After watching the second Kanye West listening event for his 10th studio album, Donda, one thought was impossible to shake: He was in control the entire time. Over the past three weeks, West has held two gargantuan listening events, successfully focusing the world's attention on his genius rather than the problematic behavior he has yet to account for.
Once again the spotlight was on his stage, and the masked music manipulator never ventured outside the confines of what he wanted the world to focus on. The stage for his performance art was a recreation of the cramped living conditions he subjected himself to for two weeks in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium to "complete" Donda. This was the same setup he shared with the world in an Instagram post that captivated social media in meme transfixion. By the time of last night's listening, the internet had compared West's living conditions to prison, photoshopped Batman into West's own Batcave, and watched as he popped up at an Atlanta United soccer game being held at the stadium like it was a free concert being thrown in the common area of someone's dorm. And that's before he went full Truman Show.
