"Why do people still buy into Kanye West?"

Nozuka

Dec 17, 2020

freshherbs

This question has boggled my mind. I'm a fan of Kanye myself—I cared enough to edit and fund a book about him—and yet, on paper, if it were any other artist or business, I probably would have moved on by now. From the conflicts in album delays, controversies, etc., I'm guessing some of you might feel the same way—and yet, here we are, still writing and reading!

Before I continue, I need to say, I've been following this community since the KTT days and I followed the migration. This is my first thread at KTT2! Anyway—without further ado...

I've covered Kanye's Gap deal for Marker before, so from a business perspective—obviously corporations do deals with Kanye because his products sell. So the question under that is, why—in spite of all the controversies—do his products still sell so well?

A few weeks ago, I read Modern Gospels by Mario Gabriele, and I realized that some people (first and foremost, myself) relate to Kanye not as an artist, or even a brand, but more like a religion. Similar to Elon Musk, WeWork, Oprah, etc—this is why it's so difficult to short Tesla, because a good portion of buying/holding Tesla stock is driven by belief.

So, I decided to take a stab at starting to deconstruct this religion... And it all starts with Kanye's genuine belief that everyone can be a genius. It's one of his truths that he lives, and it starts with himself. He declares it proudly.

For example, he says things like, "If you’re a Kanye West fan, you’re not a fan of me. You’re a fan of yourself. You will believe in yourself. I’m just the espresso."Kanye believes that people are only limited by their perceptions of themselves.

The mind is powerful. His music, films, and interviews cover this theme (e.g., "Most of all, we're at war with ourselves" on Jesus Walks)—as do his products.

Kanye believes this because he grew up attending Christ Universal Temple and Hillside church, both of which are known for preaching prosperity and positivity. Trump also attended a similar type of church every Sunday—Marble Collegiate Church that preached prosperity. That belief might be the one that tie them together with Joel Osteen. They who all grew up attending similar churches. I'm reading "Blessed" by Kate Bowler right now to learn more about the history of the prosperity gospel, and it's well worth the read.

Hope is an increasingly scarce resource these days, and Kanye's music, like the prosperity gospel, provides concentrated dosages of it. Sometimes, in self-fulfilling prophecy fashion, they even work. This forges a loyalty that is difficult to break.

Anyway, if you found this thread interesting, it's just the beginning of an article I wrote diving into this belief and how it ties into his work.

Thank you for reading all of this, I'd love to hear what you think!

This is a pretty interesting point because this question has boggled my mind. I'm a fan of Kanye myself—I cared enough to edit and fund a book about him—and yet, on paper, if it were any other artist or business, I probably would have moved on by now. From the conflicts in album delays, controversies, etc., I'm guessing some of you might feel the same way—and yet, here we are, still writing and reading!
Before I continue, I need to say, I've been following this community since the KTT days and I followed the migration. This is my first thread at KTT2! Anyway—without further ado...
I've covered Kanye's Gap deal for Marker before, so from a business perspective—obviously corporations do deals with Kanye because his products sell. So the question under that is, why—in spite of all the controversies—do his products still sell so well?
A few weeks ago, I read Modern Gospels by Mario Gabriele, and I realized that some people (first and foremost, myself) relate to Kanye not as an artist, or even a brand, but more like a religion. Similar to Elon Musk, WeWork, Oprah, etc—this is why it's so difficult to short Tesla, because a good portion of buying/holding Tesla stock is driven by belief.
So, I decided to take a stab at starting to deconstruct this religion... And it all starts with Kanye's genuine belief that everyone can be a genius. It's one of his truths that he lives, and it starts with himself. He declares it proudly.
For example, he says things like, "If you’re a Kanye West fan, you’re not a fan of me. You’re a fan of yourself. You will believe in yourself. I’m just the espresso."Kanye believes that people are only limited by their perceptions of themselves.
The mind is powerful. His music, films, and interviews cover this theme (e.g., "Most of all, we're at war with ourselves" on Jesus Walks)—as do his products.
Kanye believes this because he grew up attending Christ Universal Temple and Hillside church, both of which are known for preaching prosperity and positivity. Trump also attended a similar type of church every Sunday—Marble Collegiate Church that preached prosperity. That belief might be the one that tie them together with Joel Osteen. They who all grew up attending similar churches. I'm reading "Blessed" by Kate Bowler right now to learn more about the history of the prosperity gospel, and it's well worth the read.
Hope is an increasingly scarce resource these days, and Kanye's music, like the prosperity gospel, provides concentrated dosages of it. Sometimes, in self-fulfilling prophecy fashion, they even work. This forges a loyalty that is difficult to break.
Anyway, if you found this thread interesting, it's just the beginning of an article I wrote diving into this belief and how it ties into his work.
Thank you for reading all of this, I'd love to hear what you think!