by Ezequiel Serrano ’25

“Oh, when it all …..it all falls down.”

This well known Kanye West lyric seems fitting for the trajectory of his life and reputation, but as implied, what falls far must have once been high.

Kanye’s music pursuits began–as his first album famously makes clear–with dropping out of college after one year. His first notable contribution was helping the production of the album Life in 1492 by Jermaine Dupri. He then relocated to New York, where he caught the ear and eye of rap legend Jay-Z. He produced for Roc-A-Fella Records and produced the Jay-Z album Blueprint. He eventually aspired to move beyond producing, and when he dropped his debut album, it all changed. The College Dropout was an amazing success and got him 10 grammy nominations, the third most in history.

His following albums were all “must haves” as well, transcending the boundaries of typical hip-hop and rap. All told,Kanye has sold over 160 million records, won 22 Grammy Awards and been nominated an amazing 75 times.This is to say nothing of his culturally impactful and personally lucrative pursuits outside of music, including the Yeezy collaboration with Adidas and his creative content corporation Donda. 

But….”I’m tellin’ you all (uh) It all falls down”

Before exploring Kanye’s long descent, it’s important to acknowledge he is known to suffer from bipolar disorder—a mental illness which manifests in often troubling ways. That said, some would argue, myself included, that that explanation only goes so far.  

Kanye West first caused outrage in 2006, when during a live tv special meant to raise money for victims of Hurricane Katrina, he said “George Bush doesn’t care about black people”. Some would argue this is ironic given the recent behavior of West.

He also has had many run-ins with paparazzi throughout his career. In 2013 for example, he attacked paparazzi on numerous occasions, with one  of them being hospitalized, and with West later forced to settle out of court. Check out that incident and other examples below:

West also infamously dined with and supported Donald Trump throughout his time in the White House. (to some this may not be bad, but Trump has never had much support within the Black community). West also laughably ran for president himself, and recently asked Trump to be his VP if he wins the 2024 election. Trump declined, knowing if Ye was with him he’d have no chance of winning this election. 

Then, after he and his wife, Kim Kardashian, divorced he started to lose the little control he seemingly had left. His wife moved on to comedian Pete Davidson and Kanye was not happy. He bought the house across the street from them, routinely attacked both on social media and within his music, and bizarrely sent her a truck full of roses.  

Kanye has more recently come out attacking BLM (Black Lives Matter), claiming it is a scam, and infamously wore a “White Lives Matter” shirt.

Kanye also has made numerous anti-semitic remarks and claims, calling Jewish people “spies” and saying they should never be in charge of anything. He’s also openly denied historically accepted aspects and details of the Holocaust, and most despicably, claimed Adolf Hitler and the Nazis had some good qualities (see below). 

 In the end, for all of Kanye West’s talent and accomplishments, like the man said himself:

‘I’m tellin’ you all (come on, come on) It all falls down, oh, when it all (and when it all falls down)