Kanye West’s 11th studio album, “WW3,” was announced for release later this year when DJ Akademiks revealed the project’s tracklist on April 2.

“Cosby,” “Free Diddy” and “Heil Hitler” were among the song titles for this upcoming release. Needless to say, West’s latest production has faced opposition. Controversy especially arose when the album’s cover artwork was revealed, which features Ku Klux Klan robes.

Jonathan Temple, senior in AHS, provided his reaction to the lyrics of “WW3,” the only single released from the album to date.

“Oh wow,” Temple said while reading the lyrics. “OK, yep, there it is. He clearly states, ‘I am anti-Semitic, fully.’”

Two marriages, three Twitter bans and countless “cancellable” offenses in his career, there remains little mystery as to why West is frequently subject to public ridicule. 

“I feel like nowadays, people don’t view Kanye as a musical artist anymore,” Temple said. “They view him more as, like, a meme. I think nowadays people just don’t take him seriously, and, if you do, you should probably not, or (should) change the people you look up to.” 

Antisemitism is one of the most problematic ideologies West has been accused of and now admits to. A recent study in the Journal of Jewish Education found “frustration and betrayal to resilience and solidarity” to be the most common feelings among Jewish teenagers toward West, and the rapper’s influence has helped to worsen public perception of this already marginalized group across the nation. 

However, a conundrum among casual fans has arisen. The challenge of how to enjoy West’s contributions to the music industry while condemning his rhetoric and belief systems is complicated to tackle.

“I think Kanye’s a bad person but releases good music,” said Jasmine Chan, sophomore in Engineering. “I think, honestly, if someone is very passionate about something that someone’s done or what they stand for or against, then there’s (no) separating art from the artist because it’s still supporting the artist. In my case, I don’t know too many of the details for Kanye, so maybe ignorance is bliss.”

West’s impact on hip-hop and the overall music industry has been widely regarded as monumental for decades. With 24 Grammy wins and 76 nominations, he is tied only with Jay-Z as the world’s most decorated hip-hop artist.

As such, West’s listener base remains roughly as populous as it was in the days of “the Old Kanye,” but much more ethically distressed.

“‘He made “Graduation”’ is something that a lot of people say to defend him, and, yeah, ‘Graduation’ is my favorite album of all time, but I can’t excuse his actions because of the greatness of his music,” said Aditya Rajiv, junior in Information Sciences.

Rajiv described West as a key musical figure in his upbringing but was driven away from supporting him when he began collaborating with controversial artists.

An example Rajiv provided was West’s collaboration with Marilyn Manson (Brian Hugh Warner) during his “Donda” period, who has faced severe sexual abuse allegations for almost 25 years.

In light of such occurrences, Rajiv has stopped listening to West’s music and made persistent efforts to avoid supporting him.

“Right now, he’s an independent artist, so any kind of streaming … is definitely going straight to him,” Rajiv said. “I believe that’s like handing profit to a message that should not be spread. By the transitive property, it’s supporting the message that he’s disseminating.”

With 43.96 billion total streams and 64.74 million monthly listeners, West has collected $176 million in royalties from Spotify alone.

“I guess I hope he gets better, I hope the people around him change,” Rajiv said. “I hope he stops tweeting as much, definitely. I hope he gets off social media for a bit, and I hope he atones for his actions.”

What else “WW3” has in store remains to be seen, but fans are certainly hoping that its title is hyperbole, rather than foreshadowing.

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