Kanye West. Rap God. Fashion designer. Self-taught music producer. And now potentially the next president of the United States?
As a producer of myriad multiplatform records, and the owner of an arsenal of Grammys tagged to his name as well as the title “One of 100 Most Influential People” by Time magazine this year, there isn’t much surprise as to why and how Yeezy earned the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the 2015 MTV VMAs. What was unexpected, on the other hand, was his acceptance speech; the Chicago rapper regaled the crowd with a unique speech. Although lengthy, the eleven-minute spiel was far from the average longwinded calculus lecture. Instead, West shed light on his infamous moment with Taylor Swift, his disagreement with music nowadays, and of course, his 2020 bid for president of the United States.
So of course, we had to ask what fellow Mercerians had to say about this pompous and poised musician’s unpredictable announcement.
Many were in accord in believing that the twenty-one-time-Grammy-award winner (more winnings than his own mentor, Jay-Z) stands no chance outside of the realms of creativity.
“He will never become president. He’s crazy. He has no filter.”
“He’ll be owned by some corporation before he gets there. He’s a figurehead.”
“He doesn’t have any political background.”
An international affairs major immediately rolled her eyes. “I mean, I don’t think there’s any chance that he’d ever actually become president so I don’t really care at all.”
“That also means Kim Kardashian will be the First Lady, and I don’t think America deserves that,” another international affairs major added.
The list goes on and on for why Kanye definitely will not be getting the Mercer vote. On the other hand, however, some are not as dismissive.
An upperclassman majoring in mathematics actually deems it possible for West to join the race and become even more successful. “If Donald Trump can run, anybody can run.” A valid point indeed, for there has yet to be a candidate as shameless as Trump in regards to racism, and pretty much everything else that’s escaped from his mouth.
One Mercian was also not completely dissuaded from the speech. The first-year replied, “I think that he is a very smart guy, and his potential is great. We just don’t know what type of political background he has and if he is actually capable of leading an entire country.”
West proposes great incite in his acceptance speech, especially when he mentions children and their self-esteem. The rapper exclaimed, “We gonna teach our kids that they can stand up for theyself! We gonna teach our kids to believe in themselves!” Unfortunately, this did not impress Mercerians the least bit. Students were persuaded that Kanye’s supporters would not even be old enough (much less responsible enough) to vote. Although the end does not seem auspicious for Kanye’s presidential career, we cannot help but to admit it would have been quite amusing to watch him compete against Trump.