Last week, Kanye West announced to the world he was $53 million in debt and asked Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg to invest one billion dollars into “Kanye West ideas”. The series of tweets have been widely ridiculed, but a senior copywriter at Miami-based ad agency Alma is trying to change the conversation to something worth investing.
Gabriel Ferrer is the man behind the idea, Help Kenya, Not Kanye which equates the price of products Kanye is spruiking to what that money is worth in a third world country. The website then directs you to global charities including Save the Children, UNICEF, One Child’s Village, African Wildlife Foundation and The Tap Water Project.
Ferrer was inspired by some of the bat-shit things West has been tweeting recently. On Ferrer’s Facebook page, he argues: “As a die-hard Kanye fan, lots of people have been asking me what I think of his recent craziness. And it’s just that: crazy. I can’t defend it anymore. Instead I focused my energy on something we can change and created this website. Enjoy, donate and share with friends.”
Here are just some of the things West has been tweeting:
Mark Zuckerberg invest 1 billion dollars into Kanye West ideas
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 14, 2016
I write this to you my brothers while still 53 million dollars in personal debt… Please pray we overcome… This is my true heart…
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 14, 2016
Mark Zuckerberg I know it’s your bday but can you please call me by 2mrw…
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016
World, please tweet, FaceTime, Facebook, instagram, whatever you gotta do to get Mark to support me…
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016
“Being a Kanye fan is really hard,” Ferrer writes. “But donating to Kenya is really easy. I hope in the future I won’t have to pick Good deeds over GOOD music, but until then we can help people that don’t have 21 Grammys.”
He then couples these Yeezy products with charities that will help people in need; for example:
A pair of Yeezy Boosts retails at over US$200. With that money you can donate books to educate children in Kenya. A UNICEF School-In-A-Box Kit meets the needs of one teacher and 40 students for three months.”
Over 5 per cent of the population in Kenya lives with HIV or AIDS. It spreads because people don’t know they have it. In fact, many babies are born with it. For the price of an album ($13), you can donate rapid HIV test kits to 10 expectant mothers.
Kanye West started his career as a producer charging upwards of $50,000 for a beat. Meanwhile in West Kenya, people are paying an average of $50,000 to hunt lions. Over 650 are killed a year in Africa. Help preserve the animals that really Watch The Throne.
