I've never been a Kanye West fan. His music doesn't appeal to me whatsoever, and he always goes off on some tangent, usually at the cost of someone else, which is a big turn-off for me.
Usually his antics make me sort-of shake my head in astonishment, then I go on about my business, continuing not being a fan of his.
I don't spend any more time on it than that, mainly because I don't like to spend my time on negative energy, but it's also because I have my hands plenty full dealing with my own crazy, thankyouverymuch.
But I have a few issues with his latest rants.
First of all, in his newest release, "Famous," he claims that he made Taylor Swift famous when he interrupted her acceptance speech at the 2009 VMA's.
That is so not true. Um helloooo... "Teardrops on My Guitar" was released in late 2006, and that song alone got TS (as my 11-year-old niece refers to her) plenty of fame. (Fine, if you don't want to admit it, but you and I both know you had that song memorized.)
Secondly, I take issue with his latest claim that he's $53 million in debt. I don't doubt that's true. The part I have a problem with is that he also says he's the "greatest artist of all time."
Really? You're going to claim to be a better artist than Dave Matthews? James Taylor? The Artist Formerly Known As Prince!? Cat Stevens, for crying out loud?
Don't make me laugh, Yeezy.
And seriously: if you're the "greatest artist of all time," why aren't you selling enough product to keep you out of debt, hmmm? You can't have it both ways. Either you're broke-ass or you're Shakespeare. Which is it?
My biggest issue is this: he truly thinks he has hit upon hard times. Hey Kanye, you know that there are people who don't have parents or arms or food, right? Asking for people to pray for you because you're supposedly broke makes me sick.
Look, I'm all about letting your freak flag fly.
But I'm pretty sure that's not what this is. Yeah, I think he's dealing with some real mental issues.
The good news is, it's getting him some sympathy. Someone actually set up a GoFundMe account for him. And it's collected more than $4,000 at the time of this writing! Wha? I'm 84% sure it was set up in jest, but still.
More good news: his very public spiral downward brings much-needed attention to mental health care in our country (I've written about this before - it's a huge hurdle we need to overcome).
