At a listening event for his new album Vultures, set to be released on Friday, Kanye West donned a hood reminiscent of the Ku Klux Klan.
During the event in Miami, West donned a pointed black hood with eyeholes, along with fellow music artists such as Chris Brown, Kodak Black, and Offset. Additionally, West’s children North, Saint, and Chicago were also present.
In October 2022, West revealed T-shirts with the message “White Lives Matter” at a fashion show for his brand Yeezy. He later expressed his belief that Black Lives Matter was fraudulent.
In the following month, he expressed a string of discriminatory views towards Jewish individuals, stating: “I am extremely hostile towards JEWISH PEOPLE… You all have played games with me and attempted to sabotage anyone who disagrees with your plans.” He then went on to say: “Each person has a unique contribution to offer, even someone like Hitler… [Nazis] also had positive actions.” Additionally, he shared a picture combining a swastika and a Star of David.
After the rapper made controversial statements, Adidas ended their partnership with him, causing the successful Yeezy trainer brand to lose a valuable business relationship. Other companies like TJ Maxx and Foot Locker also stopped selling Yeezy products, and Gap terminated their collaboration with West.
According to reports, the rapper, also known as Ye, responds to the accusations on Vultures by stating “I am not antisemitic” in a vulgar and sexually explicit lyric.
The cover art for Vultures showcases a painting created by Caspar David Friedrich, a well-known landscape painter from Germany during the Romantic era. Despite later being supported by the Nazis, there are noticeable resemblances between the font used for the album title and its positioning in the top left corner of the cover with album covers from Norwegian black metal group Burzum. The band’s frontman, Varg Vikernes, has expressed views aligned with white nationalism and was found guilty in 2014 of promoting racial hatred through blog posts targeting Jews and Muslims (although he claimed he did not write them).
The song “Vultures” is a joint effort between rapper and singer Ty Dolla $ign and the duo is known as ¥$. Other featured artists on the album include Nicki Minaj, Young Thug, and Lil Baby. Kanye West’s daughter North also makes a rap appearance. It is believed that veteran producer Timbaland is also part of the project, as he posted on Instagram that it is “one of my best body of work”, along with a list of 18 tracks on the album.
A snippet of a Backstreet Boys’ song, Everybody (Backstreet’s Back), is included in a brief preview of a single released online.
Source: theguardian.com
