautiful, dark twisted brought brought some heads back in, but a lot of people at you know, whether you can say they're closed minded or you know, people just like what they like. But a lot of people were taken aback by the sharp departure and style that he went with. There was a lot of auto tune.

There was very little rapping on eight to eight and Heartbreaks and it was it was a lot more about melody and you know, and feelings and song song structure and stuff. And then we had my beautiful, dark, Twisted Fantasy, which I guess is ten years old now, maybe even

eleven years old. It's messed up. I remember last year I was like, oh, we're gonna do like a ten year retrospective on the album, and then then then in the coronavirus and so I forgot so eleven years ago if darctorst and Fantasy came out, I did I think this is the best album personally? Oh yeah, no, I

think universally claimed as like his probably his best work. Um. I think because it's sort of mixes to a degree some of his like later experimentation with the soul that drew people to Kanye in his early work as well. I thought beautiful dark twist of Fantasy was like the point that you just that you made earlier about how he wanted to start making stuff that would work more

effectively with stadium stuff after he saw Bono and YouTube. Like, to me, I feel like beautiful, dark, twisted Fantasy accomplishes that by still being like hip hop as fun. Yeah, you know what I'm saying. Like it's still it's still boom bab, it's still like sampling, it's still bars, you know what I mean. It's not like it's not like yeo, we gotta have like the massive trumpet horse section, you know what I mean to like pump up, pump up, like the crowd of sucking. I don't know, I really

like that album. No, the album is great. I mean in the closer with the Gil Scott Heron sample from his common number one UM, which was a piece of spoken words to us the realist about the African American experience UM and the idealism of American dream UM like where else. Like, as I was going back to the album, I was like, there'sn't really political here to discuss. I don't think. I mean, there's consumer is UM. There's all sorts of things that vaguely touch upon um, just suddenly

American life and which is touched upon by politics. But I thought it's really interesting that you know, this regular piece that closed down the album UM. You know, it's criticized in the nineteen sixteen Revolutionary Youth Movement for failing to recognize the more basic needs of the African American community.

And even though it's edited and reduced down on the track which who will Survive in America, just like the last track on My Beautiful Dark Twists Fantasy, UM, it's still kind of captures this idea of this this persona, this African American man who feels caught off from his country and his culture UM, which I think is a really interesting like knowing what we know today about Kanye UM, it's like kind of like weirdly poignant, Like it's like it's like an opposite direction of what Guil's got here

and is talking about, Like Gils got here and is talking about like, oh the revel lutionaries. Well, no, I mean the more I think about it, the more I feel like they're both kind of saying similar things in

different epics and different ways about it. Yeah, So like yeah, girls got here, and I'm saying like oh, these revolutionary people who look up to say Guavara and you know who the people like the the Young Lords or whoever who are out here like agitating for revolution, like don't give a shit about what Africa like black people are actually going through during this time. And I mean to

a lesser degree. I mean, Kanye is fighting you know, the neoliberal Democratic Party, but some what we're saying, like y'all over there, y'all on the left are like missing out on like what we really need um and like aren't paying attention to the issues that are actually like important in our community and so much it was like weirdly poignant on an album that otherwise it's just like a banger but pure like pretty purely aesthetic and just like fun to listen to. UM, like a really interesting

way to close it off. It's on brand because it's like, you know, Kanye was like a kind of poignant dude, you know what I'm saying. Like not that anyone should have been looking to him to like shake their world view or anything like that, but it's like up until like recent years and always had the are of like, all right, that's like a celebrity guy who's doing celebrity stuff. But every now and then you hear him saying some ship, was like, oh the funk with that? You know? Yeah? Damn.

So this uh brings us to his twenty thirteen album Yesus, which I mean at this point I'm fully fully off the train, but I mean it very much is still for the same musical reasons. It's not quite as out there musically as A to eight in Heartbreaks, but it definitely still kind of felt like a departure from the more um boom bap style that he was going on in Dark Twisted Fantasy, And at this point, for me,

I just liked it. I was no longer appreciating the gimmicks. So, you know, he had a run of merged during the the cycle that featured the Confederate flag prominently, and you know, speaking out on the issue, he said, react, how you want an energy, you got get energy. You know. The Confederate flag represented slavery in a way. That's my abstract take on what I know about it. So I made the song New Slaves. I took the Confederate flag and made it my flag. It's my flag. Now, now what

are you going to do that? I like wonder what like you can you Confederates would feel about that Kanye was coming to being like yeah, bits my flag. Now I really can't imagine, but I don't think that they would look at it with whether he actually really intends any nuance to it at all. But it's like for them, it's just the co side, you know what I'm saying.

It's like, yeah, I guess that for them when they see something going down and it's like, oh, they want to take down the statue of General Lee from some government been building. Man, where are these s jws? I mean, even Kanye says it's not that big deal. It's that big of a deal, and like he likes the Confederate flag, Like they're not they're not reading into this, you know what I'm saying. They're not that digging into those quotes

any further than what it is. And in this day and age when everybody's like worried about their platform or is everybody's like talking about concernative platform and stuff like that, I just gotta feel like somebody with the platform, like Kanye, you know, you can't always be the Mr Magoo of like the sort of stuff where it's like I had no idea what was going on. It's like that man Kanye has a big boy it means a smart person,

so he knows what he's doing. Yeah, so let's actually get into the song New Slaves, um, which I think has echoes of some of what he was trying to get at in that quote about slavery being a choice. Four hundred years of slavery. That sounds like a choice to me. Um, let's play a little bit of that real quick, come in please by ally coat, diamond chain.

But in the lyrics, you know, he's talking about how um he's he's harkening back to an era where like it's post slavery, but black people were still kind of framed as um or positioned forced into servitude to various kinds you know, picking you know, not just not necessarily packing cotton. Um. He does talk about that, but like, oh you have to be the help um da da

da da da doing clothes for other people. Um. And then he gets into like I guess, being controlled by material things like oh, you know you want to Bentley if for a coat or diamond chain, all your blacks want the same things. So saying like, you know, once we escaped Jim Crow once we escaped Chattow slavery like still having this being this enslavement to materialism. I think it's sort of like that found that came up with like yeah, But the thing is, at that time he

was pushing the materialism exactly. He was like depending on people to buy the Confederate flag, teacher, this whole thing, this is on the this is this is all during the phase where he was going at it with who was it, like Gucci or something with with with vers with some fashion company because he didn't get like his own line of something. And it was like, man, the fashion industry is racist because they won't let Kanye West

have like his own line of something something. And he was just making like I would invented the leather jogging pants. You don't remember all of that stuff. Like he was like pushing like blatant, like vapid materialism at the same time that these are the points that he was making and songs like the Slaves like literally at the same time the same point in time, I'm sorry, that's all good. Now, I'm waiting to the rest of the later recks. And it's just like he later goes on, it's like fuck

you in your corporation. Yan niggas can't control me. But it's like you work for Nike, they don't work I'm sure in his head he's like, oh they work for me, Like no, NATD like they they they're shareholders. They signed your check. Yeah, they're shareholders around the company. Um and uh yeah, I mean there's a lot there's a lot of interesting stuff in here. He talks about the d A teaming up with the c c A. Did you

think of the album just in general? I did in general, and it's like I kind of honestly dug this somewhae industrial vibe. I didn't give it too much of a chance of like repeat listens for it to really like thinking for me, Um, but it won't bad. I just like didn't appreciate the gimmicks. I didn't appreciate the Confederate flagship. I did not appreciate the song that. I mean, it was catchy as fun, but I didn't appreciate a song called black skinhead on here, Like none of that ship

was cool to me. Um. So I'm like, you know, resist a little bit wow because my morals, I guess I was like, this is Cashy's fun, but I don't can't funk with it. The next project would be a little bit of a spectacle. And I don't even think for any political reasons, but just it was just like

a mess of a rollout. His album The Life of Pablo, it was famously like released, and then after it's released, he just kept making changes to it, which I guess strikes a you know, more interesting question for the music industry as a whole. But still the fact remains. You know, album came out and then like two days later you go on iTunes and it has like two more songs added onto it, And then two days later you go by and it was mixed a difference so that it

sounds completely you know what I mean. But that was pretty much the story of this one. But it just like his current album Donda, it also had like a lot of high surrounding it with like listening parties and things of that nature. It's the little thing I kind of mixed feelings, but like I appreciate and enjoy about his later discography is the sort of gospel influence. I mean, I grew up around gospel of music. I think gospel

music is kind of tight. Frankly, I just think like the core of the chorus, the choral sounding like the like harmonies and things like that. It's like really dope. And so, I mean, I, to be honest, did not really I didn't listen to Jesus Is King just because like at this point I had sort of like, I mean, I probably heard it, but like it doesn't pay attention to this point. I was just like yo, yeah, because

like I said so. On the US charts, the album became the first ever to top the Billboard two hundred, top R and B and Hip Hop Albums, Top Rap Albums, Top Christian Albums, and Top Gospel Albums categories all the same time. So yeah, it was a straight up it was a straight up like gospel album. It's just like

gospel singing. I mean it's a little it's a little silly, like He's got this one almost like um, I'm closed, like oh you my chick fil A we closed on Sunday like stuff like that, where it's kind of goofy and like funny and like a tongue in cheek um hip hop way the way that you know, we just make jokes, make metaphors that are a little you know, I guess a little a little less it's strictly uh reverend in like a gospel kind of way. But no,

it's just praising to just Prason Jesus the whole time. Yeah. Yeah, and so I I never really got into it because I mean it's more so for me what I appreciated about like some of uh, like I guess the life of Pablo. Um, what's that? Um? It combined the sound of gospel with like hip hop content when it gets really stract, like as a as like a non religious person, and it gets real straight and to like the you know,

Halleujah praised the Lord. Chance the rapper kind of started it with that Color and Book album where he was like doing the gospel rap ship and then okay, so you know again, you know, admittedly, maybe I should have done this for preparation for this episode, so bad on me in my journalism skills, but I have not taken the time to listen to Jesus King or really or really you know, I can't say that I'm like eager to hear Donda at all. So yeah, apparently Donda I

was supposed to come out last Friday. Now it's supposedly dropping August six. He's still working on it. Um. So we shall see how it goes. I didn't And that's that's sounding like it's going to be like a gospel and let's see real quick, let's see what people are to say. It's gonna be mad funny when the Small Princess all proceeds for this album go to the stop the steel really, so it sounds like he's gonna be

dealing with themes about you know, his a recent divorce. Um, it's gonna have some continued religious influence akin to Jesus's King and things like that. Um. But yeah, so it may have some of that gospel e sound. One of my friends, uh know, somebody who was at that thing. Oh yeah, they have COVID now, I probably, but they were just it's the sort of person that you would expect to say, oh man, it was a life changing experience. It was so great. This is good. This album is

gonna change in the world. And YadA, YadA, YadA, YadA YadA. So fans are definitely amped over. Yeah, yeah, let them have their fun. It's cool. But yeah, that's it for us. This week will be I guess checking out Donda when it drops August six, just to see or not. I'll probably for guess I'll probably forget augustly so will come and go and I'll be like, oh ship I forgot. I think it's told me when that ship comes on regular TV check it out. But what do you say

you are? You feel like rapping? Yeah, of course, a Joe, can you drop a beat? Ha ha? Here we go, here we go, ha ha ha, lady rapper. Right, yeah, but panty Hole was gonna tad yelling a fashionist life lately as was lashing only half the lights half the light. Maybe he'll drop the album to night maybe golf on the grammatically catluss like who knows what kind of state they gave me him for all? Like fucking note you could you be hanging out with Canadians staying in the

A again hosted them? But say he's been staying him? What the way to live through? What? You would never explain this ship? You gotta hand it to him that whatever he's got on his mind. And I appreciate a canny human, but when you getting played by Trump and Candy songs, you should probably ask yourself, Man, I should plan on going Franca and we are waiting on reparation. Hurry up, Kanye, got millions, bro to help me next week. Tell me out I'm losing my insurance. Okay, alright, alright,

see you next week. Everybody Winning on Reparations is a production of my Heart Radio. For more podcasts on my Heart Radio, check out the radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.