Rapper Ye is set to perform a controversial show in China this week — and many are wondering why
The rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, is set to hold a “listening party” for his new album this weekend on the Chinese island of Hainan.
A Chinese official dropped a bombshell in a news briefing usually reserved for major policy announcements: Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, was set to hold a “listening party” for his new “Vultures” studio album on the Chinese island of Hainan on Sept. 15.
To 33-year-old Ziteng Du, a Shanghai-based office worker, and many other Chinese fans, the idea of seeing Ye in China is beyond their wildest imagination. Many fans were dumbfounded when the straitlaced Communist Party agreed to allow one of the world’s most notorious rappers to perform.
“By China’s conservative social values, Ye is an outright misfit,” one fan commented on Weibo, China’s equivalent to X.
Now, some are wondering if tourism revenue and a desire for international recognition are at the heart of the Communist Party’s decision to allow the controversial artist in.
Ye’s last show in China was 16 years ago. Now he is set to return, not to Shanghai or Beijing, but to a place largely unknown to foreign visitors.
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