Kanye has gotten a lot of flack for doing some absolutely wonky things. Most recently, a photo of his junk mysteriously appeared on the Internet, followed by word that he copped the microphone on a Delta flight last week to perform for the cabin, and last night, he evidently had a meltdown on Twitter about his one-on-one with Matt Lauer. Even with all the wonky things he's done, though, he still produces excellent albums. Click through for a timeline of his craziness.
November 14, 2004: Walks out of American Music Awards claiming he was robbed in the "Best New Artist" category.July 2, 2005: In Philadelphia at Live 8, claimed AIDS is a "man-made disease placed in African communities."
September 2, 2005: At a fundraiser for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, used camera time to say that "George Bush doesn't care about black people."
December 4, 2005: Promised hellfire if Late Registration didn't take home a Grammy.
February 2006: Posed as Jesus on the cover of Rolling Stone.
November 2, 2006: Stormed the stage at the MTV Europe Music Awards after losing Video of the Year.
September 9, 2007: Lost it after not being able to perform on the main stage at the MTV Music Video Awards.
July 29, 2009: Claimed he had taken the mantle of the "king of pop" from Michael Jackson, just weeks after he passed away.
September 13, 2009: Interrupted Taylor Swift's acceptance speech at the Video Music Awards.
July 28, 2010: Joined Twitter, apologized to Taylor Swift (again) and threw out some absurd rants.
October 18, 2010: Released a picture of "banned" cover art for new album.
November 8, 2010: Hijacked the PA system of a Delta flight and performs "The Good Life" and "Gold Digger."
November 10, 2010: Has a breakdown/rant on Twitter in which he talks about the media, in this case, the lovable Matt Lauer, haranguing him with hard questions. He also apologized to Bush for calling him racist, evoked Michael Jackson again and talked about how he just needs to be "stronger" than the media.
That's a hell of a résumé, and we probably still managed to miss a few things. Even so, it doesn't bother us. We believe in Kanye. We really do, mostly because we understand what type of person he is. The class clown, the annoying but occasionally funny guy who makes jokes at every single thing the teacher says. He's the attention whore at the party, the family member who brings the biggest, most expensive bird to Thanksgiving. Simply put, he's that guy.
This is why Kanye continually demands the limelight from us, it's why he gave us the 34-minute-long "Runaway," and it's what makes him Kanye. He's perfect fodder for the media, doing stupid shit all the time but continually releasing fantastic records. He's annoying, but rarely offensive. With the exception of ruining Taylor Swift's day last year, he's been pretty harmless. We don't get rumors or stories about Kanye West raping woman, shooting people, being arrested on drug charges. Okay, he's been arrested for beating up on the paparazzi's cameras a few times, but who hasn't? He's no boy scout, but he's no Charlie Sheen, either.
Hell, he even managed to beat out 9/11 as the most painful moment for George W. Bush during his presidency.
He's going to continue being an ass and an attention hog, so we might as well get used to it and start to enjoy it. For better or for worse, Kanye and his big mouth are here to stay.
