In Rejecting Andre 3000’s Verse, Kanye West Communicates the Cost of White Approval

Kanye’s disrespect of a rap legend shows his willing estrangement with his Blackness.

Kanye West performing in a mask. Source: Unsplash.

Last weekend, Drake released a verse that Kanye West omitted from DONDA written by the legendary Andre 3000. Hip-hop heads are already calling 3 Stacks’ work the best 16 bars of the year and amongst his finest work as he meditates on the enduring grief he feels toward his mother. Hell, I even rank it above his verse on International Player’s Anthem, one of my favorite songs of all time:

Hey Miss Donda, you run into my momma/

Please tell her I said say somethin’/

I’m starting to believe they ain’t no such thing as heaven’s trumpets/

No after over, this is it, done/

If there was a heaven you would think they would let you speak to your son/

Maybe she has in the form of a baby’s laugh/