Kanye West's 5 most shocking moments revisited after recent tweets

Kanye West, aka Ye, has made a habit of going against the grain from the early stages of his career, a contributing factor to where he currently stands in the public eye. He has also been empowered to speak his mind regardless of outside opinions and any apparent consequences, and has used that framework as the basis of a lot of his recent moves.

It’s impossible to ignore his contribution to pop culture since he burst onto the scene after years of being at the doorstep of superstardom. It’s unfortunate that his platform is no longer used to effect positive change, however, as his confounding rants on social media continue to alienate the masses of people who still appreciate his contribution to music.

Are his recent tactics merely an effort to grab attention and clout chase, the same way people have done to him for years? Is he simply trying to promote Bully? While his motives are unclear, it is apparent that he’s lashing out and doesn’t seem to be concerned with what happens next. In that context, let’s explore his Bully roll-out and what insights it may provide for his future plans.

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Kanye’s Bully Reveal

After months of teasing and even relocating to Japan to focus solely on the project, Ye finally dropped a first look at his Bully album via X on March 20. Amidst a flurry of aggressive tweets, West shared a 45-minute-long short film featuring his son Saint with his album as the backing music. West then tweeted that the album was “not finished and half the vocals AI” and released three versions of the video in all: “screening version,” a “post Hype version,” and a “post-post Hype version.”

Ye has made a habit of soft-launching his albums before crowd-sourcing feedback and delivering a more polished product down the road. In this case, his wildly unpredictable nature stands in the way of confirming what we should expect next, and whether a finalized version of Bully is even in the cards. In light of the uncertainty and histrionics around the album, as well as the vile World War 3, which has yet to be confirmed.

Let’s examine 5 of Kanye West’s most shocking moments, before his X rants dominated the conversation.

Interrupting Justice at European VMAs (2006)

At the 2006 MTV Europe Music Awards, Kanye West was so disappointed at coming up short in the Best Video category that he crashed the stage when the award was being presented to Justice and Simian for We Are Your Friends. In an expletive-ridden tirade, Kanye went off about why his Touch the Sky video was more deserving of the accolade because it “cost a million dollars, Pamela Anderson was in it. I was jumping across canyons." His Evil Knievel-inspired visuals were truly remarkable, although his reaction to losing out on the award got even worse when he exclaimed, "If I don't win, the awards show loses credibility”. Not only did Kanye West end up upstaging a pair of young and similarly aspiring artists, but in doing so, he publicly showed us the first signs of what might happen if he doesn’t receive the praise he feels that he is rightfully due, regardless of the setting.

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Interrupting Taylor Swift at VMAs (2009)

If his showing at the MTV Europe Music Awards a few years prior wasn’t bad enough, Kanye West followed it up with a similar course of action in 2009 at the MTV Video Music Awards. A then-fledgling and youthful Taylor Swift had just won for Best Female Video, and West wasn’t having it at all. He notoriously stormed the stage in support of Beyoncé (but absolutely not at her behest), grabbed the mic from Swift, and famously said,

“Yo, Taylor, I'm really happy for you, I'ma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time!"

His actions left Taylor baffled and in tears on stage while Beyoncé was shown in the audience to be equally mortified by Kanye West’s actions.

This moment started off a chain of events that would involve Taylor, Kanye’s ex-wife Kim Kardashian, and more. West’s focus on Swift remains undeterred to this day as she is currently the subject of several off-the-cuff remarks on Kanye West’s X page.

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Katrina Relief Telethon (2005)

Among the many possible entries on the list, this may be the sole example of Kanye West actually trying to effect some sort of positive change, although the way he went about it was jarring to say the least. The incident occurred in 2005 when a telethon was held to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The president at the time, George W. Bush, was heavily criticized for the government’s response to the tragic disaster in New Orleans, which was seen to affect minorities more than any other segment of the population.

During the live broadcast of NBC’s A Live Concert for Hurricane Relief, West was seen alongside actor Mike Myers to raise awareness and funds for those affected. Unprompted, West exclaimed, “George Bush doesn’t care about Black people,” and the reactions from everyone on the broadcast spoke volumes about the magnitude of Kanye West’s words, and how many people truly resonated with his feelings about the largely marginalised African-American community in the United States at the time.

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TMZ meltdown - “Slavery was a choice” (2018)

In 2018, Kanye West had a manic episode at the TMZ offices. In an exclusive interview, Ye made many unhinged remarks and referenced Trump, slavery, and free thought. The low point of all occurring when he claimed that “slavery was a choice”.

“When you hear about slavery for 400 years — for 400 years? That sounds like a choice. Like, you was there for 400 years and it’s all of y’all? It’s like we’re mentally in prison.”

This triggered TMZ’s own Van Lathan to stand up to West’s destructive rant, and the two engaged in words before the interview eventually shifted focus. The lasting effects of this event were incredibly impactful, however, and showed a different side of Kanye West that surprised many of his fans and associates.

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Paparazzi run-in (2023)

The most recent of his public breakdowns occurred on January 27, 2023, when Kanye West was outside of a sports academy in Ventura County where he was attending his daughter’s basketball game. A paparazzo, Nichol Lechmanik, was attempting to capture content of Ye, when the artist decided to match her intrusiveness. According to Lechmanik,

“He reached into my car as if he were going to hit me, he grabbed my phone out of my hand and then angrily threw it into the street”

Kanye West clearly felt an issue with Nichol’s demeanour and acted upon his feelings in the heat of the moment. While this is not entirely shocking behaviour on the part of a celebrity, it simply highlights a repeated behaviour as West has had charged-up dealings with the paparazzi for years.

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It's unclear what's next for the visionary artist, but perhaps at this time, it's more important for Kanye West to reinvent himself as a human before he worries about his next hit. Everyone can learn from their mistakes as long as they're willing; his efforts in that regard will dictate who follows him for the ride.