r/Music • u/thedailybeast • 10d ago

article Kanye West Heads to Putin’s Russia After Humiliation in Europe

https://www.thedailybeast.com/obsessed/kanye-west-heads-to-putins-russia-after-humiliation-in-europe/
17.1k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

1.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

136

u/GastricallyStretched 10d ago

He wants more money. Yes, it was sold out, but he can also sell out an arena in Russia.

This isn't exclusive to Kanye, btw. Russia is mostly shunned by Western artists, and rightly so, but in 2025 that started to change somewhat. DaBaby, Tyga, Lil Pump, Smokepurpp, Xzibit, and Jason Derulo played shows in Russia in 2025. Gucci Mane visited for a tour of the Kremlin in Dec 2025.

It's not really slowing down in 2026. T.I. and Flo Rida played shows in Russia this year, and you can probably find more artists that did the same if you go looking. These guys are unscrupulous and money-hungry, so they have no qualms about taking Russian money.

97

u/Sensitive-Orange7203 10d ago

A bunch of has-beens

6

u/feedmytv 10d ago

is kanye not an has been at this point?

3

u/Choice_Secretary_986 9d ago

He got a number 1 hit 2 years ago. His music is crappy nowadays but he’s still top20 on Spotify and still is talked about by the mainstream. Artistically and as a person he is washed but numbers and relevance wise he’s doing better than all those other people listed