Rapper Kanye West is expected to announce as early as Friday a major philanthropic project aimed at improving the lower-income neighborhoods in his home town of Chicago.
West launched Donda Social in 2012 and said at the time that the organization was intended to “pick up where Steve Jobs left off.”
He tweeted the announcement of Donda, named after his late mother Donda West, and said it would operate as a “design company which will galvanize amazing thinkers in a creative space to bounce there [sic] dreams and ideas.”
However, West’s recent tweets this week, including an endorsement of President Trump as well as calls for people to free themselves to empathize with others of different views, indicates he wants to change Donda Social’s focus from art projects and music collaborations to focus on social justice.
This is year one. We can’t ad empathy to MAGA by hating. We can only ad empathy with love and time and truly hearing all sides
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 26, 2018
Chicago’s South Side neighborhoods are among the city’s most dangerous. West wants to bring together local residents and national experts to discuss how to address a variety of issues, including affordable housing, high unemployment, unsafe drinking water, and gun violence.
In 2017, Chicago saw 2,785 shootings, and 650 died.
West’s group would take a hands-on approach in helping Chicagoans and pour money into improving those places.
West even attacked former President Barack Obama for doing “nothing” to improve Chicago during his eight years in office. Obama’s former White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, is now mayor of Chicago.
Obama was in office for eight years and nothing in Chicago changed.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 25, 2018
G.O.O.D. Music affiliate Malik Yusef teased the announcement on Thursday and said a number of big names are working with West on the project, including Common, Chance the Rapper, Vic Mensa, and Don C.
Yusef also said Donda Social will force local politicians to change their agenda in a way that makes its agenda the new priority.
