Kanye West, the rapper recognized for his struggles with psychological wellness who now who calls himself Ye, is as soon as once more making headlines—this time for releasing a weird music video titled “Heil Hitler,” a observe that’s been extensively condemned as an open embrace of Nazi imagery and antisemitic rhetoric.
On Thursday morning, West posted the video to X, that includes a refrain that repeats the exceptionally odd phrase, “Nigga, Heil Hitler,” whereas rows of Black males in animal pelts chant alongside. The tune, laced with incendiary and specific lyrics, contains strains like “All my niggas Nazis,” and “With the entire cash and fame, I nonetheless can’t get my children again.”
The observe ends with a chilling pattern from a Hitler speech, which Ye additionally quoted in full on his account.
“Man, these individuals took my children from me, then they froze my checking account,” West laments within the observe, in a not-so-subtle reference to the Jewish group. “I acquired a lot anger in me, acquired no solution to take it out. Assume I’m caught within the matrix.” Later, he bluntly declares, “So I turned a Nazi, yeah, bitch, I’m the villain.”
The tune seems on West’s latest album, WW3, which dropped in April and is already being flagged for its over-the-top, purposefully offensive themes and imagery. Tracks embrace absurd titles like “Fuel Chambers,” “Hitler Ye and Jesus,” and “Cuck”—the latter reportedly additionally serving because the title for a separate upcoming album. The quilt artwork for “Heil Hitler” contains a hand-drawn swastika-like doodle, whereas the album’s art work depicts robed figures harking back to KKK uniforms.
Ye, as soon as one of the awarded and influential artists in hip-hop, has spiraled into controversy since his public embrace of Adolf Hitler and Nazism in 2022. He’s misplaced model offers, widespread trade help, and based on his personal lyrics, custody of his kids with ex-wife Kim Kardashian. However removed from backing down, Kanye West, infamous for his obstinacy, appears to be escalating.
The artist claims that “Heil Hitler” has been “banned by all digital streaming platforms,” and is now performing it reside regardless. “I’m being instructed there’s a difficulty with me performing ‘Heil Hitler.’ I’m doing ‘Heil Hitler’ in any respect my reveals,” Ye posted defiantly.
Critics weren’t impressed. The American Jewish Committee wasted no time slamming the tune. “That is blatant antisemitism, and it’s disgusting,” mentioned CEO Ted Deutch. “Ye is profiting off of Jew-hatred, and the music trade must step up and communicate out in opposition to this obscenity.”
Even longtime followers appear rattled. One Reddit consumer wrote, “Kanye West can be remembered as one of many biggest artists who destroyed his personal legacy.”
However West’s current strikes recommend he has no intention of retreating. Final month, he launched a graphic tune titled “Cousins,” the place he disturbingly claimed he carried out a sexual act on a member of the family.
And in a now-deleted video, West reappeared with Nick Fuentes, sporting a swastika necklace and joking, “We’re again.” Fuentes, who dined with West and former President Donald Trump in 2022, later wrote on X, “Think about 50,000 individuals in a stadium on their toes singing each phrase of “Heil Hitler.”
Unusually, whereas selling the observe, West additionally prolonged reward to Jewish streamer Adin Ross, calling him “a optimistic particular person” and complimenting his livestream with rapper Drake, regardless of beforehand writing that “Jews are boastful” and texting Holocaust references.
West’s trajectory—from billionaire cultural icon to polarizing determine flirting with odious ideologies and their corresponding aesthetics—has been something however delicate. With one other album reportedly on the way in which, Bully, which he hinted could drop on his daughter North’s birthday, June 15, West seems decided to proceed driving the wave of controversy, whatever the penalties.
Whether or not this marks a cry for assist, an inventive collapse, a some form of psychological break, or one thing darker stays to be seen..
