JAWS-YE: THE REVENGE

“The great fish moved silently through the night water, propelled by short sweeps of its crescent tail." - Jaws

As a perfect metaphor for where Ye (formerly Kanye) is 'at' in the cultural arena of 2024 right now, then it must surely be his $850,000 titanium teeth that evoke memories of 'Jaws' (both the shark from Spielberg's 1975 movie and the Bond villain, famously played by Richard Kiel). Fully embracing his own villain status since being near comprehensively cancelled for making controversial statements about Hitler and the Jews, the shiny denture alteration appears to have worked for the visionary artist who has weaponised being persona non grata to his advantage, scoring the Billboard #1 album in February with 'Vultures 1' and lead single 'Carnival' in March, the ultimate comeback 'fuck you' riposte.

The current iteration of Jaws-Ye's revenge, with his unique brand of Per adua ad astra ('through hardship to the stars') redemption arc currently in play again is possibly the his most complex and confusing yet. The last time equal to this was in 2010 with his magnum opus 'My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy'. Regardless of his latest successes with Yeezy fashion and 'Vultures', there remains a nervous energy in the air surrounding the direction Ye is headed. You might say he's in uncharted waters, sailing adrift from the corporate bulk carriers.

"I miss the old Kanye!"

The phrase "I miss the old Kanye" has become an established meme by now, referencing the lament by many original fans who cannot fathom the career twists and turn their idol has taken. It reminds me of that famous line from Woody Allen's 'Stardust Memories' when the aliens land on earth and meet director Sandy Bates, telling him "we love your movies. especially the early funny ones." Many other fans of Ye, however, celebrate unconditionally the constant re-invention of style, messaging and production that's become synonymous with the Atlanta-born artist and see it as an essential part of his trajectory as a creative visionary.

The latest protest from some of Ye's more critical fans has been the presentation of his music at his current listening events that omits any live performance aspect to the music, even though there is a live aspect to the performance itself with Ye and fellow collaborators dancing and gesturing to the epic sounds in front of ecstatic crowds. For me, it appears to be the music version of Yeezy fashion shows with each track on the album now being the audio equivalent of a catwalk. This synergy between fashion, performance and music has always been at the heart of what Ye does. It's become so interchangeable now that it's become like a near-seamless totality: his very own Gesamtkunstwerk - total art work. 

Then there's the carping about whether his music has still got the edge. 'Vultures 1', to my mind, is like listening to a seance of Ye's past and present eras that he's now drawing seamlessly together, mixing his previous incarnations/identities like a heady, witchy brew, combining some of his worst excesses with his most assured and slick production - minus the corporate backing of Universal.

But back to those teeth for a moment. Far from being a mere publicity stunt, the teeth tell us everything about the course Ye has now set himself on, at least for this current cycle/trend we're currently witnessing.

The nomadic shark era.

"Sharks never stop swimming. That's when they die. You gotta keep moving." - Reggie Miller

Most sharks need to keep perpetually moving in order to ensure oxygen rich water passes through their gills. Celebrities and artists are similar. In order to stay relevant, they have to keep moving and re-inventing themselves in order to maintain their following/support and not become quickly forgotten.

For a while now, I've firmly believed that Jaws-Ye's biggest fear is staying stuck in one era/chapter/phase for that would only surely lead to stagnation for such a monumental artist. Being at the cutting edge (pun intended) of culture for decades now, it must be existentially daunting to imagine becoming cosy and safe in your art, caught in the shallows if you will.

For a 46 year old Gen X-er though, Jaws-Ye is doing a remarkably audacious job of staying relevant which is always the first rule of social media club - always, always be relevant. Mind you, up until Trump got thrown off Twitter back in January, 2021 he was pretty good at that, too, considering he was a man in his late 70s. Maybe both these cultural predators know how to sniff out controversy like blood in the water.

Only problem for both is when there's a bounty put on your head by the outrage mob, a whole lot of people come to blow you out of the water, like Chief Brody, Captain Quint and Matt Hooper, only in this instance they're big banks, big business and big tech that come gunning for you with their harpoon guns.

But Jaws-Ye and Trump are pretty big fish (possibly the biggest) and I get the impression it's going to take a lot to stop these sharks from continuing to patrol the cultural/political waters of our age. For some that's no bad thing, especially at a time when the Silicon Valley overlords attempts to iron out humanity's flaws in pursuit of a one size fits all progressive utopian model for the world (or at least the west). They despise these messy and imperfect, powerful maverick types who refuse to compromise, for these are the Randian, Howard Roarke-style cartoon rebels for the 21st century. Whether we love them or hate them, ironically enough they don't appear to be going anywhere, no matter how far they're cast out to sea at times.

In this sense, the nomadic Jaws-Ye is fixed in this one constant - his refusal to stay away from the public at large, for no matter how many try to shut down Amity Island, he'll always be lurking in the deep waiting patiently for his moment to come back to terrorise the people with his art. Though he may secretly fear at times becoming irrelevant or safe as an artist, his maverick and defiant instincts as a man is the very reason it will be impossible for him to be so. For here is a rare popular artist with controversy in his DNA who simply cannot fail to be relevant as long as he has a breath in his body.

Make no mistake, those teeth help too.

They're scary!