Introduction

Kanye West is probably one of the most egotistical guys of our generation and he's not afraid to admit it. The rapper comes up with the craziest of quotes that are sometimes so silly, they make you laugh. He's a self-proclaimed genius and he even goes as far to call himself "God" He even believes he's got what it takes to become the future president of America. Some people say that he has the right to be egotistical because he is so talented but has he gone too far?

By doing research and finding credible sources such as books and online sources we will be able to investigate this ongoing argument.

808s & Heartbreaks

Kanye West God & Monster
By Mark Beaumont

Many people have mixed feelings about this album during the peak of Kanye West's career. Some people think he went soft. The mainstream loved this album and it was played all the time. Others highly questioned his amount auto-tuned that he used in this album. According to Kanye West this is one of his most important albums, despite all of the controversy. The truth is, Kanye was going through a very rough time, but many people didn't know this. His mother had died as a result of so many post-operative factors from her plastic surgery that she had at the age of 60. Kanye felt as though he was part to blame because he was the reason that she could afford this. His mom was one of his most influential human beings in his life, he had plenty of songs dedicated to her and about her before this album. To say the least, he was in pain and that is what forced him to change up his style of music for this album. This is an example how Kanye really does relate his music to his life and he even has his life events effect the way his music becomes.

I chose this part of the book to talk about because he's speaking out the same we he does in public, but this time through his music. He proved that he's not afraid to speak up like when he said "George Bush doesn't care about black people" on television. Now he's proving that he's not afraid to change his style of music because of the way his heart feels: broken.

The Story of How Kanye West Became Famous Will Make You Appreciate Him More

http://mic.com/articles/114856/the-story-of-how-kanye-became-famous-will-make-you-appreciate-him-even-more#.BqngL3y9Z

If you're struggling to find a reason to like Kanye west, this is an article for you to read. This article uses a form of pathos by describing Kanye's unique route to get into the music industry.

Unlike most rappers, Kanye West didn't really grow up in the "ghetto" in fact, his mother was an English professor. He actually went to college for musics on a scholarship but then once his scholarship was up, his family wasn't able to afford it anymore. This is when he went to his mother's college and eventually dropped out after one semester. After he dropped out he worked as a telemarketer during the day and stayed up making beats until 4 A.M. some nights. He ended up getting known by an underground producer and then eventually made it up to producing for Jay-Z and Rockefeller records. This was impressive on its own that Kanye West could make it to the big leagues just from producing beats. This is why Jay-Z was so hesitant to sign Kanye as an artist, because Kanye didn't have any rap albums out at all. Kanye was persistent, though and Jay-Z eventually signed him. After a big car crash Kanye finally decide to take on the task of writing, and not what most rappers rap about, he rapped about life. He came out with a song called "Through the Wire" which was about the car crash, then he dropped the album "The College Dropout" which was a huge hit.

The way Kanye made it is very unique and impressive, that on its own should give you a reason to like him, its like cheering for the underdog. It was hard for Jay-Z to sign him because he wasn't "hard" or "thug" like these other rappers, he was more educated and a little bit preppy.

Kanye has some strong words and explains the title of his album which are posted on Tom Barnes article on mic: "The name of my album is called The College Dropout," Kanye told MTV two years before it debuted. "All that's saying is make your own decisions. Don't let society tell you, 'This is what you have to do.' Society told me, 'Man, don't move from Chicago.' People told me to stay in school, this music is this, this music is that."

I chose this article because I wanted to show some contrast on why people do like Kanye. Some also question how credible Kanye is but this article easily explains how talented this man is by his ability to rise through the ranks of the rap industry. A quote from the wise rhetor at the end of the article is this "Kanye may talk big game. That's because he's playing one."

Fan Sues Kanye West, Tidal Over Rapper's New Album

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2016/04/19/fan-sues-kanye-west-tidal-over-rapper-new-album/ 

Relating to the blog post Why Kanye Acts That Way, Kanye's actions are often out of passion. Kanye told the public that his album was going to only be available to stream on the music service company called Tidal. Kanye did this because he is a partial owner and Jay-Z runs the company, so he wanted to give the struggling company a boost by sacrificing to put his album out for only this music streaming site. Kanye West was right, it worked, the site gained 2 million new subscribers within the first 10 days of the albums release.

"My album will never never be on Apple. And it will never be for sale... You can only get it on Tidal."

The problem with saying things like this, is that you have to hold your own on it. Although, it has not been released on iTunes, it has been released on Spotify. Now he has a fan that is suing him that could be for as much as $84 million dollars. The fans lawyers believe that there is no reason that the fan should lose this case. Out of all the ridiculous statements that Kanye has tried to make, for example the post that Carly talked about with Kanye West running for president, this one is not very far-fetched. The problem is, this time it was a rare occasion that he wasn't able to follow through with his statement. 

I used this article about Tidal, because it is a piece that is very relevant right now and it relates to many of the past articles that we have talked about. It is another action to add to Kanye's collection of in a sense ruining his public image.

Kanye as a Dad

Carly Morris

http://www.eonline.com/news/451798/kanye-west-dishes-about-being-a-good-father-to-baby-nori-on-kris-jenner-s-talk-show


In June of 2013, Kanye and Kim Kardashian welcomed their new daughter, North. In an article on E Online about Kanye being featured on Kris Jenner's talk show, they talk about how much Kanye has changed since he became a dad. Kanye speaks about the pressure he already has being a new dad and on top of that he had paparazzi yelling at his infront of his daughter. He says that being a dad in the limelight is "really intense." He also reconsiders some of his previous decisions such as taking the mic from Taylor Swift. He says that he wouldn't want some guy taking the mic from his daughter and if he had a daughter at that time he never would have done it. Kanye then acknowledges that some of his incidents were a result of his mother's death in 2007. In the end we have to remember that Kanye is also a person who has to take on things that normal people have to such as being a dad. He claims that "having a family has changed him" so I guess we can only wait and see how much he will actually change.

I chose to write about Kanye being a dad because I think this article did a good job describing Kanye as a normal human being. I think that is important for the audience to remember that because he is automatically associated with all the negative things he has done. I also think it is also interesting to show the audience that he is "changing." I want to include different perspectives into this blog so the audience can get a fuller understanding to why Kanye does what he does. 

Kanye at the MTV Europe Awards

William Xiong

http://www.mtv.com/news/1544794/kanye-admits-to-having-had-a-sippy-sippy-or-two-before-ema-rant/

This article was published by Gil Kaufman on November 3, 2006

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qbg9XZ2vbw4  <-- Watch the video here



At MTV Europe Awards in 2006 Kanye West's "Touch the Sky" was nominated for Best Music Video along with Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy", OK Go's "A Million Ways, Pinks "Stupid Girls" and Justice vs. Simian's "We Are Your Friends". In the end, it was Justice vs. Simian's "We Are Your Friends" that took home the award. As they were middle of their speech Kanye interrupted and took over. Along with the cursing he addressed that his video costed one millions dollars to make and should have won. To back up his reasoning's even more he stated that Pamela Anderson was in the video and that he had jumped over canyons and sh*t. Kanye admitted that he hasn't watched their music video either. And because he didn't win the award he said that the MTV Europe Awards has lost credibility.

There's a few things wrong with with his argument of not winning. First of all he thinks that since his video costed one million dollars to make that he should have won the award. It's not the money that makes the best video, its the content. Second, he says that the show loses credibility since he lost. To win an award you have to be chosen by viewers and fans. It is not the show that loses credibility, it just happened to be that there were more viewers and fans that thought "We Are Your Friends" was a better music video. Not the show itself. Lastly Kanye states that his video was better even though he admits that he hasn't even watched their video. How egotistic is that?

Kanye's ego has led him to think that he can speak with little or no logic. His ego has led himself to look like a fool. To Kanye it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks or what they say because in his mind he always thinks he is right.

This article is relates and connects to the Taylor swift article because they both are events that displays his ego on television. I choose this article because it was another example that addresses Kanye's ego. The main reasoning of this choosing this article is to give the viewers of the blog information of what Kanye's ego is like. This information on this article will help the viewers of the blog determine whether Kanye's ego has gone to far or not.

Most Important Artist of All Time

Carly morris

http://www.electronicbeats.net/yeezus-christ-alrighty-5-reasons-why-kanye-west-is-one-of-the-most-important-artists-of-our-time/

Does Kanye have the right to have a big ego? According James Ormiston, a writer for Electronic Beats, Kanye is one of the most important artist of all time. He claims that the risk taking artist has made a second career by "stirring up controversy, and flexing his ego." He also says that most artist would be ruined if they tried to pull of some of the stunts Kanye has, but yet he is still striving. Ormiston backs up his statement by revealing some facts such as "He's changed the way we listen to pop music." He talks about how Kanye has used several sounds to make his music that has also influenced many other artist. He also says that "He's larger than life, in an endearingly human way." Ormiston says that Kanye's growing list of outrages and self aggrandizing stunts is what makes Kanye so endearing. People are able to relate to his rants because most people have been in a place where they too are outraged and would love to say some of the things Kanye has.  He says that "Kanye is a character, but we still see ourselves in him." James Ormiston believes that Kanye is one of the most important artist of all time even will all the stunts he has pulled off. He ends will saying that in the end "Kanye is doing it for Kanye."

I chose this source because it gave a different perspective on Kanye compared to the other post which have a mostly negative tone towards him. I want to make the audience know a different side to Kanye and make their own opinion about if Kanye has the right to have a large ego.