Kan-yay or Kan-nay?

Like Marmite you may love him, or you may hate him, but you cannot disagree that Ye has made an impact on the music industry.

After producing for Rock-A-Fella Records, Kanye West’s artist break through happened when he collaborated with rapper Twista and singer Jamie Foxx in 2003 on the song”Slow Jamz”, which became West’s first single to top the US Billboard Hot 100. Following this, West released his first album in 2004 “The College Dropout” which was a huge success selling 440,000 units in its first week.

So…I bet you’re wondering when the controversy started. On national television in 2005, West stated “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” this was in response to the way the President handled Hurricane Katrina which although controversial at the time for some it was very on the mark. Next, at the 2009 VMAs Kanye interrupted Taylor Swift’s speech stating Beyonce should have been the winner of the “Best Female Video” award. Then, 4 years later Ye released the unorthodox album “Yeezus” which was filled with claims of Ye being a God “I am a God”. However, it still debuted at number one. Also, the rapper posed for Rolling Stone with a crown of thorns and fake blood, claiming that he can make a direct comparison between himself and Jesus. In 2016, Kanye did his most controversial thing yet as he shows his support for Trump. We would be here forever as the list goes on but here are a couple of more recent comments. Kanye declares he’s pro-life, has made antisemitic comments, harassed ex-wife Kim Kardashian and her ex-partner Pete Davidson and wore a White Lives Matter t-shirt.

Should an artist be separated from their music? Should we remove songs by Michael Jackson, Chris Brown and Kanye West off platforms? As one of Kanye’s top 1% listener last year I may be bias when I say his music is genius and a well-crafted expression but, I struggle to remove Ye’s recent comments from my mind when listening to his music.

Kanye was diagnosed with bipolar in 2016. Can his erratic behavior be a result of this disorder? Can a disorder really cause people to make racist statements or behave in ways that many others find offensive.

I think it’s disappointing that after Ye’s religious awakening he has spun into this dark cycle. With social media platforms banning him is it time we did the same?