In the midst of his anti-Pete Davidson campaign last month, Kanye West took great pains to bat back criticisms that minimized his issues to him being “crazy.” In fact, he’s taken issue with that particular label ever since revealing his bipolar disorder in 2018. Now, he’s got a new defender in the form of Joyner Lucas. Hate him or love him, Lucas goes out of his way to try to find creative angles for many of his releases, from the “both sides” argument of “I’m Not Racist” to the chameleon-like special effects on “Will.”
Joyner keeps that tradition going with his new single, “Ye’s Not Crazy,” which he shared with a video in which he again takes on the likeness of one of his heroes to reproduce some of Kanye’s more iconic moments of the past couple of years, including his Donda listening events. A Kanye lookalike — insomuch as you can look like someone who’s been wearing masks for the past year and a half — dances in the background as Joyner compares himself to Kanye and explains his interpretation of Kanye’s outspoken philosophy.
Of course, Joyner’s been known to leap to the defense of some pretty terrible people in the past, and defending Kanye only excuses his offputting and childish behavior, so the song itself has received a mixed reception. At least it gets folks’ minds off of Joyner’s own recent meltdown, during which he berated Lollapalooza Festival for booking the objectively more popular Machine Gun Kelly as a headliner, and which he later blamed on Russian hackers.
Watch Joyner Lucas’s “Ye’s Not Crazy” video above.