MASKS & CONTROVERSY

"The world can be a cruel place, but within the confines of my mask, I found a sanctuary of my own. My mask became my protection, shielding me from the judgment and cruelty of others." - 'Confessions Of A Mask' (Mishima)

"What doesn't kill you makes you stranger." - Joker

Intro

There's something positively supernatural about Kanye West these days who is fast becoming the Rasputin of popular culture (or should that be 'Rapsputin'). No matter how many stakes have been plunged through his heart, financial, reputationally or otherwise, his legend continues to grow like that of a samurai - 'The Ghost Of Shibuya'?

His latest album with Ty Dolla $ may be called 'Vultures 1' but could just as well be called 'Vampires' as Kanye avenges his enemies and demons with blood sucking relish, laying waste to all those who've attempted to cancel him and all the while protected by his mask(s).

Masks

"Like Tom Cruise on Vanilla Sky" - Through The Wire (Kanye West)

If Taylor Swift has eras then Kanye West has masks, one for each of his simultaneous evolutions/dissolutions of his identity resulting in multiple ego deaths/re-births either by accident or by design.

Or both.

There's nothing new with artists re-inventing themselves. The Beatles went from mop tops to Nehru jackets in the blink of an eye. Bob Dylan famously went from his protest era to his electric era to his country phase in roughly a decade. Madonna, on the other hand, has struggled with her re-inventions, finding herself tragically to be more like the Norma Desmond of pop only more ghoulish and with far less mystery than the silent movie star in desperate search of a camera. The 'Queen Of Pop's' re-invention is a contrivance not an extension of a genuine evolution which is why it appears more tragic than transformative.

For Kanye though, re-invention is as effortless as breathing, sliding on a new jacket or slipping on a mask.

First there was the 'Dropout Bear' mask/avatar that accompanied 'The College Dropout' (2004) through to 'Graduation' (2007), followed by the shamanic 'Yeezus Masks' (all designed by Maison Margiela) as well as numerous other bizarre and sinister veils, culminating with the more recent funeral black 'Donda Mask' (2021) as well as the creepy white 'Fantömas' and 'Jason' masks.

Under the kind of 24/7 scrutiny that Kanye finds himself under, it appears masks offer a simply and affective way to retain some small modicum of mystery/privacy in the surveillance internet age where TMZ routinely look to 'Princess Diana' his every turn and although the masks are as much theatre prop as they are open disguises for the most loved/hated artist on the planet, they also offer a visual cue for the narrative themes of his varied projects.

Back catalogue

"At times, I questioned the authenticity of my own existence, wondering if my mask had consumed me entirely." - Confessions Of A Mask (Mishima)

Some may remember that both music megastars Prince and Michael Jackson also took to wearing masks/veils at certain stages of their long careers. For Prince, he wore some most famously during his controversial contractual fall out with Warner Brothers Records as a form of protest to conceal his face in public as a 'slave' brand.

Michael Jackson often wore surgical masks both for hygiene reasons and to act as a protective shield from the hysterical public and media where fans/journalists would often try all sorts of insane methods to get close to their idol/subject. Alan Mintz (Jackson's tour attorney) believed that the masks were a 'superb camouflage', further adding ‘if you see somebody coming toward you in a surgical mask you’re alarmed, you do not embrace somebody wearing a surgical mask’.

Perhaps more strangely, the artist also made his children wear masks. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times in 2016, Jackson's eldest son, Prince, explained why he and his siblings wore masks to cover their faces when they were younger.

“He told us the reason for the masks was he wanted us to have our own life without him."

In this sense, masks really are perfect for hiding in plain sight when under the Sauron-like glare of the public and the media.

And for Jackson they also helped in concealing his continually altered human mask beneath.

What doesn't cancel you only makes you stronger.

When Kanye stole Taylor Swift's moment in the spotlight accepting her VMA award for 2009's best music video 'You Belong To Me', he instantly became America's most hated man, the villain of the year, the Godzilla of culture. But after seemingly disappearing off the face of the earth in a hiatus of shame, the Chicago artist re-emerged with the most iconic album thus far of the 21st Century 'My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy' (2010) as both defiant confession/brag that silenced all of his critics. Not only that, he used the time away from his own limelight (being the first notable and globally recognised cancelled celebrity) to educate himself in the fashion houses of Europe where he armed himself with the secret knowledge to forge his own fashion empire.

When the artistic rewards for the 'sin' are that great, is it any surprise that Kanye might wish to wash, rinse, repeat the formula ad infinitum?

For controversy is as much the muse for Kanye as the women in his life, including Amber Rose, Kim Kardashian and Bianca Censori. Like a moth to the flame, he can't help getting burned repeatedly in the fires of infamy only to re-baptise himself in the waters of reinvention.

Hence - repeated success.

To paraphrase Mr Miyagi from 'The Karate Kid' (1984) to further illustrate this point :

"Mask on/Mask off."

Outro

Kanye's stage persona swings between the angel/devil archetypes in a Blake-like dichotomy that elicits both love and hate from his fans and critics alike. Whatever negative reaction he incurs, he balances it out with the adoration and adulation from his loyal following the world over. It's this Yin and Yang contrast that makes him perpetually fascinating and explains why his art/product continues to be the most relevant.

Currently, Kanye is in comic book villain/'Count Of Monte Cristal' mode after burning his old self in a replica of his childhood home in the Chicago Stadium for 'Come To Life' from his 10th solo album 'Donda' (2021). Perhaps this is the deliberate persona he needed to adopt in order to become fully independent from the labels and fashion companies that tried to cancel him. Now, having escaped from his own personal Chateau d'If to launch his 'Independence Day' just in time for the Super Bowl and the beginning of the Chinese New Year, no one should be at all surprised if in the not-too-distant future, Kanye returns to playing a mask-wearing hero.

And who knows. Maybe he'll finally be ready to wear an actual cape.

YZY Capes - you heard it here first.