The vast majority of my friends consider him a genius but are now choosing to stop supporting him. I don't think he is a genius. I think he has just been given the platform to create unhindered from a mainstream definition of "good" which is wonderful. I doubt he will be given that much of a pass in the future.

I think if he had started with Donda he wouldn't be known outside of the "art" world which isn't very profitable.

Honestly, I just appreciate your honesty on all of this. A lot of people just want others to think like them without ever considering the concerns of others.

I get it. Streaming is so easy and convenient and if Ye is a primary artist you listen to it gets harder.A couple ideas off the top of the head:

• Use the opportunity to find other innovative artists. You might discover something new that you really like, maybe even more than Kanye.
• Torrent his albums ("illegal")
• Buy the albums of his that you like off the used market. This has a ripple effect to an extent but the backlash against Kanye is probably enough to greatly outweigh you buying his cd off Ebay for several dollars.

The thing about boycotts is that sometimes we have to stop buying/using things that we actually greatly value because the message we want to send to the person(s) profiting from it is more valuable. It's up to you to decide what you value.

Not a fan of much of Kanye's music and I absolutely respect your opinion.

This reminds me of the whole thing with Michael Jackson's catalog. Kanye is revered for his creativity. We should break out of our all-or-nothing thinking and acknowledge that while being an extremely influential creator, both in music and fashion, he is saying things that are extremely harmful. These are not mutually exclusive. A person can be terrible and contribute something positive and life altering to society and vice versa.

The problem that you must recognize is that by continuing to buy/stream his music you are continuing to put money in his pockets. This is validating. Kanye says whatever he wants, money keeps pouring in, so why should he stop and reflect on what he is doing when his actions have minimal consequences?

Everyone has to make their own decision, but I would encourage people to boycott Kanye's music and products rights now and until he changes his messaging.

I am sure I will be among the minority on Reddit who says that I don't think he even needs to apologize and try and reverse the harm he has done, although he should do that exact thing. At the very least he should stop his behavior and get back to productive messaging and not something so vitriolic and hate-filled.

>I've Been Everywhere - Johnny Cash

This is a great one!