Kanye West, Political Pawn

Underlying Kanye West’s confusing run for president may be the simple impulse that has driven much of his career: the impulse to teach. His first album, 2004’s The College Dropout, kicked off with a skit in which West was asked to give a school’s commencement speech. The rapping that unfolded on the album had a tutorial-like quality whether addressing matters serious or silly. On “We Don’t Care,” he patiently diagrammed the socioeconomic incentives for drug dealing; on “The New Workout Plan,” he barked exercise commands like a horny Crunch instructor. In the years since, he has guest lectured in college classrooms and released a book of life advice. When 2010’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy culminated in a raunchy riff on the phrase “Yeezy taught me,” West was again signaling what might be his highest ambition—to change how people think and act.

Teaching is widely thought to be altruistic, but for West, it can also be self-aggrandizing. To teach someone is to influence them, and nothing interests West more than influence. As he loves to brag, society today might not look or feel the same way were it not for him. His many musical breakthroughs over the years have echoed across the sound of pop. His clothing designs have seeped into the way people dress. But being a musical innovator or a fashion plate—someone whose self-expression inspires others—is not quite teaching. Teaching is about transferring information and models of thinking;