Kanye West: The Rise and Fall of a Legend

Nick Ewing

Staff Writer

Disclaimer: This article contains content that addresses sensitive topics, including racial slurs, discrimination, and historical and ongoing oppression. Please note that the writer does not state a certain bias or opinion towards the topics addressed in this article, but is directly quoting the artist.

Kanye Omari West, born in 1977 in Atlanta, GA, to Donda West, is one of the most polarizing figures in music history. Throughout his career, there have been many ups and downs, but one thing has always remained the same: his ability to create sonic masterpieces that shift the landscape of music at the time. He is arguably the most influential musician of his time, with Drake, Kid Cudi, and Travis Scott all citing him as an inspiration for their own work.

During the early 2000s, Kanye released albums: ‘The College Dropout’ and ‘Late Registration,’ which introduced the world to an entirely new sound in the hip-hop scene: soul. Using a “creative way to rhyme without using knives and guns,” which is from his song ‘Family Business’ and over 70s soul sampled beats, he moved the genre forward from the 90s era; where Gangster Rap was highly prominent.

In 2005, just 4 days after the release of Late Registration, Kanye created his first highly controversial moment. He went on NBC’s ‘A Concert For Hurricane Katrina Relief’ and said, “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.” It was clear he was trying to get a point across, but doing it in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina during a concert meant to help disaster victims led to some backlash.

Moving on from this incident, Kanye released his best-selling album, ‘Graduation,’ in 2007. This album was filled with hits such as ‘Stronger,’ ‘Homecoming,’ and ‘Flashing Lights.’ Just two months after the release of Graduation, his mother, Donda, tragically passed away at the age of 58. This, mixed with the breakup with his fiance, Alexis Phifer, took a massive toll on Kanye.

However, once again, he delivered an album that received critical acclaim, ‘808’s and Heartbreak’. The sound of this album perfectly represented what he was going through at the time, mixing somber production with distorted, autotuned melodies. ‘808s and Heartbreak’ is considered his most influential, making it acceptable for rappers to be emotional and vulnerable in their music.

After the success of his last album, Kanye attended the 2009 VMA’s where he would find himself in even more controversy. During Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech, he drunkenly went on stage and took the microphone from Swift, proclaiming, “Taylor, I’m really happy for you, I’ma let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time.” He faced immense backlash for this incident, even from President Barack Obama, where he called Kanye a “jackass.” Kanye was officially hated by almost everyone in the music industry and even lost some respect from fans.

Afterwards, he retreated to Hawaii for six months to work on his next album. He invited numerous artists and producers to help create ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,’ a luxurious sounding album with songs like ‘Runaway,’ ‘Devil in a New Dress,’ and ‘Power.’ With strict studio rules, like no outside contact regarding the album and requiring everyone to wear black suits, Kanye would create one of the greatest albums in history, showing the world that even through the controversy, he wasn’t going anywhere.

Over the next decade, he would release consistently great albums, like ‘Yeezus,’ ‘The Life of Pablo,’ and ‘Kids See Ghosts’ (collab with Kid Cudi). He would also become a prominent figure in the fashion industry with his own partnership with Adidas, creating Yeezy.

 However, he would also have his fair share of controversial moments. On his album, ‘Yeezus,’ he proclaimed himself to be God, even titling a song, ‘I am a God.’

He would also release the song ‘Famous’ in 2016, claiming that he made Taylor Swift famous, mainly due to the exposure she received after Kanye’s 2009 VMA incident. Alongside the song, he released a music video with life-like mannequins of Donald Trump, Taylor Swift, Bill Cosby, and more, all sleeping naked together in a shared bed. He even began wearing the red “MAGA” hat, showing his support for President Donald Trump, something many celebrities were afraid to do. He would also consistently go on Twitter rants and proclaim his controversial opinions during interviews.

In 2018, Kanye announced that he had bipolar disorder, providing an explanation for his recent antics. In 2019, he would release ‘Jesus Is King,’ a gospel rap album that was met with mixed reviews, and in 2021, he would release ‘Donda.’ This album was entirely dedicated to his late mother and incorporated the use of gospel, drill, and trap beats. These two albums contained no curse words and had very religious themes. It seemed as if Kanye was in a much better place at this point, even making up with Drake after years of beefing with each other.

In late 2022, Kanye did an interview with Alex Jones after making a plethora of antisemitic comments, one of them being, “I’m going death con-3 on JEWISH PEOPLE,” in a since deleted tweet. During the interview, Alex Jones tried to understand why Kanye was making these comments, but he just kept doubling down on his remarks while wearing a mask entirely covering his face. At one point, he said, “Every human being has something of value that they brought to the table, especially Hitler.” This obviously led to a lot of backlash for Kanye, with him being “cancelled,” according to many users on social media. Everyone was waiting for an apology from him or even an explanation, but all he did was announce a trilogy of collab albums with Ty Dolla $ign, titled ‘Vultures’.

Vultures 1 was released in early 2024, with fans excited to hear new music from Kanye, or Ye, in 3 years. On the album, he doubled down on his antisemitic comments and began using absurd profanity while constantly objectifying women. This was a drastic shift from his previous two albums, which were very family-friendly. He did, however, produce a number one song, ‘CARNIVAL,’ proving he simply couldn’t be cancelled. In Aug., he released ‘Vultures 2’, which was even worse than the first, with similar themes of antisemitism and the objectification of women.

In early 2025, Ye doubled down once again, going on numerous twitter rants proclaiming, “I love Hitler,” and “I’m a Nazi.” He even announced an album titled WW3 with songs titled, ‘Heil Hitler,’ ‘Free Diddy,’ and ‘Nitrous.’ The ladder of the tracks is in reference to his use of inhaling nitrous oxide, which fans speculate to be the reason for his recent outbursts and insensitive comments. This album has yet to be released, and fans are calling for Ye to keep it that way, as they don’t want to see him ruin his image any further.

During the 2000s and 2010s, Kanye became an inspiration to the world through his creativity in the music and fashion industry. Despite many controversies during this time, he proved time and time again how great he was. Transitioning to 2020, he found himself in even worse controversies, which I don’t think he can recover from. His musical “prime” has been in the past for nearly a decade now, and his outbursts just seem to never end, getting worse and worse every time.

At this point, many fans have found themselves separating from their love for Kanye and calling for the retirement of Ye. Throughout all the ups and downs of his career, Kanye proved just how great of a musical genius he was, time and time again, but this same musical genius is the one at fault for one of the worst falls of any legend.