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I was up super late last night. Actually, I went to bed early this morning. Work and surfing on the internet had me awake longer than I should have been.

So when my CNN alert notification came a few hours after I dozed off, I groggily checked it and rolled back over. Something about Kanye West, one of my favorite rappers, and Donald Trump, the politician I’ve grown to despise more than any other in my life.

Most of my friends and family know this about me: Nick Loves Kanye West with a passion…He Hates Donald Trump with a passion.

Even longtime readers of Cypher Avenue know how much I Stan for Ye. I paid crazy bread to see The Life of Pablo Tour in the row right behind 2 Chainz and Lil Yatchy in Atlanta last September.

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Sleep was good, it was oversleep actually. When I awoke it near afternoon, but I’m self employed and I work from home, so there were no worries about seeing a phone screen full of missed calls from angry bosses and supervisors.

Instead, I saw a screen full of missed notifications. Text Messages. Tweets. Facebook Comments. Cypher Ave Alerts.

All were asking what I thought about a blond hair dyed Kanye West meeting with Donald Trump.

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Jesus.

Even just thinking about that photo turns my stomach.

I’m not in denial. I know full well that Kanye West is very polarizing and narcissistic. Some would say just as much as Donald Trump. But Kanye is my narcissist. One that gave me the courage to display my own confidence and self pride. Arrogance is subjective. Hell, even Phife Dawg in “Word Play” said:

“Ego. I’m on my own jock skill/Cuz if I don’t say I’m the best, tell me who the hell will.”

So, over the years, I grew to love Yeezy’s confidence, self esteem, arrogance, ego and even his emotional vulnerabilities. And that’s the biggest difference between Ye and Trump, he seems to actually care about other people.

This is the same man that went on Live Television after Hurricane Katrina and did this:

I saw this moment live when it happened.

The whole world reacted just like Mike Myers:

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So to hear Ye recently go on a 20 minute rant during a concert to say that he would have voted for Trump (if he had voted), that definitely caused concern and confusion.

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Then West was hospitalized, with doctors citing exhaustion and stress as the reason. While this didn’t completely explain away my concern for the homie, it at least gave me the impression that he would take a much needed break and come away with a clearer head.

Then this happened.

Seriously, Yeezy?!

So back to the notifications on my phone this morning.

All I could do was try to make a joke out of it. I told others that I just hoped Kanye didn’t agree to perform at Trump’s inauguration. I even added an “LOL” in my replies to make it clear I wasn’t bothered. But I was. I should have seen this coming though.

Kanye, married to Kim Kardashian, is in many ways addicted to fame and attention. Donald Trump embodied that this past election cycle. Just this summer Yeezy showed us his interest in Trump and Fame with his controversial video for “Famous” where he depicted wax figures of tabloid celebs all in bed together.

This is Kanye. The good and the bad. And I will always love him for that.

Seriously.

If I have to stomach his recent support for Trump while also getting rants like his EPIC 3-part Zane Lowe interview, I’ll take it. I mean, name one other rapper/musician that will speak this kind of truth:

The main person that helped me reconcile the events of the day was Kanye West Himself. After his meeting with Trump, he took to Twitter to clarify a few things:

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So for now, I’m good. That’s all I can be.

We’re in for a rough four years and, in all honesty, Yeezy’s political views will be the least of my concerns. I’ve managed to still support the works of a lot of actors, artists and musicians who had different views as me. Kanye will just have to be added to that compartmentalized list.

At least until #2024.