US actor Michael Shannon has thrown his voice into the ring of a very odd pairing, narrating a posthumous poem by Leonard Cohen about divisive hip-hop star Kanye West.

Late last week, Leonard Cohen’s The Flame – a posthumous collection of poems and lyrics – made headlines after it was revealed to contain a rather fitting poem written by the late musician about Kanye West.

The poem – which was written in March of 2015 – is titled ‘Kanye West Is Not Picasso’, and is basically what you’d expect it to be. The prose sees the Canadian musician deriding West for his behaviour, while also comparing himself to the hip-hop star with lines such as “I am the Kanye West Kanye West thinks he is/When he shoves your ass off the stage.”

While the poem was written 18 months before Leonard Cohen’s death, it seems to have been penned in response to an incident at Oxford University which saw Kanye West compare himself to Picasso.

Strangely though, the poem appears to have gained relevance over three years later, with Kanye recently having divided his fanbase over a series of pro-Donald Trump comments.

Now, an audiobook of The Flame is also being released, with names as diverse as Seth Rogen, Margaret Atwood, and Maggie Hoffman narrating Cohen’s work. Most interestingly was the inclusion of US actor and musician Michael Shannon, who was tasked with reading the now-infamous ‘Kanye West Is Not Picasso’.

Armed with his gravelly voice, Shannon delivers a reading that sounds quite similar to Cohen in his later years, allowing us to wonder just how the late artist would have narrated the poem had he been given the chance.

The timing of this narration is rather fitting though, with Kanye West again grabbing headlines today for a controversial rant that he uploaded to social media – just days after delivering a ‘keynote’ speech from on top of a table at an Apple store.

Taking to Twitter today, the hip-hop icon shared a ten-minute video which featured him touching on a number of topics, including mind control, his ‘genius’ IQ, his inability to buy the publishing rights to his own music, and how he is merely a vessel for God’s work.

Needless to say, Kanye West is undoubtedly leaving his fans feeling a little concerned as his esoteric rants become more and more common.

Check out Leonard Cohen’s ‘You Want It Darker’:

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