Kanye West: Wash Us in the Blood review – an intensely potent study of race and faith

This new track sees Kanye at his very best, corralling his anger with masterful focus into an apocalyptic vision of America

America, divided along racial and political lines and led by its own Herod, faces an invisible plague and a public reckoning against its history of violence. It’s against this Biblical backdrop that Kanye West imagines the next apocalyptic event, in one of his most focused and arresting tracks for years.

Wash Us in the Blood sees the rapper call for a blood rain to deliver black America from evil. We’re at the point, perhaps, where normal water won’t wash; an emergency where we need something stronger. That sense of alarm is amplified by the two-note siren motif, a flattened-out version of the feedback sound on The Life of Pablo’s Feedback or Yeezus’s Send It Up, another of his warnings that puts the listener on alert. It gets your blood up.

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Kanye West likens backlash over support for Trump to racial profiling

Rapper says anger over his views reminds him of racial assumptions he once faced: ‘You’re black, so you’re a Democrat’

Kanye West has reaffirmed his support for Donald Trump, whom he has previously called “his brother”, in a new interview with the Wall Street Journal.

West says people make assumptions about his political views because of his race, automatically assuming he would disagree with Trump’s views.

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Selfies, influencers and a Twitter president: the decade of the social media celebrity

From Gyneth Paltrow to Trump, today’s stars speak directly to their fans. But are they really controlling their message?

I have a friend, Adam, who is an autograph seller – a niche profession, and one that is getting more niche by the day. When we met for breakfast last month he was looking despondent.

“Everyone takes selfies these days,” he said sadly, picking at his scrambled eggs. “It’s never autographs any more. They just want photos of themselves with celebrities.”

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Taylor Swift’s great re-recording plot: icy revenge or a pointless setback?

As a swipe at Scooter Braun, the singer will recreate her first six albums from scratch. But her plan ignores one of music’s vital truths

Let’s assume it can be done, even though we don’t know. Let’s take Taylor Swift’s word for it when she says she is going to rerecord the six albums she recorded for the Big Machine label before signing to Republic/Universal last autumn. Let’s presume her contract with Big Machine did not contain clauses preventing soundalike re-recordings, or prevent her from taking new runs at old tracks until a certain time period had elapsed.

The news came in a preview for her interview on Good Morning America, scheduled to air this Sunday, in which Tracy Smith asked if she was planning to make new versions of all her masters. “Oh yeah,” Swift replied. “That’s a plan?” Smith asked. “Yeah, absolutely.” She has said that recording will commence in November 2020. “I’m going to be busy,” she told Smith.

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Trump says he is working to free rapper A$AP Rocky from Swedish custody

President says that after speaking with Kanye West about musician’s predicament, he will call Sweden’s prime minister

Donald Trump has said he is working to free the American rapper A$AP Rocky, who has been held in police custody in Sweden for weeks.

“I will be calling the very talented Prime Minister of Sweden to see what we can do about helping A$AP Rocky,” Trump tweeted from aboard Air Force One on Friday, and said he had just spoken with Kanye West about Rocky’s situation.

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Sole to the highest bidder: Sotheby’s to auction rare Nike sneakers

Nike’s famous ‘Moon Shoe’ and limited-edition trainers produced by Kanye West, Air Jordan and Adidas will be sold

Sotheby’s in New York has announced its first-ever auction dedicated to sneakers.

The auction house will sell 100 pairs of the rarest sneakers ever produced, including a sample of one of the first Nike running shoes with a pre-sale high estimate of $160,000.

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Taylor Swift named world’s highest paid celebrity

The singer has reportedly earned $185m in the last year in Forbes’ annual list of highest-paid stars, followed closely by Kylie Jenner and Kanye West

Singer Taylor Swift was named the world’s highest-paid entertainer on Wednesday but was closely followed by two members of the wider Kardashian clan – reality star turned cosmetics queen Kylie Jenner and rapper Kanye West.

The annual Forbes Celebrity 100 list also saw soccer stars Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar among the top 10, along with British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran and 1970s soft rock band the Eagles, who embarked on a new tour in 2018.

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Kim Kardashian West and Kanye West name fourth child Psalm

Reality TV star and musician ‘blessed beyond measure’ with arrival of baby boy

Kim Kardashian West and her husband, the musician Kanye West, have named their new child Psalm after its recent birth via surrogate.

Kardashian West posted a picture of the boy on social media with the caption “Psalm West”.

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The 50 best songs about Europe – ranked!

Brexit is delayed – so voyager avec nous on a trans-European tour of music, from Paris to Berlin via Finistère. Tout le monde à bord!

Poor old Lloyd went to Amsterdam and all he got was double pneumonia in a single room. And, by the sounds of it, his love life is going horribly wrong. Just don’t ask him about the price of medicine (obviously he didn’t get his European health insurance card). It’s enough to make anyone go No Deal, really.

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Kanye walks off stage three songs into gig after rant slamming Beyonce

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