You can’t call yourself a feminist and a Kanye West fan

Kanye West, the most antagonising character in pop music history has just released his sixth solo LP, The Life Of Pablo. But you already know about that. Mr. Kardashian has been teasing us with talk of it for weeks, hyping up half the western world like kids on Christmas Eve and infuriating the other half as though you’d just thrown your burning cigarette in their face.

Both reactions go beyond reason, but some people had more legitimate grounds to be angry. Like Taylor Swift. On “Famous”, the fourth tune on the new record that features Rihanna, Yeezie gets slightly disrespectful with the pop star. He sings:

“I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex
 Why? I made that bitch famous
 God damn
 I made that bitch famous
 For all the girls that got dick from Kanye West
 If you see ’em in the streets give ’em Kanye’s bests”

Then he raps “bam bam bam bam” for a very long time. So basically, Kanye has arrogantly and publicly announced that he’s going to get into a woman’s pants, despite the fact that he’s married. He explains the reason of his upcoming success with the simple fact that “he made her famous” (because women need men to become famous), before congratulating himself for all the women who “got his dick”, condescendingly sending them his regards.

OK. Of course, Swift’s entourage didn’t react very well.

“It’s too many hoes in this house of sin”

But the issue holds much more importance than a pop star taking offence at some crude words. There’s the legacy, the impact of the words that will be listened to by millions of people across the world. Among Kanye West’s dedicated fans, you’ll find all sorts of people: hip-hop aficionados, virgin teenagers, and most self-declared official and committed feminists.

This is the part that I don’t get. Let’s pretend you’re at a party and someone introduces herself/himself as a feminist — someone who considers feminism as such an important part of her/his life that it’s written on their social media profiles. This person explains to you why it’s not okay that Hollywood actresses are paid less than their male colleagues, before arguing about the tampon tax. Obviously, she/he’s quite right, and you totally agree.

Then, suddenly, bending a knee and raising an arm your companion shouts “Black dick all in your spouse again”, “It’s too many hoes in this house of sin”, or, well, “For all the girls that got dick from Kanye West, If you see ’em in the streets give ’em Kanye’s bests.” Now you’re a bit drunk and you don’t know much about Yeezus, so you perhaps didn’t quite catch what was being yelled across the room.

You’re confused, and you ask “Sorry, what did you say? That didn’t sound very feminist to me.” Bored of you, your new friend argues “it’s just a song, it’s fine.” They they leave to dance a little more, chanting profanities as they go.

(Photo: Entertainment Online)

Be consistent

Now you’re going to think that it’s fine, indeed. You can separate the artist and the man. Well, first of all, sexist lyrics are, like it or not, a frequent componant of Kanye West’s music. The man is maybe not even sexist, but the artist can be.

Secondly, you can argue that you can separate your political and social convictions from your musical tastes. But tell me how it works? You suddenly disconnect one part of your brain — the feminist side — and free the music loving section? That sounds like a psychotic disorder. Or hypocrisy.

To see it this way, let’s say that Alan, the doorman at the Konbini building, both defends women’s rights and listens to Kanye West on his way home. It’s okay. Or kind of. Alan didn’t make feminism his life; feminism doesn’t describe him, and he doesn’t describe himself as a feminist. Alan doesn’t eat and drink thanks to feminism, he earns money by checking if everything is okay in the building.

On the other hand, official feminists, who drink and eat thanks to feminism, should be — like politicians, that we always accuse of a lack of consistency — coherent with their ideas. You can’t be the democratic candidate for the leader of the free world and not pay your interns. You can’t make cuts in the education budget then buy a private jet. You can’t call yourself a feminist and worship a man who degrades women wherever he can in his lyrics.

(Photo: Entertainment Weekly)

“And I know she like chocolate men”

Now some might pull out the old “yeah, but then I can’t listen to hip-hop anymore” argument. Not true. Try Frank Ocean, try The Streets. Try Killer Mike and Mykki Blanco. Try Mos Def, Madlib, The Roots and Joey Bada$$. Hip hop doesn’t have to be about naked bitches sucking your dick. It can be about social issues, about the street, about everything else.

It’s more elegant, more interesting, more useful to society and won’t piss off Taylor Swift. It can also be coherent with your beliefs, your motivations, and what describes you. You want discrimination towards afro-americans to stop? Listen to Kendrick Lamar. You want Bernie Sanders to be President? Listen to Killer Mike.

If you still think it’s really not a big deal, there are only two explanations. Either you don’t really love music, love it as a key part of who you are, love it as something without which you wouldn’t even exist.

Or perhaps you’re just not really a feminist.

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