Kanye West Briefly Occupies Wall Street

Becky Bain | October 10, 2011 2:34 pm

This afternoon, Kanye West stopped by Occupy Wall Street in Manhattan, brought down to the protest area by Def Jam co-founder Russell Simmons, both who you’d figure had more in common with the 1%. “I just walked @kanyewest thru the #occupywallstreet. I love how sweet and tolerant he was to the crowd,” Simmons tweeted, clearly focusing his attention on Kanye’s benevolence instead of the protesters.

Simmons’ office released a statement regarding he and West’s stroll through the protests:

Today, Russell brought none other than Kanye West down to take part in the #OccupyWallStreet protests. Both of these men are showing that they take their jobs as leaders of our generation seriously by participating in the peaceful protests. Russell says of Kanye joining him today: “It was amazing to see how people loved seeing Kanye West at Occupy Wall Street. His music and his art has always been about the voice and the power of the people. Kanye just wanted to come down and experience the growing movement that has opened the eyes of many around this country and around the world of the struggles of poor people. The energy at Liberty Plaza was electrifying and the momentum to get the money out of politics is growing quickly.”

Kanye experienced the growing movement only a few minutes before exiting. Perhaps he realized how difficult it was to identify with the 99% when you spout “luxury rap” for a living?

UPDATE: Check out video of a speechless Kanye — as in, he let Simmons speak for him.

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