“I miss the old Kanye,/ Straight from the GO Kanye,/ Chop up the soul Kanye,/ Set on his goals Kanye,/ I hate the new Kanye,/ The bad mood Kanye,/ The always rude Kanye,/ Spaz in the news Kanye.”

These lines from Kanye’s song, simply titled “I Love Kanye,” which was featured on his 2016 album The Life of Pablo, represent the feelings that many of his fans had about the enigmatic rapper at that time of his career. In November 2016, the world looked on as Kanye self-destructed before being hospitalized for sleep deprivation. It turns out that was a cover up for a nervous breakdown that he had on the anniversary of the death of his beloved mother Donda West. Kanye was stuck to his hospital bed for a week with no way to work on his fashion line or music.     

Fast forward to 2018 and we see a totally different Kanye, a better Kanye, a hybrid Kayne. This new Kanye is still outspoken, but he is more love first and positive in his musings. The biggest change in him, though, is one that many who follow his career, listen to his music, and identify with him as a person consider to be problematic: Kanye West is a republican.

Ever since Kanye’s mental breakdown in 2016, his viewpoints and attitude have changed. His mental breakdown must have served as a reset because we now have a new and improved Kanye. Kanye bounced back with new music and new goals These goals are not simply for himself, but goals for the city of Chicago and the people of America. Kanye, being the trailblazer that he is, went to a place where no rapper has traveled to in a long time:  The White House.

After a brief 2016 meeting at the Trump Tower in New York City, Kanye and Donald Trump have been in a budding political relationship, with both men admiring each other at high levels. Various interviews with Kanye reveal him praising Trump and stating his opinions on topics like slavery and the black community. An interesting sight recently was Kanye and Trump gathered in the Oval Office with NFL Hall of Famer Jim Brown. Cameras from every news outlet gathered in the office to capture the three men as Kanye touched on mental health and getting rid of the 13th Amendment, which is the amendment that abolished slavery only keeping it as a criminal punishment.  

The world erupted after this meeting took place. Many reacted harshly, as if Kanye had killed someone. Even some of Kanye’s friends in the music chimed in to dismantle him.

Rapper TI commented on Instagram about the situation saying, “This is the most repulsive, disgraceful, embarrassing act of desperation and auctioning off of one’s soul to gain power I’ve ever seen.”

Others claimed that Kanye was in a sunken place; but in reality he’s just speaking his mind. Everyone is so upset with Kanye because he’s not a democrat and doesn’t share the same views as many in the black community. Bashing Kanye for his beliefs and attempting to “cancel” him is wrong. There are rappers today who have done far worse than Kanye with the platform they have. There are rappers who have been caught with underage girls, rappers who have killed people, and rappers who have followed in the negative act that seems far too prevalent today – violence against women. Kanye has done none of those things, yet people feel like we should wire his jaw shut again.

Of course, it’s odd to see Kanye change his ways and speak his mind – especially when that talking is in support of President Trump.  However, at the end of the day, these are his opinions. You don’t have to support him, and you do not have to watch his interviews or listen to his music. What you should do, though, is take  that energy that we have for “canceling” famous people because they do or say something unpopular, and focus on “cancelling” those who have actually done wrong and hold them accountable.