Kanye West has released a new song – and it’s called Heil Hitler.
The disgraced rap artist, who has become increasingly extreme in his antisemitic views in recent years, uploaded the music video for the “hooligan version” of the track to his social media earlier today.
An excerpt from the video shows a group of African-American men draped in animal skins and standing in military-style rank formation.
West, now known simply as Ye, provides a musical voiceover for the scene, with choice lyrics including “they don’t understand the things I say on Twitter, all my n****** Nazis, n***** Heil Hitler”.
After each bar, the group of men repeat the chorus: “N***** Heil Hitler, n***** Heil Hitler, all my n****** Nazis, n***** Heil Hitler.”
The video then concludes with a nearly 30-second audio excerpt of a famous 1935 speech made by Adolf Hitler, during which the Nazi leader appealed for the votes of factory workers.
In a separate video accompanying the release, West claimed that the song was motivated by his anger related to his bitter custody battle with ex-wife Kim Kardashian over their four children.
He said: “These people took my kids from me and they froze my bank account. I had so much anger inside me.”
West has a long history of antisemitic controversies, including publicly sporting (and selling) a swastika t-shirt and claiming that Jewish people “steal” and “use Black people”.
He has previously stated that he has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and autism and has repeatedly made contradictory statements regarding his beliefs. The swastika t-shirt incident took place shortly after he had declared he was “not a Nazi”, a comment he only made after posting “I love Hitler” and “I’m a Nazi” online.
