Ye’s Life Matters

SLC Indie hip hop artist takes shots at Kanye West

BY EMILEE ATKINSON eatkinson@cityweekly.net @emileelovesvinyl

“Ifielded one too many questions about why Jews run the show biz,” said Jewish indie hip hop artist Lex Ether. So what do you do as a musician when something bothers the hell out of you? You write about it, of course.

Ether debated on whether to release “Ye’s Life Matters” in 2023, wondering if it would still be relevant from when he wrote it. As it turns out, it is.

“I made the judgment call, yes, but just on the fact that people still sometimes will ask me strange questions about Kanye West,” Ether said. More than ever, famous people can get on social media and podcasts to project their bigoted views. Famous people like Kanye “Ye” West have spent way too much time spewing vitriol about the Jewish community, much to the frustration of people like Ether, who are brought into the conversation when they’d rather not be.

“The breaking point for me was probably stupid messages on Facebook,” Ether explained. “Conversations that are meant to be fodder, but that get brought into at an increasing rate, and the most difficult part for me personally about this is the people that are bringing me into these conversations are not necessarily Utahns.”

A lot of the comments come from friends in Chicago, where Ether lived before com- ing to Salt Lake. “It’s people that I grew up with that Kanye West—for people especially in Chicago, where he’s from—is never going to be wrong,” he said. “It became a little bit emotionally draining.”

“Ye’s Life Matters” was added at the last minute onto Ether’s latest project, First 9. He was already working on the album when the frustration over dealing with antisemitism came to a head. The song is a scathing diss track towards West that includes beautifully-crafted yet punchy lines that pair deliciously with the beats like cheese to a fine wine. “Don’t let him get his hooks in you / Say I’m a race, that’s a race to the bottom,” Ether spits. “Race is only real when they take you for a problem / Or see an opportunity to say you coulda shot ’em / Same way I wanna write a bad contract.”

Ether also adds bits of Hebrew in the song as an extra gut punch to West. The song opens with “L’chaim,” which can be heard repeatedly throughout the track. It’s hard not to dwell on the lyrics that Ether doles out on this song, but they’re just so well done. “Ye’s life matters / Each time that we chatter / ’Bout the merits of what one person is saying / Ye’s life matters / Each time the glass shatters / At a temple where my people are praying / Ye’s life matters / Let’s hang and fly banners / And not worry how we spelling his name.”

The rest of First 9 is just as smooth as “Ye’s Life Matters,” though not as scathing. Ether has perfected his craft when it comes to pairing blistering rhymes with addicting backing tracks. First 9 is the first in a series of new projects for hip hop artist. He’s fascinated by numerical patterns, especially in intervals of nine.

“I’m not a math person; I’m a humanities person, I’m a words person, obviously. However, I do kind of spiritually get drawn to patterns, shapes, numbers, etc.,” he said. Ether has plenty of songs on the backburner to release in the second nine, third nine and so on.

Live shows are a goal for Ether as well, especially as he ramps up recording and releasing music. “If by the end of 2023 I had maybe five or ten shows that I”ve performed at that were significant shows, that’s a modest goal,” he said. “The world knows nine tracks of mine, I’ve made about 200 plus since the quarantine by itself. … Hopefully I can get at least to Fourth 9 by the end of this year, and just continue to build my brand, meet awesome people and continue to just try to make this transition. If I don’t, just have it be a fun thing that I’m doing, but make every song meaningful.”

First 9 was a good mix of songs from Ether, but he’s interested in possibly making future projects themed and more elements that tie together the album as a whole. “The next one, Second 9, is going to be a dirty-sounding—very lyrical bars driven with a little bit of anger and sarcasm and an alternative type of a vibe to it. A future one will maybe be all love songs for ladies. A different one could be gospel-sounding, uplifting songs,” he said.

As Ether releases new projects, he hopes listeners identify with his music the same way he identifies himself through his music. “I’m grateful for people taking time to listen,” he said. “If they’re willing to and if they like the music, then it’s just going to do what it does.”

He also hopes that people take inspiration to do things they’re passionate about— or frustrated about.

“There’s a lot that can be done from being creative, and that’s kind of what I want people to be able to identify with, is that all of us have this side of what we dream about, and what we wouldn’t be doing, or what we’d be doing if we didn’t have to do our grinding job right now,” he said. “I want to be getting across to the world that if somebody’s going to be 40 years old in corporate America, I could still rap my ass off, and therefore I think that I deserve consideration to be a full-time rapper.” CW