Kanye West has his fans scratching their heads again as he was seen wearing a black hood very suggestive of Ku Klux Klan symbolism to his latest concert.
The rapper wore the controversial piece of headwear as he was previewing music from his upcoming joint album with singer Ty Dolla $ign called “Vultures.” The event took place during the early morning hours of Dec. 12 at Wynwood Marketplace in Miami.
Ye’s “rave” was live-streamed, and other rappers including Offset, Chris Brown, Kodak Black, and Freddie Gibbs were also in attendance, as well as West and Kim Kardashian’s oldest daughter, North. The “All Falls Down” artist previewed songs with his 10-year-old daughter, Nicki Minaj, Bad Bunny, and more. But for some technical difficulties early on and fellow rapper Playboi Carti showing up late, everything seemingly went well.
That was until West previewed his song with fellow Chicago native Lil Durk near the end of the event. While the “What Happened to Virgil” rapper was performing, West reemerged on stage wearing the black hood, which — depending on the viewer’s perspective — was either KKK symbolism or his borrowing from the capirote costumes worn for centuries by Catholic penitents for Holy Week processions. It doesn’t appear that West had any rhyme or reason to put on the garb as it seemingly didn’t relate to any of Durk’s lyrics.
Viewers had a lot to say after Yeezy’s recent race-based controversy. People online said, “He’s a trump lover what do u expect from him,” and “This n—a continues to play in our faces and the dumb f–ks gonna be out here shakin a-s to his garbage.”
West’s fans tried their best to cope with his recent actions saying, “It’s provocative it gets the people going,” referring to a lyric on Ye and Jay-Z’s “N—as in Paris” song that featured audio from Will Ferrell’s character in the 2007 film, “Blades of Glory.”
Another critic wrote, “I can’t keep making excuses for him, that new album better be fire.”
calm down guys. i know that cover shit happenedbut ts just an ode to black skinhead https://t.co/vQb7Zli0EN pic.twitter.com/LG4lPE5Dxa
— philia (@phiilialily) December 12, 2023
A lot of West’s fans believe that he wore the black hood as a reference to the video for his 2013 song, “BLKKK SKKKN HEAD,” which begins with an animation of three Black men in similar black hoods.
But this is far from the first time that West has worn attire deemed as racist and anti-Black clothing. He was spotted infamously posting pictures of himself wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat that was signed by former President Donald Trump in April 2018.
West continued to wear the hat throughout the year, including during a September 2018 appearance at “Saturday Night Live” where he went on a pro-Trump rant as the show went off air. He also wore it again during a visit with Trump at the White House in October of that year, West told reporters, “There was something about putting this hat on that made me feel like Superman.”
West also found himself in hot water when he, along with conservative pundit Candace Owens, wore a “White Lives Matter” shirt to his runway show at the 2022 Paris Fashion Week. WLM is a countermovement that was made after the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement.
West gave his reasoning behind wearing the shirt during an interview with former Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson. The rapper-turned-designer who does things off of “feelings” and “gut instincts,” said, “I thought the shirt was a funny shirt. I thought the idea of wearing it was funny.”
He believes as an artist he does have to explain the things he does, but as a leader, he felt compelled to give his reasoning. He said he wrote WLM on the shirt because “they do” matter.
