Lady Gaga, Slavoj Zizek, and Four Other Pop-Star-and-Philosopher BFFs

Stefani Germanotta thinks, therefore she Gagas.

​​Last week, the New York Post reported that Lady Gaga's been hanging out with Slovenian Marxist critic Slavoj Zizek.

Even though the pairing -- an American pop megastar and a commie philosopher -- seemed a little strange at first, it made sense the more we thought about it. Gaga tries to intellectually elevate pop music by way of high fashion, queer-friendly ideology, and big-budget aesthetics. Zizek works in reverse, applying the lens of philosophy to pop culture and thus providing real-world demonstrations of highly obscure thought.

Well, it turns out the Post did some lazy reporting and Lady Gaga is not actually hanging out with Slavoj Zizek. But the possibility got Crossfade thinking about other hypothetical pop-star-and-philosopher BFFs.


You wouldn't think Miami hip-hop kingpin Ricky Rozay would have much in common with German existentialist Martin Heidegger. But that's why Crossfade is here -- to show you the connection between trap rap and phenomenology. Much like Heidegger's controversial double-life as a philosopher and a Nazi, the Bawse has caught some flack for pre-fame work as a corrections officer. Most importantly, they both share very similar thoughts on grinding, as Ross's "Every day I'm hustlin" aphorism is certainly an abridged version of Heidegger's assertion that the "tranquility in inauthentic Being does not seduce one into stagnation and inactivity, but drives one into uninhibited 'hustle.'"