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Charlie Taylor

"Stans" & "Cancelling" - Artists Are Human Too (Even Kanye)


There are two things that I am noticing more and more now. Especially with all this Kanye that we have had over the past couple of weeks.

When his tweets were initially dropping, I was going to write about his "Stans". But I scrapped it simply because I try not to write about things that have a short lifespan as it pertains to relevancy. If I did a think piece on Kanye, it would be relevant until he drops his albums and we forget about all the crap he has spewed.

And THAT is my problem. Not the signed MAGA hat, not the political stuff (Although all this 'coonery' discredits most of his messages and lyrics in previous works) it is the fact that you will all tune in once the his work drops. You will go back to saying "We don't deserve his creative genius" and stuff of that ilk. Bowing down.

The worst of these people are "Stans". I find it so funny that Eminem created "Stan" with the overall narrative being a cautionary tale, yet some people willingly call themselves "Stans" of a certain artist. I find this blind faith so toxic and worrying. And this isn't exclusive to music. Sports is rife with this hardcore fandom where it can get really out of hand.

There is fandom, and then there is holding a mass built around an artist. On a daily basis, I see the Hip-Hop pages I follow and the comment section is always combative. People having IG pages dedicated to certain artists. I should know, I follow a couple. You probably follow one too. But here is the difference between a regular old fan page and a "Stan". When people hail an artist(s) to the point where they dehumanise them. You have seen it too. Every time Beyonce performs, out come the people saying she's not human. Now, yes, some of it is exaggeration, like when LeBron James puts up 40 or Lionel Messi scores a Hat-Trick, out come the "Not human" talk. But you're telling me that they're all exaggeration?!

And what about when an artist projects a different worldview that they had previously. What if an artist previously said a few years ago in a lyric "Balding Donald Trump taking dollars from y'all" and now refers him and the subject to have the same "Dragon Energy"? Are they Gods to you now? Are you "So Appalled" by it that you "cancel" them?

And what does "Cancelling" do exactly? Somebody says one thing and you cancel their entire career and their future work? I beg you shut up. Imagine if Beyonce went down the Kanye route of promoting his new work? You guys would explode... These are the two things that aggravate me personally in terms of music fandom. (O)verly (D)edicated fans of a person where you see them as a higher plane of human. Where they can do no wrong. And people that "Cancel" an artist because they Tweeted something you don't like. How about... I don't know. Seeing them as human? I may have blocked Kanye but I'll probably still peep the new Pusha & Nas albums respectively. Just give me the music, I couldn't care less about your 'coonery'. I never looked to Kanye for wisdom. Check them on their BS, but don't act like you have the will to never listen to somebody again.

I see everybody are back taking pictures of their Starbucks cups? Funny, I thought Starbucks was "Cancelled"?

These people you worship are human just like you. They have the right to change their worldview. Now. Changing worldview conveniently just when you have albums that you produced dropping in the coming months? Right there is where you should direct the angst. That is what has saddened me with all this from a music promotion lens. Creating all this conversation just because you got some music & terrible shoes dropping... That front I will gladly check him on.

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