I watched his interview with Charlamagne tha God. The whole thing. Though it was recorded just a few weeks ago, we’re in a world with a whole different Kanye West. We’re in the world with “Make America great again” Kanye. Despite the fact that Kanye is parroting the philosophy of free minds and thought, he is the star of a play called Cognitive Dissonance in Real Time because his version of free thought now includes embracing the other side. Freedom ain’t free, I guess.
Lots of so-called enlightened people preach the gospel of deprogramming and unplugging from the matrix and shit. Kanye thinks he’s done that. And in many ways, that Charlamagne interview suggests that ... to some degree. Again, that shit is old. Since then, he has gone full Kanye.
Full Kanye is what happens when you have no idea what version of Kanye you’re going to get or how you’re going to get it.
Full Kanye goes on TMZ and says that slavery was a choice. If you’re black and he hasn’t alienated you yet, he’s really trying to earn your alienation now. Like, if at this point you’re still holding strong to that love and loyalty for Kanye because his music is awesome, then you are responsible for this new nigga that Kanye is running around sharing with the world. He’s a rapper and black, but he’s not just a black rapper (true), he’s of the world.
It sounded stupid when Kobe said it, too.
Van Lathan, from TMZ, checked the shit out of Kanye and illustrated the eloquent rage Brittney Cooper talks about in her book. He was on some “all heroes don’t wear capes” shit today. And I appreciate him for that because he, in that moment, represented what so many of us wish we could say to Kanye while we move away from him but are hoping he’ll hit us with a “gotcha bitch” and pull us back in. Because we’re over-trying, but he isn’t helping.
I don’t think any of us know what Kanye is doing. We want to give him all of the chances. Folks want to believe so badly that this is Kanye fully committing to the world’s longest performance piece, or that Kanye is really, brilliantly, unfolding some greater project for mankind.
We want to believe that Kanye is strategically launching these politically ignorant missives to belie some larger point about groupthink.
We want to believe everything but the most obvious answer: Kanye is fucking gone.
He said he wants to change the definition of crazy. He’s definitely on his way to becoming synonymous with the term.
Kanye has fully embraced the most ridiculous version of free thought, the part of it that isn’t rooted in reality but is intentionally politically, socially and racially divisive.
Kanye believes his bullshit. Kanye’s stating that slavery was a choice isn’t something he showed up to say on TMZ. It’s something Kanye does when he has a bad idea. He starts talking and makes it worse.
Kanye keeps going full Kanye, and I just wish he’d shut the fuck up.
In the interview with Charlamagne, he said he’d gone silent for a while because he had nothing to say. Damn, I miss the old Kanye. He’d do himself a grand service by shutting the fuck up right now.
But he can’t. Kanye has gone full Kanye.
And you never go full Kanye.