While many laughed off the probability of Kanye’s 2020 bid for President, he could be laying the foundation for a serious shot at the Oval Office by winning over young minds. Kanye’s well-timed declaration during the MTV’s 2015 VMA’s was delivered during the frenzy Donald Trump is causing during the Republican primaries.
Why not milk it for what it’s worth.
But concealed in Kanye’s latest rant on the VMA stage was an insight into the rapper’s artistic and educational philosophy moving forward.
“We not gonna control our kids with brands,” said Kanye, who was once known as “The Louis Vuitton Don.” Being a new dad seems to have put the rapper on a collision course with the likes of Ralph Lauren, Gucci, Nike and others companies he once glorified.
“We’re not gonna teach low self-esteem and hate to our kids, we’re gonna teach our kids that they can be something,” Kanye continued. “We gonna teach our kids that they can stand up for themselves. We gonna teach our kids to believe in themselves. If my grandfather was here right now, he would not let me back down.
The 37-year-old rapper is having an impact on classrooms around the country. Over the last few years, Kanye has popped up to speak at Universities like Oxford and Harvard. Kanye even served as a guest lecturer at Los Angeles Trade Techincal College in May and gave the commencement speech at the School of the Art Institutes of Chicago.
One educator has taken Kanye’s philosophies and turned them into an entire learning experience for his classroom.
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Adrian Perez dedicated his 4th-grade classroom at McCabe Elementary in Mendota, California to all things Kanye West. He used track titles from a variety of Kanye’s hit albums and made them into classroom themes.
Perez, 33, said that he created the classroom two and instill positive and motivating messages into his students.
For instance, Kanye’s song “Monster,” is presented as “Math Monsters,” to inspire students in the field of mathematics. Others, like “Power,” encourage children to be proficient readers, while “New God Flow,” was used as “New Job Flow” to rotate classroom jobs to students.
“When the kids walked in the first day of school, they were like, ‘Wow! It looks cool!’” Perez told ABCNews. “Then several questions followed. ‘Why is everything red? Why are there a bunch of bears? Mr. Perez, do you like bears? Are these red chairs ours?’ The kids did not get it, they just thought I liked the color red and bears.”
The education tactic Perez employed for the fourth-grade students went over well them and with their parents. According to Perez, some of the adults were excited for the visual stimulants the students saw.
Others recognized the Kanye West themes immediately.
“I aspire to be the Kanye West of teaching: Kanye West is one of the most influential people in the world and is the best at what he does,” Adrian Perez said.
