The other day, a friend sent me a link to an article titled “Kanye West: If I Voted, I Would Have Voted For Trump”.
This didn’t surprise me at all.
Every time Kanye West does anything at all, I get a message. When Kanye name-dropped Taylor Swift on The Life of Pablo, I got a text. When Kanye stopped his performance at a concert because his wife was held at gunpoint, I got a text. If Kanye West steps out in public to get ice cream, someone will probably criticize him for the flavor of his choosing and I will have to hear about it for days.
It isn’t news to anyone that Kanye West does things that are controversial and, at times, problematic. He breaks headlines regularly because he’s done something to offend an individual or group and then the Internet goes wild. No one can resist a good Kanye-bash. He makes it way too easy to find fault in his character through his actions alone. As a public figure, the scrutiny he is placed under makes everything he does seem a thousand times worse.
I don’t care about your feelings towards Kanye West. Kanye West doesn’t care about your feelings about Kanye West. Your opinions about Kanye West’s actions do not affect his brand.
According to net-worths.org, Kanye West is worth approximately $145 million dollars. This estimate is calculated based on factors such as profits from touring, the publicly known assets that he owns, music sales, and his unbelievably successful collaboration with Adidas.
Every time you bring attention to Kanye West, positive or negative, you give him a few more seconds of time in the spotlight. This time is easily converted into a plug for his new shoes, new song collaboration, etc. From every one of his sales, he profits, and you lose a one-sided battle that was never truly a fight to begin with. Kanye’s mark on hip-hop has sealed him into stone as a legend and he’ll be making money far beyond the grave.
I don’t agree with a lot of the things that Kanye does, but I don’t let his actions bother me. It’s that simple. Most of them are probably publicity stunts anyway. I’m not going to try to convince myself that this difference of opinion will stop me from listening to his music. Even if people were to boycott Kanye, he wouldn’t feel the impact, so there really isn’t any reason to make an effort. Kanye West is an icon and no amount of hateful tweets and internet posts will make a difference.