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Here’s how the music world is reacting to Kanye West’s pro-Trump tweets

Luke Morgan Britton
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Frank Ocean, Chance The Rapper, Snoop Dogg, Moby, and more respond

Kanye West‘s recent tweets praising Donald Trump have caused controversy online, with many of the rapper’s music peers speaking out about their thoughts on the matter.

On Twitter over the past few days, Kanye has said that he “loves” Trump, called the US President his “brother”, shared a photo of himself wearing a ‘Make America Great Again’ hat and hit out at Barack Obama.

Trump himself has responded by thanking West and saying that his recent Twitter activity had been “very cool”.

Following all this, Snoop Dogg, who has previously labelled West a “weird motherfucker”, took to Instagram to share photos of Kanye in his MAGA hat, describing his fellow rapper’s actions as “mighty white” and telling him to “snap out of it”. He also likened it to the plot from Get Out.

That’s mighty white of u Kanye. !Nigga if u don’t snap out of it Get out part 2

A post shared by snoopdogg (@snoopdogg) on

Azealia Banks has hit out at West’s wife Kim Kardashian over her tweets defending Kanye. In an Instagram post, Banks accused the couple of “aggravating” black people, using “outrage” for publicity and noted that “I said alllll of these things during the election”.

“Kanye will never be the president and you will never ever be the First Lady. Give it up sis,” Banks wrote.

No @kimkardashian Kanye is not ahead of his time. I said alllll of these things during the election. I had an actual reason for it. Never once did I call trump a good person or say he deserves “love”. Y’all are aggravating the black people at the expense of dragging their outrage into more clicks/streams etc for whatever Kanye is about to drop. Outrage is internet engagement algorithm 101, y’all are not slick. Nothing at all profound, necessary or eloquent about anything your husband says. I wish you would make him read a book cover to cover before you send that black man into a world of white people with such base level theories as well as his very limited vernacular as pertaining to any of the pseudo-intellectual things he tries to say. Kanye will never be the president and you will never ever be the First Lady. Give it up sis.

A post shared by Azealia Banks (@azealiabanks) on

Frank Ocean‘s apparent response was more subtle, posting a screenshot from the time Kanye said that “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” during a Hurricane Katrina telethon to Tumblr.

T.I claimed to have “spent the day” with Kanye, describing matters as a “long term work in progress”. He added: “Something From our discussion gon STICK… I refuse to just give up on him. The Old Ye Too Important!!!” See the T.I’s Instagram message in full below:

Janelle Monae, meanwhile, criticised Kanye’s endorsement of Candace Owens on Hot 97. “I don’t agree with him at all,” she said on air.

Monae added: “I believe in free thinking, but I don’t believe in free thinking if it’s rooted in or at the expense of the oppressed. If your free thinking is used as fuel by oppressors to continue to oppress black people and minorities, I think it’s bullshit and it’s not okay, and I will speak out against it and I will think freely and tell you that I don’t agree with you.”

Elsewhere, Macy Gray shared a photo of herself wearing a ‘Make Kanye Great Again’ hat:

Moby, who is something of a noted anti-Trump activist, called West “too smart and talented” to be a Trump supporter, asking him not to “debase” himself.

John Legend appeared to make reference to Kanye’s Trump tweets, writing: “I imagine there’s some comfort in imagining a future without racism and projecting that onto the present. Thinking if we just deny the truth, it doesn’t exist.”

“I love that great, brilliant artists have the power to imagine a better future. But artists can’t be blind to the truth,” he added.

Chuck D offered some “advice” for Kanye’s social media habits:

Lupe Fiasco took aim at “terrible human being” Trump, but said he has “no ill will” towards West.

Fans have speculated that Jaden Smith could be making reference to Kanye in his “false idols” tweet:

West’s Trump tweets also inspired Questlove to call on Vince Staples to offer something “inspirational” before he “give[s] up on mofos”.

Get Out creator Jordan Peele joked that Kanye’s tweets have “inspired” him to write a sequel:

Hot 97 and Beats 1 host Ebro Darden, meanwhile, argued that Kanye is “lost” because he can’t “out real” Jay-Z, “out truth” J Cole, “out rap” Kendrick Lamar or “out hit” Drake. Controversy was “all Kanye had left”, he claimed.

Despite the widespread criticism, Kanye has seen support coming from Chance The Rapper.

Chance spoke out to offer his support to West in a series of tweets, saying that Kanye was “in a great space and not affected by folk tryna question his mental or physical health”.

“Black people don’t have to be democrats,” Chance added. “Next President gon be independent”.

West’s new album is expected in June and will be the follow-up to 2016’s ‘The Life Of Pablo’. Here’s everything we know about the release so far.