Washington University professor Jeffrey McCune recently lit the Internet ablaze when word got out that he was using Kanye West as a case study on societal perceptions of mental illness. In conjunction with his class entitled “The Politics of Kanye West: Black Genius and Sonic Aesthetics,” he delivered three public lectures this semester. The third and final lecture, entitled, “Name One Genius That Ain’t Crazy: Kanye West And The Politics of Self-Diagnosis,” references “Feedback” off Kanye’s most recent album, The Life Of Pablo: “I can’t let these people play me / Name one genius that ain’t crazy!”
As a Kanye West superfan and forever apologist, I flipped out along with the Internet when I read about Professor McCune’s brilliant choice of scholarship. For years I’ve felt that the public is unfairly dismissive of Kanye — less his music, which tends to be critically-acclaimed, but more his persona, which is habitually scorned as obnoxious and, well “crazy.” Just last week I heard someone say, “If I see a headline about Kanye that isn’t about his music, I’m like — don’t care.” Obama put it more bluntly, calling Kanye a “jackass.” Professor McCune told me that black artists, ranging from Kanye to Lauren Hill to Azealia Banks, are often given this kind of treatment. “[We] continue to consume their art and mark their creators as possessors of madness that cannot be controlled; fodder for our own humor or judgement,” he said.
While Kanye isn’t always the most eloquent or polite, I’ve always thought there was a lot of truth behind his words. George Bush did not care about black people! Beyoncé deserved that award! “Suit & Tie” is aural assault! F*ck you and your corporation! I’d rather be a dick than a swallower, too. People should, I’ve felt and as Kanye once tweeted: “Shut the f*ck up and enjoy the greatness.”
This fall, the media reported that Kanye was put in an involuntary psych hold by his personal physician after exhibiting signs of temporary psychosis. Like Professor McCune, I was troubled by the response, which often felt infantilizing. Kanye was now “crazy,” which meant were now justified in failing to take him seriously. As Lady Gaga tweeted: “While I don’t agree with everything he does I hope the public shows compassion and [love] for Kanye West and each other.”
Professor McCune told me he’s “always concerned with popular ascriptions of ‘crazy’ for black folks, as that is often the way in which non-dominant performance are dismissed and treated as insignificant.” He continued: “Because of the dismissal of his heightened performances, often we miss the significance and meaning of some really valuable statements and proclamations made by Mr. West.”
Presently, Professor McCune is expanding his theories into a book entitled, On Kanye. Read our full conversation below. (Spoiler: We disagree on the best Kanye album — Yeezus all the way, baby.)
Do you remember when and why you first became fascinated by Kanye?
I grew up in Chicago. So I remember the premiere of his video, “Through the Wire,” where there were so many Chicago-rooted images and artifacts. His remixing of Chaka Khan and his use of Chicago imagery, as well as the political message of making it “through the wire” — as a philosophy of black life — was fascinating.
What, in your eyes, renders Kanye a genius?
The question, for me is always, when observing the ubiquity of this term for artists in other genres, why can’t he be understood as genius? His production of music alone represents an unmatched skill of the most excellent order.
You’ve said: “We want to keep [Kanye] contained, we want to keep him in this box. And so when he acts outside of that box, folks say, ‘Oh my god, Kanye is crazy.’” Why are we, as a society, so invested in keeping Kanye contained?
I think at a certain level of iconography, people become products; and thus, we want to keep our products doing what we want them to do. The idea of containing Kanye is about keeping him under control, keeping him a safe popular figure. Often, this translates to quiet and docile; a silence around issues that pertain to race, systemic inequality, or anything beyond music. Kanye refuses to abide by ‘safe’ rules and becomes a sort of fugitive in public, who defies all conventions of both proper public behavior and message.
You told ABC 10: “Part of what I think Kanye does very interestingly is he takes ‘crazy’, or the idea of some diagnosis, some type of public diagnosis, what I call a ‘pop diagnosis’ and he turns it into something that is popular and that is available to everybody. And in doing that he challenges the very idea that he himself is crazy.” Can you expand on this a bit? Are you saying Kanye is popularizing mental illness?
No, I am not saying Kanye popularizes mental illness. In my book On Kanye, I take this on. What I believe is that in Kanye’s being uncontainable, he opens up a conversation about not being respectable as a ‘sign of crazy.’ This definition of ‘crazy’ is problematic and is a part of what I call pop diagnosis; the public determines mental health rooted in an idea of celebrities not acting according to their expectations.
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You say that the “pop diagnosis” of Kanye as mentally ill is a way of dismissing his often valid ideas. But Kanye has rapped about being off his Lexapro (an anti-depressant), and he was 5150’d (given an involuntary psych hold) in November, meaning there is ample evidence that he does in fact suffer from mental health issues — at least as defined by the psychiatric community. But I think we can both accept Kanye as mentally ill and still give his ideas credence. (Beyoncé deserved that award!) Do you agree? Or do you see the way doctors define mental illness to be problematic?
We all know that what folks rap about does not always align with how they live. In addition, the behaviors that folks call ‘crazy’ or mark as signs of mental illness, are often not verifiably as a part of mental diagnosis. For example, Kanye’s disruption of Taylor Swift, while either rude or abrasive to some, does not constitute ‘personality disorder.’ My point is that as Kanye makes particular moves that are unpopular or not aligned with popular respectability and it often gets called ‘crazy.’ Because of the dismissal of his heightened performances, often we miss the significance and meaning of some really valuable statements and proclamations made by Mr. West. But, I am always concerned with popular ascriptions of ‘crazy’ for black folks, as that is often the way in which non-dominant performance are dismissed and treated as insignificant.
I believe the mainstream media’s reaction to Kanye’s endorsement of Trump confirms your overarching thesis. Public opinion fell into two categories: (1) Kanye is a dumbass; and (2) Kanye is mentally ill. Either way, the message is: We should not listen to what Kanye is saying. I wasn’t particularly surprised by Kanye’s Trump endorsement. Both men are renegades, provocative public figures frequently dismissed as jokes. (And interestingly, Trump himself has recently been the subject of a ‘pop diagnosis.’) Do you think Kanye betrayed his fans in publicly endorsing Trump? Is there something aside from the above two conclusions that we can take away from this statement?
I do not believe he endorsed Trump; every recording I heard was a statement that was nonsensical in form: “I’d vote on Trump.” Then, immediately, as if to negate the possibility of endorsements, he scrubbed all Trump rhetoric from his page. I definitely believe he met with the ‘apprentice president’ as a celebrity meeting with a celebrity. This was not surprising.
Pitchfork, in a recent op-ed about rapper Azealia Banks, wrote that straddling the line between genius and madness is “a privilege afforded [exclusively] to male artists throughout history, from Van Gogh to Dostoevsky to Poe[…] Their male status in the world not only allowed them to be accepted as successful artists, but it afforded them fluidity in this genius-madness dichotomy. There seems to be a bit less of that among black female creators; look at how the genius-madness scale has tipped within conversations about Nina Simone and Lauryn Hill over the years.”
Do you agree that we give male artist more space to be crazy? Do you think Azealia Banks has been treated unfairly by the mainstream media?
I think no black woman or black man who refuses the narrative that the public offers is treated fairly. Azealia Banks, like Kanye and Lauryn Hill and so many others, is troubled by an American past which treats black difference as deficiency; allows such differences to fully distract from the real contributions black artists make. Or, more pointedly, we will continue to consume their art and mark their creators as possessors of madness that cannot be controlled; fodder for our own humor or judgement.
What is the most important takeaway from Kanye’s public statements over the years?
I definitely believe that one of the best lessons Kanye imparts is that you can’t fear your own greatness; you must not only embrace it, but speak it out loud. For those who live at the margins, specifically, we don’t have folks who give us the ‘benefit of the doubt.’ Therefore, we must secure our place in the annals of greatness, through continuing in creative excellence while also being bold and brave in speaking it aloud.
What is the best Kanye album??
Hands down, the most comprehensively creative, political, and a compilation of his greatest skills: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.
Anna is a writer and attorney living in LA. Follow her thoughts on Twitter here.
