Kanye West (Peter Hutchins/Flickr)
In a break from talk of Kanye West’s ties to President Donald Trump, the rapper is making strides to help his home city of Chicago.
West hinted at helping the Windy City on Twitter Wednesday, April 25, when he tweeted that Italian minimalist interior designer Claudio Silverstein “will be awesome when me and Chance [the Rapper] build new homes in Chicago” and now, TMZ is releasing more details about the project.
Sources told the celebrity gossip site Friday, April 27 that the concept for Donda Social, an organization named after West’s late mother Donda West that is aimed at improving living conditions for Chicagoans, had been in development for some time but is gaining steam. The focus will be on assisting neighborhoods that have facing dire issues with housing, education, gun violence and drinking water.
According to West’s friend and GOOD music colleague, Malik Yusef, several big-name Chicago natives are joining the effort, including Chance — who famously caught heat when he stepped in to defend Ye — Common, Vic Mensa and Doc C among others. They’re set to amplify the issues locals are facing and change the political agenda and raise money.
Members of Donda Social will visit with residents to hear about their problems, what they need and develop real solutions for change.
Yusef said an official announcement of the project may come as soon as Friday.
While the rapper seems to have a plan in place to help Chi-Town, he slammed former President Barack Obama for apparently not doing enough to change the city’s living conditions.
Obama was in office for eight years and nothing in Chicago changed.
— ye (@kanyewest) April 25, 2018
The post drew criticism from his followers.
“Too bad you never learned basic civics. The president is no more responsible for local crime than he is for your outbursts,” someone replied. “Local officials such as mayor and governor are responsible for their municipalities. Basics dude…Basics. #CIVICS.”
“So now you’re on Twitter bad mouthing President Obama? You’re a b—-ass,” another said. “I’ll never buy another Kanye West CD. Chicago is your home too. What have you done? You’re rich. Did you go back and do anything? Did you get involved in your community?”
“And the man you love so much literally tried to get Central Park Five jailed never apologized, spewing hatred but let’s see how much he does for Chicago also,” another user posted. Keep that same energy!”
