Analysis/Reaction of the Kanye West “Heil Hitler” Song

Kanye west has somehow managed to make a song that has created just as much controversy as the man is. Is a man as controversial as the art, and is the art is about something far more personal? In defense of Kanye West’s “Heil Hitler” might be a controversial topic, but the genius behind the music that explores our own personal demons. What makes the song genius is that it somehow can piss off everyone, both sides, and still be a work of iconoclastic genius.

The funny aspect is that this song should not work. It should not even be a song. Not even Philip Roth could have made a song this weird, but it reminded me of Mel Brook’s “Spring Time for Hitler” and that song is as controversial as you could imagine. Maybe “Heil Hitler” lacks the satire and incredulity of Mel Brook’s “Spring Time For Hitler” but the two do share one link in common. Both were making art that was meant to provoke an emotion out of the listener. It’s scary to people who have never heard “Spring Time for Hitler” but I do believe that Kanye West isn’t trying to be controversial. He is controversy, with a capital C, and the song does create a feeling that West is exploring an area that he hasn’t tapped into before.

It’s exploring his own personal demons, “Man these people took my kids from me/then they took my bank account/I got so much anger in me got no way to get it out” as this shows that the man is frustrated and anyone should be. If you’re a highly motivated genius who was told, “You can’t make it in the music industry” only to push back and make all the money he wanted, but then taken away, told you’re crazy, you would lash out at anyone. And “with all of the money I still can’t get my kids back” should make anyone realize they’re desperate. And he admits “this is why I became a Nazi, I became the villain.” In 2025, this makes sense, because a Nazi, on its own merit, doesn’t mean anything anymore. Being called a “Nazi” in 2025 is like being called a “faggot” in the 90’s. It doesn’t mean anything anymore.

But the chorus itself, even by anyone’s standards, should bother most people. Kanye, in his own right, used the word “nigga” before “Heil Hitler” because for some reason, when Kanye says it, it’s catchy. I couldn’t see DMX making this song.

“She reaching down in my pants, holding the world in her hands/ Nigga Heil Hitler.” Nobody, working in the music industry could make this line work, and somehow, make me start humming this song. Plus, it’s really fucking funny to hear that line and then hear “Nigga Heil Hitler” because it’s funny, stupid, and works, on a psychopathic level that seeps into the brain cells, stirring an emotion we didn’t think we had. Laughing at a controversial idea and then moving on about our day, but still remembering how we can laugh, when someone else is saying something wrong, or naughty.

Because a genius can’t be put into one single category, and Kanye has this ability to tap into people’s brains, to make people sing his songs, and this chorus, shouldn’t work. But it does. The song itself is that usual Kanye beat, and it’s that talent that Kanye West has, effortlessly. The thing is, I would have loved to be in the booth and watching everyone turn silent when he says the words “Heil Hitler” and see all the heads turning towards Kanye, and he says, “what?”

Then he somehow magically explains it all and they nod their head, and say, “at least that’s not me.” But somehow, Kanye taps into that dark subconscious of society, and proves that anything can be art. Even if it’s controversial, stupid, and pretty funny, when it shouldn’t be.