Anti-Semitic statements, Hitler sympathies, Albania scandal: Ye polarizes wherever he can. The American rapper's planned performance in St. Petersburg, Russia, may be his most controversial yet - also because of the date.
“I am Putin. I am the new Putin,” Kanye West said on the YouTube show “Drink Champs.” When did he realize the similarity? “When I realized that culture is oil, that culture is energy. And I am the king of culture — for 20 years and for the next 2000 years,” the rapper said.
And it could soon be that the two Putins, the "old" and the "young," will face each other. In October, West is expected to give two concerts in Russia, for the first time.
The concerts are scheduled for October 10 and 11 in St. Petersburg. In Russia, the enthusiasm is so great that more than 80,000 tickets were sold within the first day.
Whenever Kanye West (now known as Ye) is expected to perform somewhere, it seems like a scandal is planned in advance. In July alone, the rapper's concert in Albania took place amid massive protests. Rama's government reportedly made more than four million euros available for it.
Ye has been in the headlines in recent years, most notably for his anti-Semitic statements, which have made him persona non grata. He is now set to perform in Russia and Kremlin sources have said Putin would like to meet him.
But that may not happen. On August 24, representatives of Gazprom-Arena stated that the facility had not signed a lease agreement for the use of the stadium for Ye's concert. "Consequently, the concert cannot take place at our facility," it said.
Why did the rapper have to perform in Russia? There are different interpretations of this. Some interpret it as a sign of the return of a vibrant entertainment life in Russia. Others think that Putin simply wants to legitimize himself through Ye in pop culture and thus gain sympathy points.
“Despite the blacklists”
But what is clear is that the hype around Ye's concert in St. Petersburg is justified. In Russia, at least since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, there have been no more concerts by world stars. When rappers like Gucci Mane, Waka Flocka Flame or Xzibit performed somewhere, it was in smaller clubs for a few thousand hip-hop fans, not in stadiums.
There are several reasons for this. The Russian concert industry has lost about 30 percent of its artists since 2022, most of whom used to fill stadiums. On the one hand, many musicians who took a stand against the war in Ukraine left Russia, while on the other hand, a ban on performances for musicians who criticized Putin also caused this decline.
According to the Russian opposition online newspaper Meduza, the presidential administration compiles “blacklists” of Russian musicians who are subject to a silent ban on concerts. These lists include, for example, the Kasta group, rappers Oxxxymiron and Noize MC, singer Zemfira, and many others.
To be removed from this list, musicians must perform an “act of repentance”: either by performing in the occupied territories of Ukraine, or by making a donation to a foundation that supports Russian soldiers.
This is what happened, for example, to the famous Russian band Zveri, whose frontman, Roma Zver, initially criticized the Russian aggression in Ukraine, but after the cancellation of several concerts, he deleted all critical posts on social networks and performed in Donetsk in front of Russian soldiers.
The Russian repression machine has unleashed its full force against several Russian musicians who spoke out against the war in Ukraine. For example, singer Eduard Charlot was sentenced to five and a half years in prison after posting videos on social media in which he burned his Russian passport, criticized the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and nailed a photo of Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church and a cross he made to a tree.
Charges were brought against him for "rehabilitating Nazism" and "violating the religious feelings of believers."
Against this background, rapper Kanye West, who has openly expressed his sympathy for Adolf Hitler and has been compared to God, should have automatically ended up on all sorts of Russian “blacklists.” He should have. Instead, he gets money and, perhaps, even a big venue for his concert. To understand why Kanye West is an exception to the rule for the Kremlin, one needs to look at who is actually organizing his concert in St. Petersburg.
Invitation from war supporters
Say Agency, responsible for Kanye West's concerts in Russia, is run by businesswoman Anna Subtsheva. Subtsheva openly supports the Russian war against Ukraine. For example, in June 2023, she posted a photo from Donetsk on social media and commented: "Donetsk is very beautiful when it is not being shot at by Ukrofascists."
For her commitment to supporting Russian troops at the front, Subtsheva received the "Participant in a Special Military Operation" medal from the commander of a military unit in Donetsk.
In a comment about the upcoming concert, Subtsheva stated that Kanye West has long wanted to meet Vladimir Putin in person: "It is still difficult to say who he will meet with, but a long-standing dream of Mr. West is a meeting with our president Vladimir Putin, for whom he has expressed his sympathy for several years."
The Kremlin assumes that such a meeting with Putin is hypothetically possible, if "it can be included in the calendar of the Russian head of state."
In fact, Kanye West's upcoming concert does not symbolize a return to a life of unbridled fun. Sergei Smirnov, editor-in-chief of the Russian opposition media outlet Mediazona, calls for paying attention to the date: the rapper's concert is scheduled at the height of the autumn recruitment for military service.
“I have information that all male visitors to Kanye West’s concert, when they enter the stadium, will receive a summons for military commission,” Smirnov said on his Telegram channel. It was for this reason that Kanye West was invited to Russia and paid three times the originally agreed fee: “It will be a major special operation of the Kremlin for mobilization.”
Whether the concert will actually take place seems to be still in doubt. Meanwhile, the organizers of Say Agency are calling for patience and to wait for official information. They are convinced that the concert will take place anyway, among other things because the prepayment for Kanye West has already been made.
