The music of Kanye West (also known as Ye) has never been my cup of tea, but, as an artist myself, I understand that art is in the ear of the beholder. Kanye’s music is almost always controversial and very often laced with explicit language. I guess that is one way to garner attention from the public. In the last couple of years, Kanye’s antisemitic rants have increased to the point where they are very difficult to ignore or brush off, and assign them a different meaning altogether.
So, I was not surprised when he released a new song from his upcoming album (release date unknown). There is also a video of that same song, and they are both titled “Heil Hitler”, with the very repetitive refrain โAll my n****s Nazis, n***a, Heil Hitler.” The album also includes titles such as โGas Chambers,โ โWW3,โ and โHitler Ye and Jesus.โ While these tracks have not yet been released, I dread the lyrics of “Gas Chambers” based on Ye’s current antisemitic state. He also recently purchased a Super Bowl ad space to advertise a line of T-shirts with a swastika on them. The line is labeled “HH-01” (HH stands for Heil Hitler in neo-Nazi language.) His antisemitic message is clear on as many platforms as he can utilize
Kanye’s song and video end with a 25-second excerpt of a speech by Hitler where he says: “Whether you think my work is right, whether you believe that I have been diligent. That I have worked, that I have stood up for you during these years, that I have used my time decently in the service of my people. You cast your vote now, if yes, then stand up for me as I stood up for you.” It is not even Kanye speaking the message, but a direct audio clip from a recorded propaganda speech delivered by the Nazi dictator from World War II.
It is clear that once again, Kanye is trying to get people’s attention, and some even say that the song is more a declaration of his anger and addictions than an antisemitic rant. I can appreciate the analysis by Michael Knowles from the Daily Wire, and wish I could agree, but this song remains a symptom of a much deeper issue. Kanye West appears to be a very disturbed individual. He keeps spewing antisemitic venom cloaked as art, and millions of his fans cluelessly praise his music. This is a symptom of the normalization of antisemitism that I started to expose a few years ago. This qualifies as “desensitization” of the public, which is one of the ten steps I have identified in “The Normalization of Antisemitism: When the Oldest Hatred Becomes the New Normal.”
This song is indeed taking us deeper into the normalization of antisemitism for several reasons:
โข The language used in the song/video simply doesn’t belong in the lyrics of any commercial piece. The words “Heil Hitler” should have been retired the morning after Nazi Germany surrendered in 1945. That they are making a comeback all over the world is very sick. It is even more of a problem in light of the events of October 7, 2023, events that should have garnered sympathy for Israel, but instead, aroused the previously quiet antisemites around us. Placing these words in a song in such a pervasive fashion is even more despicable.
โข Kanye’s behavior and multiple antisemitic rants are not even cloaked in anything else. He openly praises Hitler and displays swastikas any chances he has. His collaboration with Nick Fuentes (another blatant antisemite) is further proof of his ideological and philosophical impairment.
โข The Speech at the end of the song/video delivered by Hitler doesn’t contribute anything positive to the track. It only reinforces the agenda of one of the most evil individuals in the history of mankind, and there is absolutely no way to spin that speech into anything else.
The rapper has over 30 million followers and fans, and even though he has been banned from almost every social platform, he still has a voice, a very toxic voice, and our youth is listening, as if mesmerized by his apparent coolness. That is what happens when people feed on memes, AI-generated images, and 1-minute clips online instead of learning history, civics, and current events. Hatred is becoming normalized, and antisemitism is becoming trendy!
The entertainment industry should be a lot more vocal about this outrage, but somehow, they are not. Without opening another can of worms, under the First Amendment of the US Constitution, Kanye West is allowed to speak these words, and we must understand that there will be more occurrences of antisemitic diatribes in art form, from him and others. This doesn’t preclude Christians and people of goodwill from not listening to the songs and not watching the videos. More importantly, today more than ever, we have a mandate to teach our youth about history and give them the tools to analyze these events, compare them to current events, and decide what is worth their praise and what is not.
If we rely on Kanye West and the likes to teach our kids and grandkids about history, we will be raising a future generation of antisemites simply by not paying attention to the culture, and the decline of Western Civilization will be a lot closer to us than we think!
