Kanye West reemerges with a new McDonald’s collaboration

Kanye West has been largely under the radar for a couple of months, much to everyone’s relief. He’d spent the better part of this year relentlessly harassing his ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, and her boyfriend, Pete Davidson. He took to Instagram to rant and rave, and even put out two music videos where different animated versions of Pete Davidson were being harmed, in one of which he was buried alive and decapitated. It became hard to separate the musician from his madness, and everyone from D.L. Hughley to Trevor Noah expressed concern over his behavior.

Luckily, Ye finally took the hint that we all wanted off the ride he had been taking us on, and has seemingly been on a more private journey as of late. Amidst that soul searching, it would appear that Ye found creative inspiration in an unlikely place: Mcdonald's.

The artist’s Instagram, which has been completely wiped clean of his former vitriol, has just one post published Monday (May 23), of reimagined packaging for the iconic fast-food chain’s burger box. The caption reads, “Ye teams up with industrial designer Naoto Fukasawa to reimagine McDonald’s packaging,” on an image of a burger in the shape of a box with the famed golden arches on top. Fukasawa is a Japanese industrial designer known for his work with companies such as MUJI and Herman Miller. Ye also teased more to come in his stories referencing a line from his hit “Gold Digger,” saying, “Next it’s the fries.” Requests to Kanye West’s publicists for additional information were not immediately answered.

It’s not the first time Ye has partnered with the brand: he’s appeared in two McDonald’s Super Bowl ads, one alongside Kardashian in 2020 that had them sharing their go-to orders, and another of Ye solo during 2022’s Super Bowl LVI.

The collab is a bit unexpected, but it’s not necessarily far-fetched. Ye has long been a visionary of design, especially in the realms of fashion and interior design, and has also tried his hand at designing his own device, the stem player. As a provocateur, it tracks that he would want to team with other designers to reimagine things we’re so used to seeing, like McDonald’s packaging. Plus, with the string of other artists like Travis Scott, Saweetie, and Bad Bunny who have had their own McDonald’s meals, it only makes sense for Kanye to raise the stakes. It’s a welcome use of his talents, and perhaps the most wholesome thing he’s done in quite some time. Whichever marketing rep on his team is responsible for this palate cleanser of a collaboration deserves a raise.