KANYE BACK ON THE GRID, OFF THE RAILS

Suddenly and without warning, Kanye West returned to Twitter on 4/15, after shutting down his account last May.

In the near ten days since, Ye has doled out self-help messages about life, distractions, trends, and a thousand other manic subjects; not to mention announcing the imminent release of five separate albums—his new project (6/1), a collaborative album with Kid Cudi as new group Kids See Ghosts (6/8), and projects from G.O.O.D. Music artists Pusha T (5/25), Teyana Taylor (6/22), plus production on a new album by Nas (6/15).

A tweet storm that had his label Def Jam, often in the dark on his movements, feeling some kinda way.

Currently pic.twitter.com/zwy1Dp9HFE

— Def Jam Recordings (@DefJamRecords) April 19, 2018

And then on 4/21, as he often does, Kanye went left. By which we mean far-right.

Endorsing the views of conservative black YouTube commentator Candace Owens, who has called Black Lives Matter protesters "victims" and said that all the DACA Dreamers should be "sent home," was the third rail Yeezy was looking for.

The following day, Hot 97's Ebro detailed a thirty-minute phone call with Kanye where the superstar flatly told him that he wants to "de-program people," and the kicker, that "I love Donald Trump."

"Kanye is talking about things that don't affect him," Ebro stated about the interaction, telling Kanye directly, "you're playing with things that people died for, and are still dying and crying out about... and you're just chiming in right now because you got an album coming out."

Ebro also accused the superstar of "cooning for cash."

There was also the startling revelation in the conversation that Kanye had recovered from an opioid addiction—apparently the real reason he was hospitalized last year.

Two days later, West tweeted out a periscope session with prominent Trump supporter Scott Adams, the Dilbert comic strip creator, who said that the star had "altered reality" with his Twitter statements.

The far-right MAGA internet has since erupted in cheers, famous conspiracy theorist Alex Jones invited West on his show, and other pundits are taking all the tweets as evidence of West’s definitive “red-pilling,” a term that far-right trolls co-opted from the movie The Matrix and that refers to “seeing things as they really are.”

Back in actual reality, however, Scooter Braun bounced out as manager, reportedly along with various other members of his team, and the black community is worried that Kanye is indeed in some sort of "sunken place"—paralysis of the mind at the hands of white people, as dramatized in Jordan Peele's Oscar-winning film Get Out.

While no one knows for sure what's really going on, what we may be witnessing is another manic episode by a bipolar artist off his meds, or, as Ebro pointed out, a cunning use of social media by a self-professed genius (maybe that's where the mutual admiration with Trump is: Stable Geniuses?) who has several albums to promote and needs to kick up lots of dirt to make that cloud visible.

Whatever way it truly goes, one thing is for sure: It really has many fans asking if they can separate the personal Kanye and his views, with the artist Kanye and his music.

I'll tell you for myself, as a fan who memorizes this man's rhymes, he's so out of step with where the world is, taking him to heart is challenging at best. C'mon Yeezy. Donda was an educator, and used critical thinking and facts. This is about Good and Evil, not album promo. Quit trolling us.