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What Ancient Greeks Knew About Kanye West History That You Still Don't

(image: https://sfondo.info/i/original/2/c/9/30062.jpg)Back in 2009, Ye was riding high. His 4th studio album – his fourth studio album and a significant departure from his soul-based, hip-hop sound – was a resounding critical and commercial triumph. A foray into clothing design had culminated in a Paris fashion week sneaker show with Louis Vuitton and a shoe line with Nike, marking a groundbreaking move for non-athletes.

No longer was Kanye the dorky producer turned rapper agitating to break out of Jay-Z’s shadow. He had become something even bigger: a true star. The only person who could stop Kanye was Kanye – or Should you beloved this post along with you wish to be given more information concerning kanye west poster generously pay a visit to the internet site. Ye.

Now his empire lies in a smoldering heap in the wake of a highly publicized media blitz in October. West himself says, he lost $2bn in a single day this week.

Where West’s rise beat the odds, his downfall beggars belief. First there was a widely publicized smear campaign against his ex-wife Kim Kardashian, then the White Lives Matter fashion statement in Paris, then his complete transformation into an alt-right puppet. And it crescendoed with West’s fusillade of unprompted antisemitic commentary, starting with him needling the Kushner family during an hourlong Tucker Carlson sit-down in early October, that cost West the support of his diverse business partners.

Several major partners, including Gap, JP Morgan, and Creative Artists Agency, swiftly terminated their relationships with Kanye. All the while West dug in, claiming on a podcast appearance that Adidas – his collaborator post-Nike – would never leave him, regardless of how many more antisemitic assertions he made.

But a week later, Adidas went their own way too, resulting in a decision that Adidas estimates cost them $246m in potential fourth-quarter earnings. Overall, the Yeezy line, which had accounted for as much as 8% of Adidas’s bottom line, became a liability. No wonder it took Adidas seven days to break up with him.

We’re far removed from the days when a Kanye drop used to mean something else entirely, a deeply immersive sound collage from the vanguard of pop music’s new wave. After years of being typecast as a producer, although instrumental in Jay-Z's influential Blueprint album, West crossed over into emceeing in 2003 with The College Dropout – a release that set him apart from the gangsta rappers of his time, but made preppy style and nerd idolatry cool. Two years later, he consolidated that break with Late Registration, a Billboard blockbuster that marked a sea change in pop music.

West wasn't necessarily gangsta in the 50 Cent mold, but he had his own unique toughness. He had his own near-death moment – a serious car accident in 2002 that resulted in a severe jaw injury. During an emergency surgery, a metal plate was inserted into his chin and his jaw was wired shut – an outcome that could have hindered a budding rapper's career. But Kanye transformed the experience into a rap over a sped-up Chaka Khan hit. That single, Through the Wire, became the lead single of The College Dropout and solidified West as a talent who could not be deterred.

Before long, West was an icon in culture – surpassing Common in influence in Chicago, bigger than Russell Simmons at the Def Jam label, bigger than Diddy in business, bigger still than the late designer Virgil Abloh, an intricate relationship that even inspired a South Park parody. And once his ego reached new heights, well, satisfying it became an impossible task. Interrupting Taylor Swift’s winning moment at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, marrying Kardashian, a relationship he often likened to Walt Disney and Marilyn Monroe, aligning himself with Donald Trump, and making controversial statements about slavery being a voluntary decision – these actions appeased Kanye. The rapper has spoken publicly about his battle with bipolar disorder. Experts in the medical field have emphasized that mental health struggles and bigotry should be addressed as distinct issues.

And yet, astonishingly: he nearly survived every controversy until Adidas changed their number and things came to a head this month. Now, with just about all his collaborators gone, Kanye isn’t just off Forbes’ billionaires list. He's become a liability. Not even Candace Owens, who would have West on her show now – despite West reportedly planned to buy the right-wing social network Parler from Owens' chief executive husband. Loyal fans who took Kanye's antics as judo moves to get out of his apparel brand deals surely must feel let down after hearing about his uninvited visit to Skechers' offices in LA, where he was promptly escorted out. "I don’t think a board of directors in a million months of Sundays would ever allow a business to touch him again," says Matt Baker, the chief strategy officer at the brand management firm Deutsch NY.

Where West’s rise beat the odds, his downfall beggars belief. No American icon has ever self-destructed so spectacularly – not the actors (Mel Gibson, Isaiah Washington), TV creepers (Matt Lauer, Bill O’Reilly), sports heroes (Michael Vick, Joe Paterno), or even the tabloid targets (Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan). Even Roseanne Barr, who once dressed as Hitler and

was finally written off her own TV reboot after a racist one-liner about former White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, didn’t have her fingers in as many pies as West – not only desperate for new partners, but a new divorce attorney, too. Camille Vasquez, the attorney who redeemed Johnny Depp, won’t touch Kanye, either.

It’s only in recent days that West has trailed an apology during an appearance on Lex Fridman's podcast, another unoriginal version of the "if I offended" word salad. But it didn’t make things better for students affected by the temporary closure of Donda Academy, or vindicate his tarnishing of George Floyd, or prevent him from making further offensive comments. But with Kanye's billions reduced to millions and JP Morgan no longer willing to grant him loans against his net worth or otherwise engage the classic rich guy tax avoidance game, West might soon find himself at odds with the IRS. For them, Heartless is more than a West anthem.

Kanye West seemed to have everything – wealth, power, status, and freedom. But in the end, it proved insufficient. There was no predicting it would come crashing down so dramatically. And yet, there’s still no telling how much farther he could fall.

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