What words first come to your mind when you think of Kanye West? Creative genius? A lyrical miracle? Arrogant? Egoistic? Inappropriate? An attention seeker? The Clarion went around and asked selected Hawthorne High School students their opinions about this controversial figure in our society.

Senior Kareem Habal was asked about what he thinks about Kanye West. “Honestly, although I believe Kanye West can act inappropriately at times like when he disrespected Taylor Swift’s moment at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2009. He is definitely an interesting character, and I find his music very interesting and different from what one usually hears on the radio. I just hope he is not actually serious about running for president in the year 2020.” Habal is of course referring to when West announced 8 months ago that he would be running for president of the United States in 2020.

Senior David Zheng was also asked about his thoughts on West. “Honestly, I have not listened much to Kanye West, since he does not really appeal to me as an artist, but I respect the fact that Kanye West always speak his mind and does not care at all what other people think of him. Also, I love his Yeezy Boost 350 shoes. I believe his partnership with Adidas is much better than his partnership with Nike.”

West is known for his inspiring and industry-changing albums. His first album, The College Dropout, came out February 10, 2004, and his lyrics included themes such as religion, racism, and higher education. His latest album, The Life of Pablo, is West’s seventh album and includes many different artists, such as Chance the Rapper, Kendrick Lamar, and The Weeknd, among many others. This album was released February 14, 2016, and received generally positive reviews from professional critics. As we can see, Hawthorne High School seems to have mixed views regarding this controversial artist.

Everyone here at HHS may have different views on West but the majority has major respect to him for speaking his mind on both controversial and random issues of society.