Everyone knows that in order to be a genius you must possess a little bit of crazy. However, because genius is an understatement when describing Kanye, it’s no surprise that people think calling him “crazy” is an understatement as well. From claiming that the former president of the United States hates black people on national television to selling shirts with holes that costs over $100, he’ll probably be one of the most misunderstood artists we’ll ever know. However, he wasn’t always this way. He wasn’t even always in Balmain and Maison Margiela.
Here we are today still wondering where the college dropout who wore collar-flipped polos and Louis Vuitton backpacks disappeared. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the man that you’re waiting for died shortly after his mother, Donda. Between Kanye’s depression and his present guilt, the grammy award winning artist who created songs like Through The Wire could no longer live and thrive with those kinds of feelings on the surface. In order to express what he was feeling inside, his music had to become a little bit sadder and a whole lot darker. He even began to lose friends because his feelings and behavior as a result of those feelings ruined relationships. You know what they say: hurt people, hurt people. That’s why it’s no surprise that his co-writer, Rhymefest, quit his job. Claiming that the artist needs counseling, he also added that Kanye’s “mind and spirit wasn’t right.” Well, hello. When you’re walking around carrying depression and a certain level of guilt, I’m pretty sure that’s the result.
Kanye once said that his mother would still be alive had he not moved to L.A. That’s pretty heavy to think your mother died because of you. People who are suffering from feelings of guilt tend to replay the event over and over in their head, all with different outcomes based on “shoulda, coulda, woulda’s.” Although we will probably never get old Kanye back, we should at least give the present one a chance. I mean, he did make 808s & Heartbreak and TLOP. If his post-mother’s-death behavior overshadows that then try being Kanye for a day and tell me how it goes. You lost your mother, your one true love, and you have thousands of ideas that’ll get certain messages across but people only pay attention to you when you’re showing your a*s or making music.
It’s been almost a decade since Donda passed yet we’re still waiting for him to “get over it” so he can “get back to the Kanye we all knew and loved.” Is that not a sign that he’s been changed forever? As much as I would love to ask the “real” Kanye to please stand up, I know that the death of his mother makes that almost impossible.
