With the artist formerly known as Kanye West running around in spooky masks weeks before Halloween and pulling other attention-grabbing stunts like renting a room at the stadium in which he held the listening events for his latest album, it’s getting harder and harder to understand where the once-relatable artist is coming from. However, if anyone were to have a shot at coming close, it would be one of the two artists who most recently worked with West to secure a No. 1 hit record.
In a new interview with British GQ, Jack Harlow — who worked with Kanye West and Lil Nas X on the hit single “Industry Baby” — takes a stab at explaining Ye’s oddball behavior of late. “I think he sees himself as Mozart or Beethoven,” he guesses. “I think he’s worried, not about what it looks like now but what it will look like in 100 years. Take what happened with the Taylor Swift situation: at the time it was all pitchforks, but now people treat that as iconic. I am always fascinated to see what he does next. This Donda roll-out, people are going to remember that for years.”
People may remember the rollout, but the music itself received a lukewarm reception from both critics and fans. You can read Uproxx’s review here. Elsewhere in Jack’s interview, he addresses his often fraught relationship with race as a white hip-hop artist. “I think what has worked for me is that my music has never been about the fact that I am white,” he hypothesizes. “I don’t try to lean into the, ‘Hey, I’m the white boy.’ I try not to make it a novelty. I rap from the heart, rather than trying to do a white version of the art form.”
You can read the full interview here.