By now, you’ve probably seen the photo of Kanye West and Candace Owens at his latest Yeezy Szn 9 show in Paris rocking the Kanye White Lives Matter merch.
At this point, Ye has to know what he’s doing right? At the very least we can say that he knows how to pull a reaction out of just about anyone.
Kanye West & Candace Owens wearing a "White Lives Matter" shirt at his YZYSZN9 fashion show in Paris pic.twitter.com/53ZU71k4UU
Of course, he gave a big speech to the attendees at the event which included Doja Cat, Naomi Campbell, and his ex-girlfriend Irina Shayk.
It’s safe to say that anything else he showed during the show got overshadowed by this purely marketing moment. According to NY Post, Ye fashion went on a rant explaining his actions to the haters saying,
“I am Ye, and everyone here knows that I am the leader. “You can’t manage me.”
– Ye
It’s safe to say that everybody has their fair share of opinions on both sides. From the left, right, and in between here are some of the rumblings on Twitter:
Is White Lives Matter Kanye just a walking contradiction at this point?
Kanye West was on instagram not too long ago talking about the Kardashians we’re corrupting his BLACK children… just to be wearing a White Lives Matter shirt pic.twitter.com/mesEFeDteG
having black models wear white lives matter is a choice… a horrible fucking choice (the whole statement is). disrespectfully, kanye can choke pic.twitter.com/dZFzEfdgpU
But at the end of the day, it’s all about perspective
Kanye West wearing a shirt that says White Lives Matter isn’t more important than the following ⬇️
• Black Lives Matter running off with more than $100M in donations. • Ukraine getting $87B dollars from taxpayers. • The current administration not doing shit for Black people.
“[Kobe] He was the basketball version of me, and I was the rap version of him, and that’s facts!” Kanye West recently said about the late great Kobe Bryant.
Kanye West began his production career in the mid-90s, around the same time teenage Kobe Bryant broke into the NBA.
Kanye’s debut album, The College Dropout, released in 2004, explored his departure from university several years back and what that meant for him. Well, Kobe didn’t even go to college; he was one of the first athletes to declare for the NBA draft right out of high school.
But as Kanye gained popularity and experience in the late 90s, so too did Kobe.
Kobe began to be recognized as Shaquille O’Neal’s peer, not just his underling. Similarly, Ye began to gain respect from Jay-Z and even helped him immensely on Jay’s 2001 album The Blueprint.
Then, after making a name for themselves, Ye and Kobe both found incredible success in the aughts. No longer were they burgeoning youngsters.
They were bonafide superstars.
“We came up at the same time, together,” declared Ye.
Kobe won championships with the Los Angeles Lakers in ’00, ’01, and ’02. Ye shot to number 15 on the Billboard 100 with his track “Through the Wire” on The College Dropout, and “Slow Jamz” became a number one hit on the same album. The College Dropout eventually would become certified triple platinum in the US, and garnered Ye 10 Grammy nominations.
By the 2000/01 season, Kobe was already averaging 28.5 points per game. It was not too bold of a statement to say the Lakers had the two best players in the league in Shaq and Bryant. Just in his fifth season, the Black Mamba was already that good.
Kobe and Kanye were both achieving success and gaining esteem quickly. They were celebrities, and this at least partly led to controversy for both as the aughts ticked on.
Kobe was accused of rape in 2003 in Eagle Colorado. Kobe claimed they did have a sexual encounter, but it was consensual. The case was settled in civil court for an undisclosed amount.
Kobe, just beginning his upward trajectory of fame, success, and increased accolades, dodged a big bullet, but the case was a dark stain on his otherwise nearly-unblemished career.
Meanwhile, Kanye was involved in a controversy of his own, specifically the “George Bush” and Taylor Swift/Beyonce incidents both on live TV. Those moments would humble them, kinda. Kanye still tweaks every now and then.
But the years ticked on, and Kobe and Kanye would continue to dominate their respective industries. Kobe averaged 35.4 points in the 2005/06 NBA season and would win two more championships with the Lakers in 2009 and 2010.
Kanye would release three more albums before 2010, Late Registration, Graduation, and 808’s and Heartbreak. All three were massive successes.
And the success for both would carry over. Kobe continued to play well in his late-30s until injuries derailed his career. Still, the man scored 60 in his last NBA game. 60!!
For Ye, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was considered by many his greatest album ever. After his brief hiatus after increased controversy, this album solidified his comeback. He would continue to see success as the next decade went on.
Kobe and Yeezus would both branch out as they moved into their ’30s and ’40s. Kobe retired and started getting into advocacy, writing, and filmmaking with his 2018 Academy Award win for Dear Basketball.
Kanye West would collaborate with Adidas to launch Yeezy and earn millions in his fashion ventures.
Kobe Bryant and Kanye West’s careers followed similar trajectories. Both men were transcendent in their work, and even after taking backseats from their crafts, achieved massive success in other ventures.
“The way that Kobe would say that we all have to come together and win this championship is the way I look at life now. To an infinite, other level,” said Ye.
Kanye West is sending a crack through the matrix again this week with Kid Cudi on the new album Kids See Ghosts, it’s the first collaborative work from the two since “Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1” on The Life of Pablo.
10 years ago Cudi signed to G.O.O.D. Music beginning the long and highly tremulous professional relationship between the two influential artists. After leaving the label in 2013 the two artists had a falling out, resulting in a Twitter beef that broke fans hearts.
“My tweets apply to who they apply. Ye, Drake, whoever. These n––s don’t give a fuck about me.”
Kanye responded saying, “Do you know how many people wish they could be signed to G.O.O.D. Music? Get their life changed, have an opportunity? Never forget that! I am so hurt. I feel so disrespected. Kid Cudi, we are two black men in a racist world. … Don’t ever mention my name in a bad manner, none of y’all.”
The two made up in a dramatic turn of events, Kanye brought Kid Cudi out in Sacramento, on Nov. 20 before abruptly leaving his show and going to the hospital for the mental instability he had been experiencing.
Kanye has been featured on both of the Man on the Moon albums as well as bringing Cudi on for My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, TLOP, and most recently during Kanye’s reinvention of G.O.O.D. Music has released one of the most controversial albums, ye during the most polarized time for his fans.
Featuring Cudi on the ye album has built even more anticipation for the Kids See Ghosts album being released on Friday, June 8th just a week after the release of Kanye’s solo project.
The cover for the album Kids See Ghosts has been created by the amazingly talented Takashi Murakami who has been a beacon of amazingly detailed pop art and has been apart of Kanye’s look for over 10 years being the artist behind The Graduation cover art, which is uniquely Murakami’s.
Kanye has been sending waves with this newest slew of releases dropping all these albums in the summer, and it has left its mark.
The top seven songs on iTunes are taken up by all of ye. Kanye’s audience has listened to his newest album over 100 million times within three days of its launch and has equivalent 175,000 album sales in one week placing ye at No. 1 Debut on Billboard 200 Albums Chart.
The seven-song album has caught flack for everything from its runtime to the album art, Kanye has really tested the allegiance of his fans whilst at the same time getting new West fans on board for the ride of controversy.
The Kids See Ghost project is going to be a dream come true for fans of both artists because of the chemistry the two have when producing music.
Cudi clearly has a great voice and his control over his vocalizations is instrumental much like Kanye’s approach to the human voice as an instrument like his synthesizers and drums. West and Cudi both use their voice as harmonics for guitar riffs, you can hear this super clearly on “Ghost Town,” the 6th track on ye.
Kanye is president setting when it comes to album release events, for ye were Kanye flew out media personalities, influencers, and music moguls to listen to his album three times on a ranch in Wyoming. For The Life of Pablo, Kanye rented out Madison Square Garden and sold tickets to the listening event for that album.
Before that, the tour for Yeezus was groundbreaking for performance, message, and emotional delivery to the audience with Kanye performing in Mason Martin Margiela on a giant springboard launching him in the air to the rhythm of the beat.
With contributions from dancers and artist in other media forms, Kanye put on a show that has The Weeknd’s Starboy: Legend of the Fall 2017 World Tour look like a bad Atari emulation.
The highly anticipated project will be having a listening party in LA on Thursday 6/7/18, no further details have been given out but Wests website has updated with 3 locations and two RSVP links for unannounced venues in Miami and Chicago tonight at 6 pm.
Brooklyn is also on the website but with 6/7/18 as the date and no RSVP link.
A connection between the new album and these events has not been made but many speculate that Kanye is going to be hosting events in connection to #ProjectWyoming where Kanye is “bringing Wyoming to (insert city name)”.
We are just as excited to hear what West and Mescudi have lined up for this project.
With all the controversy surrounding West and the attention Cudi has had in the past for mental health, it surely will be interesting hearing what the duo has to say together to the world.
2017 has been a wild year to say the very fucking least.
Despite all the chaos, there was amazing music, fire memes, and a creative by the name of Virgil Abloh solidified himself as the go-to designer in the fashion industry.
The Chicago-raised Abloh has been around for a minute now but you’ve definitely been seeing his name pop up more and more with one of the sickest collabs of the year with his brand Off-White and Nike. Now even Louis Vuitton and Versace are rumored to be interested in partnering with Virgil. All because he does it for the culture.
Hell, even Ikea did a partnership with him to create trendy furniture. Anything this man does will have the hypebeasts flocking. In the world of streetwear and high fashion, prices are high and so is the demand.
But where the hell did this guy come from? How did he get here and what is motivating him to do it? In a 2015 interview with GQ he explained,
“I’m just a creative person and I’m just fortunate to be surrounded by people that are ten times more creative than me… I’m fortunate to have Kanye as a friend and a mentor.”
Kanye first met Virgil in Chicago when he was running a menswear boutique and immediately hired him for his creative agency Donda. That opened up a world of opportunities for him and he capitalized on every single one.
From being art director on Watch The Throne to helping Kanye with his “Runaway” short film, Virgil made a name for himself quickly. Putting his foot in the door, Abloh carved out his own lane and a few years later he’s at the top of the fashion world.
As one of the most important creatives in the game today, he continued to explain what motivates him in his GQ interview saying,
“I don’t revolt against anything, the only thing I work against is the fact that no one told me that I can do this as a job. So the rest of my career is like showing kids, ‘Yeah, you can do it too.’ Like there is no wall. It’s a generation of us and I think what’s bringing us together is that we just want to push the culture forward and have a say in what goes on.”
His humble approach to pushing the culture is what makes him different. With three months in 2017 left to go, expect Virgil to continue to push the boundaries and create things that will get the entire industry buzzing.
We’ve been patiently waiting for Pusha T’s King Push album for some years now.
Yeah, he dropped his last album, King Push – Darkest Before Dawn, in 2015 but that was just a prequel.
As far as we know, he’s been working on King Push since 2013… so what exactly is taking so long for it to drop?
We haven’t gotten much info on that but it looks like it may be because of Kanye. During his performance at Made In America on Sunday, Pusha said this,
“I’m gonna go ahead and let y’all know. I’ve done this album like three times, right. [Kanye] come in, he pick all the beats and shit. Then he hears the beats and he scraps them and says ‘I can do better.’ He’s done that shit like three times.”
We all knew Kanye was a perfectionist but damn he’s dedicated to making art.
Honestly though it’s not out of his character to do this, like my mans is never satisfied.
On a positive note, Kanye is doing all of Pusha’s beats on this project so we can expect some fire and with all that scrapping they should sound perfect.
Pusha didn’t seem all that mad that the album was taking forever, he knows greatness takes time. Just peep how he explains the situation:
Let’s just hope we can see this album soon ’cause I’m dying to hear what Pusha and Kanye got to offer.
It was reported that Kanye was chilling in the mountains of Wyoming working on his next project, which Push reportedly has a heavy influence and presence on too.
Top that with the alleged Kanye x Cudi secret album and we can all expect this coming Yeezy SZN to be one of the biggest yet. Stay tuned.
