Anti-Semitic remarks, white supremacy, and two new albums. It’s been a wild last few years for Kanye West, who’s public reputation has sunk even further down the depths of cancellation. Despite seeming to have everything as a world-renowned star, West’s self-destruct lost it all: his wife, his brands, and most importantly, his mind. This leads one to the question: How did this all begin?
Stepping into the rap spotlight in 2003 was Kanye West, a young, gritty producer who would stop at nothing to get to the top. Initially getting recognition for making instrumentals for Jay-Z, West quickly made a name for himself with the release of his first album, titled The College Dropout. The album would go onto reach #1 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Chart, reach #2 on the Billboard 200, and go triple-platinum, a feat that only the best albums accomplish.
There was no slowing West down. He was turning out album after album, amassing 24 Grammy’s and going platinum on all seven of his studio albums. Not only did he create his own brand, called Yeezy, he married celebrity Kim Kardashian, and the two had four children together.
The only person who could stop Kanye at this point was Kanye himself.
In 2016, the global star was officially diagnosed as bipolar. To that point, nothing West had done was too controversial, and was simply written off, blamed on his bipolar disorder.
Things began to take a turn in 2018. A short while after the rapper tweeted about “learning how to not be on meds” the light turned green, and the race to the end of Ye’s career began. In a TMZ interview that same year, West alleged that enslavement was a choice, going as far to say “When you hear about slavery for 400 years. For 400 years?! That sounds like a choice.” Despite initial backlash and repercussions for his statement, the rapper managed to stay free from any major consequences until October of 2022, when all hell broke loose. On October 3, Ye was spotted wearing a “White Lives Matter” shirt at his own Yeezy fashion show. Just a few days later, he would double down on the bigotry, saying in a threatening tweet he wanted to go “defcon 3” on Jewish people, meaning that he wanted the US population ready to defend against a Jewish attack.
Surely, after these terrible remarks, someone would take away his ability to speak on social media, right?
Wrong. After yet another preposterous statement where West claimed that the first Jewish people were black, therefore meaning he himself could not be antisemitic.
Still in the month of October 2022, Ye’s partners finally cut ties with him, including Balenciaga, Gap and finally Adidas, ironically just a few days after he went onto the “Drink Champs” podcast and proclaimed “I can say antisemitism things, and Adidas can’t drop me”.
Throughout all these heinous outbursts, Ye was still quiet in the music industry. That was until February 10, 2024, when he would release his first album in 3 years, in collaboration with singer Ty Dolla Sign. The album seemed to be missing much of the “Old Kanye” and the lyrics that consisted of sex, money, and success drew lots of criticism from the public, especially when considered to the soulful, smooth music that West had been previously known for.
San Marcos senior Calvin Frisell had his opinions on the album, and on how Kanye has fallen from stardom. “There was lots of bass in this album, and it was not as good as the stuff he’s done in the past. Kanye is not mentally well and it shows.”
With the release of Vultures 2, an album that came just 6 months after Vultures 1, marked the near-end of Ye’s career. Spanning over 20 years, the rapper had everything he could’ve ever wanted. While some of his downfall may have been driven by a mental illness, there have been few to take a fall from stardom in the way that West did. He now leaves fans in awe, with past songs leaving them as a reminder of what once was.
