It has been an tumultuous few weeks for multi-platinum rapper kanye west. West has been isolated away from media scrutiny in the past couple of weeks following his mercurial behaviour at a number of performances and the cancellation of his Saint Pablo tour that culminated in his hospitalisation.
This morning, West returned to the public eye. Engulfed by paparazzi, Kanye West entered the Trump Tower to meet with president-elect Donald Trump. West met with Trump prior to the president-elect's announcement that former Texan Governor Rick Perry would be running the Department of Energy.
Trump told journalists and photographers that the two are long standing friends who "discussed life". West offered a different perspective on Twitter.
I wanted to meet with Trump today to discuss multicultural issues.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) 13 December 2016
Recently, Kanye West ignited controversy for publicly stating his support of Donald Trump during a recent concert. West, who has established himself as a man partial to an on-stage rant, said that he would have voted for Donald Trump at a performance in San Jose on November 17th, if he had voted. His statement came attached with the caveat that Trump's campaign had "inspired racists to reveal themselves".
Trouble Ahead for Trump
During his election campaign, Trump declared he was an admirer of Kanye west.
During Barack Obama's two terms as president, many pop stars appeared at similar conferences: Beyonce and Aretha Franklin performed at Obama's inauguration. During his eight years in the White House, Obama hosted Rhianna, James Taylor and Kendrick Lamar.
However, Trump faces the prospect of pop stars unwilling to associate with him.
John Legend recently said he wasn't surprised at Trump's failure to secure performers for his inauguration, stating: "Creative people tend to reject bigotry and hate. When we see somebody that's preaching hate, it's unlikely he'll get a lot of creative people to associate with him".
Kanye West is the first hip pop artist to buck the trend and associate directly with Trump. Perhaps this is a precursor to an appearance at Trump's inauguration.