Q-Tip has been opening the Yeezus tour with Kanye West, but he seems to have an issue with the merch on the stands. Not surprisingly. The Confederate flag has become a symbol in which Kanye is choosing to express himself and offer a voice to his fans.
Though Q-Tip is almost finished with this run of shows accompanying the outspoken artist, he put out the word on Twitter to make it clear how he feels about the t-shirts being sold on the road. "Fuck the confederate flag," Q-Tip tweeted. "I love Kanye no shots but my people continue to suffer psychologically from hardships that happened under that banner."
The image has a much different meaning for Kanye, as he explained on 97.2 AMP Radio:
"React how you want. Like I said, any energy you got is good energy. You know, the Confederate flag represented slavery, in a way--that's my abstract take on what I know about it, right? So I made the song 'New Slaves.' So I took the Confederate flag and made it my flag. It's my flag now! Now what are you gonna do?"
As Complex reported, "The Yeezus album took on darker and more politically-motivated themes than Kanye's previous work, and these shirts could be related to Kanye's declarative anthem, 'New Slaves.' Instead of just giving his fans something they can rock to say, 'Hey, I went to the concert,' the shirts are definitive statements themselves."
Leave it to Kanye to run with something controversial and potentially offensive. He does it best.
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