What day is complete without a lengthy message from Kanye West? On Tuesday, Feb. 16, Kim Kardashian’s husband appeared to be on the campaign trail, when he went on a lengthy rant aimed at the education system. He began, “I have a friend who works really hard and makes $370 dollars a day… Her son just got in a really good school and his textbooks are like $400 dollars each … I mean, his mom has to work 2 days just to afford 1 book for her son …
“She’s giving everything she has to make sure her son has a better future… Steve Jobs wanted to lower the cost of textbooks … Education puts Americans into debt before they even get a chance to get started … We have to lower the price of textbooks… I’d rather teachers got paid more and books cost less … #2020.”
While it’s true, public education has been a subject close to Yeezy’s heart for quite some time, he wasn’t very forthcoming with addressing how he would respond to the issue. Of course, the rapper’s latest social media rant comes on the heels of reports that he issued direct pleas to Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive of Facebook Inc.; and Larry Page, Alphabet Inc.’s CEO and the co-founder of Google, asking that they fund his ideas.
He tweeted, “Mark Zuckerberg invest 1 billion dollars into Kanye West ideas. Mark Zuckerberg I know it’s your bday but can you please call me by 2mrw …” He went on to enlist fans in his attempt to gain Zuckerberg’s attention. “World, please tweet, FaceTime, Facebook, instagram, whatever you gotta do to get Mark to support me …” But he didn’t stop there, paying the CEOs a backhanded compliment writing, “hey Larry Page I’m down for your help too … All you dudes in San Fran play rap music in your homes but never help the real artists …”
The rapper went on to make what seemed to be a thinly veiled reference to Zuckerberg’s education philanthropy — he’s part of an investment group aimed to provide cheap, private education to millions of children across Africa and Asia. As West put it, the money could be better spent helping him — as the “Jordan and Steph Curry of music, meaning I’m the best of 2 generations” — with coming creative efforts:
“You’d rather open up one school in Africa like you really helped the country … if you want to help … help me … All you guys had meetings with me and no one lifted a finger to help …”
While we don’t always stand with West’s word, we’ll give him one thing. He’s got some big cojones! What do you think of West’s recent rant rallying for more affordable education? Is he inspiring change or wasting his time? Sound off in the comment section below.
