The first Kanye song I listened to was “Through the Wire.” I heard it in the car, liked it, and added it to my playlist. Since then I started listening to him a lot more and became a huge fan of his music. His songs have infiltrated every one of my playlists, despite the fact that I have one entirely devoted to him, with my favorite songs from each of his albums.
Of course I noticed when his face and name was emerging in headlines as a controversial figure, but I never cared to explore him deeper. It was becoming a redundant saying: “Kanye West sparks controversy after dot dot dot.” Admittedly, my indifference got the better of me: I simply did not care enough to know him beyond his music. I loved “The College Dropout” and that was all I knew. Even after West pondered the meaning of slavery, claiming that racism is an “outdated concept” in 2015. Or when he declared “Bill Cosby Innocent” in a tweet (Cosby was not, in fact, innocent) in 2016. Or when he questioned the history of slavery, calling it a choice in 2018.
It took until October of 2022 when CNN came out with an article that West originally wanted to name his 2018 album “Ye” after Adolf Hitler for me to look up. I decided it might be time to figure out who I was supporting and what ideas he stood for.
In 2022, I stopped listening to Kanye.
I found it became impossible to support him and his career with a clear conscience. As a person of Jewish faith, I starting taking Kanye’s words personally. No matter how much I tried to ignore it, I felt singing along with a guy who publicly makes jokes at the expense of my people.
So now I grieve Kanye. My Kanye playlist collects digital dust, something has been lost there. It sounds silly to say but it feels like I’m grieving.
My prior indifference to West’s behavior was fueled by my belief that I could separate the art from the artist. This, however, is impossible. To “separate the art from the artist”, one has to treat the two as completely different entities. It is irresponsible, it decontextualized an artist’s work, and whether good or bad—takes away from the meaning of the art.
The concept of “separating the art and the artist” came about in the 20th century for analyzing poetry. Poets would write using different personas; William Carlos Williams, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman are all examples of poets that wrote using another persona at one point or another. Now, the coined phrase has been muddled into pop culture as a “Hail Mary” for victims of “cancel culture”.
It’s hard to completely stop listening to someone because of their controversies, especially if you feel unaffected by it. Sometimes one’s own interpretation transcends the intended meaning of the creator, and that’s okay. If we were expected to boycott every bad name in Los Angeles there wouldn’t be many good ones left. There are other things that can be done: avoid buying merchandise or going to concerts, supporting these people on social media or just simply holding them accountable in your head. Don’t let information be lost on you.
The biggest takeaway I’ve made from the loss of Kanye is that I am probably not the only fan of his who has had to go through this, but I only cared when I felt directly affected. This is pretty hypocritical of me considering I look up to the celebrities that have been condemning Kanye’s racist and antisemitic actions. As I change the way I begin to view controversial artists and their art, I implore you to do the same; don’t just hold big names accountable, hold yourself accountable too.
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