Kanye West's announcement that he's running for president may have raised many troubling questions, but he's intent on proving to everyone that he is very serious about his presidential bid and – according to himself – very capable, and he's using the power of music to deliver his message.
In addition to talking with Forbes about his political campaign, the rapper also dropped three presidential freestyles. In the audio recordings captured by Frobes, Ye delivers stream-of-consciousness flows seemingly obliterating his opposition and detailing key policy pillars of his campaign.
On the first track, titled “This Is What Covid’s Made” he seemingly disses President Trump, saying, “How about we stop hiding in the bunkers and be a real man?” The line is a reference to Trump hiding in a White House safe room during Black Lives Matter protests in Washington D.C. last month. It's a stark departure from his previously fervent support of the president.
The second song is more spoken word and is titled “Thou Shalt Not Kill” and revolves around his opposition to the death penalty. It's partially inspired by the OJ Simpson trial and the late Robert Kardashian.
In his final freestyle, Kanye shoutouts artist Damien Hirst, rhymes his name to "dirt," and reveals he was once addicted to Percocet but that Jesus helped save him.
In the corresponding Forbes interview, the rapper broke down his political campaign (or rather, the complete lack thereof). He revealed that he no longer supports Trump, and he's fine taking votes away from Joe Biden – he doesn't see the Democratic candidate as a president because he's not "special" enough.
Over (what Forbes describes as) "four rambling hours" Kanye outlines his presidential campaign, which isn't really a campaign at all but a "Birthday Party." And while he admits that he's got to fine-tune the details with the help of "experts that serve God" and his main two advisors — Kim Kardashian and Elon Musk — he's sure he'll be able to "design" adequate policies.
Here's a breakdown of Kanye's "Birthday Party" campaign in his own words.
On running
“God just gave me the clarity and said it’s time. You know I was out there, ended up in the hospital, people were calling me crazy [...] Now it’s time. And we’re not going crazy, we’re going Yeezy, it’s a whole ‘notha level now. N-O-T-H-A.
“Let’s see if the appointing is at 2020 or if it’s 2024—because God appoints the president. If I win in 2020 then it was God’s appointment. If I win in 2024 then that was God’s appointment."
On Trump
"I am taking the red hat off, with this interview [...] I’m not saying Trump’s in my way, he may be a part of my way."
His campaign slogan
“Well my second album is called Late Registration. I got a rap … The other thing is, my campaign is Kanye West YES, not YEP, not YEAH. YES. YES. YES... When I’m president, let’s also have some fun. Let’s get past all the racism conversation, let’s empower people with 40 acres and a mule, let’s give some land, that’s the plan.”
On taxes
“I haven’t done enough research on that yet. I will research that with the strongest experts that serve God and come back with the best solution. And that will be my answer for anything that I haven’t researched. I have the earplug in and I’m going to use that earplug.”
There is no foreign policy
“I haven’t developed it yet. I’m focused on protecting America, first, with our great military. Let’s focus on ourselves first."
On his anti-abortion stance
“I am pro-life because I’m following the word of the bible [...] Planned Parenthoods have been placed inside cities by white supremacists to do the Devil’s work."
On policies in general
“I don’t know if I would use the word policy for the way I would approach things. I don’t have a policy when I went to Nike and designed Yeezy and went to Louis and designed a Louis Vuitton at the same time. It wasn’t a policy, it was a design. We need to innovate the design to be able to free the mind at this time.”
Head over to Forbes to read the interview in full.
