Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
So it looks like there’s a new Kanye album coming out soon, a collab with singer Ty Dolla $ign. I absolutely, definitely will not listen to it because Kanye’s horrifying. The anti-semitism plus the Trumpism and the anti-Black comments plus the horrific behavior toward his children’s mother Kim Kardashian – it’s all too much. But, I mean, I dunno, maybe I’ll listen to it once because despite all of that, he’s still a really interesting artist. He’s musically brilliant, and the work he did on “Graduation”, “808s & Heartbreak” and “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” remains one of the greatest stretches of recording in hip-hop history.
I love the way Kanye can push the sonic boundaries of hip-hop and challenge us to think about what hip-hop can be. But, yeah, he’s been doing that less and less in recent years. His last three solo albums – “Ye,” “Jesus Is King” and “DONDA” were terrible. Kanye hasn’t made a great album in over a decade. When you’ve dropped three bricks in a row, it’s easy to skip your next album.
The likelihood of it being good seems low. The well is probably dry. But it’s Kanye. Something about him makes me think there’s a chance that he could somehow make something amazing. His greatest album, “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,” came out of one of the most difficult moments in his life so…I don’t know what I’m gonna do.
It’s hard to know what to do when an artist transgresses. Do we need to erase their catalog or can people make mistakes and get another chance? Or can we consume their art critically and…
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