In the current climate, MSNBC host Ari Melber's rap knowledge is rarely deployed in favor of politics. But when hip hop and politics collided amid Kanye West's newfound "love" for President Donald Trump, the host was able to display his ample knowledge of the genre — and in doing so, came to a surprising conclusion.
"Put Kanye to the side," Melber said. "The story tonight is still that millions are blasting an artist for simply praising a president's style. People have every right to take that stance — but is it thoughtful, is it tolerant and is it politically effective?"
To explore the question, the host launched on a West lyric-laden look through the history of the rapper as both an individual and within the context of hip hop's former love affair with Trump's brash billionaire persona.
"Before Kanye was tripping off the power, many rappers did show Trump love back when he was a celebrity associated with money," Melber said, noting that artists like Meek Mill, Ludacris, Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar and many others. "Kanye's part of that history even if he's behind the curve."
After Trump "went from a joke to a birther to a divider," the host said, many artists began confronting him on his apparently racist beliefs about President Barack Obama — but Kanye didn't appear to get on board.
Many critiques of the rapper seem ironically similar to one of West's own songs, Melber said, quoting the rapper's satirical song "I Love Kanye" where he jokes that people complain that they "hate the new Kanye, the bad mood Kanye, the always rude Kanye, spaz in the news Kanye." He went on to argue that from a different perspective, however, the artist and designer appears to be praising the president's style and role as a "media innovator" rather than his policies — and that West "said that explicitly" multiple times on Twitter.
Melber argued West expressed a similarly politically-incorrect attitude when he criticized then-President George W. Bush after Hurricane Katrina, telling a stunned Michael Myers and American public the president "does't care about black people."
"In a world of euphemism and people hiding behind their screens, Kanye stands up," the host concluded. "It does not mean Kanye's right — but this is part of his brash artistry."
Watch Melber's Kanye West history lesson below, via MSNBC:
