Kanye West has been receiving a lot of backlash in recent years, from his political viewpoints to his messy divorce from his soon-to-be-ex-wife Kim Kardashian. On February 16th, West released his documentary on Netflix where his life story is narrated by decades worth of unreleased and rare footage that documents how he has become so illustrious in today’s generation. The series of events that took place in the documentary allowed fans to witness where it all began while featuring other artists such as JAY-Z, P Diddy, Pharrell Williams, and other present day artists. West also showed a peek of his happy place when his mother, Donda West, was introduced in the film and fans were able to learn how she had a big impact on his career.

        During the documentary Kanye West kept referring to himself as a genius. Some may argue that West is on another rant and “off his medication”  and disagree with his statement of being a “genius.” West replies in a Forbes interview—  “I am many things but crazy is not one of them… being in service with Christ has helped me overcome my obstacles.” Over the years West has consistently proven his reasoning of being a genius in front of our very eyes:

Musical Genius?

Yes.

      Compared to many other artists West sends powerful messages through his lyrics. One song, titled “All Falls Down”  states: “We shine because they hate us, floss cause they degrade us.” To a person whose origin is not from African descent, those lyrics may mean nothing more than a bar but to a Black child who was born into a life, society, and system that continuously applies a double standard when it comes to people who look like them— those lyrics mean everything. Kanye West is the Chameleon of music, he challenges his fans, listeners, other artists, and popular music today. Which is probably West’s way of saying “come on, keep up.” West chooses not to follow today’s perspective of music because throughout his whole life, he didn’t depend on the opinion of others but his mother’s (which is shared in his documentary). Throughout Kanye’s entire musical career, he has amalgamated classical, jazz, pop, R&B, rock, soul, and baroque music into hip hop. When West has a vision, he will apply it until it meets his expectations of how he views his work of art. West tells a story within his music which allows his songs to feel relatable and when he produces his own beats to rap on, he creates music that people will turn to after a long day, on their down time, or even days when they’re in a good mood. Juncturing that there’s no specific box you can fit Kanye in because he is always thinking outside of the box.

Investment Genius?

Yes.

     West owns 100 percent of his Yeezy franchise which is estimated to be worth $1.5 billion following estimated calculations of his personal assets that make up a net worth of $160 million, alone. He has a music catalog that is worth a whopping $90 million. Kanye also still owns a piece of Kim Kardashian’s Skims company, which adds $64 million to his net worth. Although let’s not leave out his investments in livestock and collaborations with GAP that adds another $4 billion dollars to his overall net worth. West has had many business deals, meetings, collabs, features, and open opinions throughout his entire musical career. In 2020 Kanye gave his opinion on the music industry to Billboard Magazine— stating how his “ultimate goal is for every single artist to own the copyright to their recordings.” West later announced that all artists signed to his label, GOOD music, will be given 50% share holds in their master recordings. West expounded how momentous it is to own the masters of your own recordings— “When you sign a music deal you sign away your rights… without the recordings you can’t do anything with your own music— Artists have nothing except fame, touring, and merch.” Completing his statement by saying “imagine a bank lending you money to buy a house and then when you’ve repaid the mortgage, they tell you they still own it.” Now, how I digested that message is to imagine being enslaved for 400+ years and still haven’t received your freedom papers. 

Kanye West is not only an investment genius but an investment genius with perception.

Political Genius?

Debatable. 

Kanye West has made some neck breaking comments including his statement back in 2018 on TMZ live when he voiced his opinion about slavery— “When you hear about slavery for 400 years….. for 400 years? That sounds like a choice… right now, we’re choosing to be enslaved.” West than goes on Twitter and defends his comment by quoting Harriet Tubman— I freed a thousand slaves I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves. He also tweeted “Of course I know that slaves did not get shackled and put on a boat by free will. My point is for us to have stayed in that position even though the numbers were on our side means that we were mentally enslaved.” Even though West’s statement was outrageous at first listen, his observation was valid. No, we are not given equal opportunities and Black people are relentlessly treated unfairly when trying to make a living through a justice system that was intentionally made to go against them. Though, we have certain Black celebrities today who would rather stick their foot in their mouth when the “race topic” is brought up and think racism doesn’t exist. To say we as Black people are choosing to be mentally enslaved is a reach however it’s undeniably true that some Black celebrities/well established Black people are neglectful to their communities and choose to turn a blind eye. 

In the third episode of Jeen-Yuhs, West made a remark to someone who tried to minimize his statement of referring to himself as a genius— “Would you rather me to say I’m a n****?” Some people are displeased with Kanye West because they think he’s choosing not to get help or therapy for his mental illness and are angry at the fact that he has the resources to get help while there’s people in the world who don’t have those same resources. Although that still doesn’t conclude that he’s crazy. In lieu West is giving his fans insight on his mindset and his life all at the same time; if anything West has been more open about his viewpoints. 

Not everyone is meant to be understood but it’s much easier for someone to be misunderstood.