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Kanye West was booed at The Big Chill in 2011 after unleashing a bizarre rant during which he told the crowd: “There is so much bullshit going on in the music industry right now. Someone needs to make a difference. People treat me like Hitler.”
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Kanye made sure there was plenty of hype surrounding his most recent album ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’. Back in August 2010 he promised it would be his “masterwork. That Avatar-level [work]. I try to compete against the past… Michelangelo, Picasso, the pyramids.” So modest.
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And of course, who could forget the caps lock rant on his blog in January 2009 that ended with the words: “PLEEEEEEEEEASE!!!!!!!!!!!! LET ME BE GREAT!!!”
4Lady GaGa “Fame Ball” Tour concert – Los Angeles
Kanye is nothing is not self-aware. He summed up his Twitter activity thus: “I had my own blog for a while, but I decided to go back to just pointless, incessant barking.”
5Kanye West Private Dinner for Alexis Phifer Fashion Line Launch
Then again, he also said this: “I’ve learnt to accept what God has given me, without covering it up with ego.”
6MTV Video Music Awards Show
Kanye West caused controversy at the MTV Awards (September 13) when he interrupted Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech to complain that Beyonce
should have won, since she had “one of the best videos of all time!” His outburst spawned an entire meme that dominated the internet for, ooh, two days at least.
7Super Bowl Playboy Party
He was at it again at the 2006 MTV Europe Music Awards in Denmark, when ‘Touch The Sky’ lost out to Justice Vs Simian’s ‘We Are Your Friends’. West rushed the stage and pointed out that his video should have won, since “Pamela Anderson was in it. I was jumping across canyons.” Which is a fair point, really.
8Kanye West
West’s habit of taking umbrage at the results of awards shows goes back a long way. At the 2004 American Music Awards, he claimed a conspiracy had kept him from winning the newcomer award, insisting: “I was the best artist of the year. I’m carrying the whole state of music.”
9MUSIC KANYE WEST BONNAROO
Kanye always keeps things in perspective. Here he is on celebrity fashion designers: “What 9/11 was to Arabians, Lindsay Lohan was to artists attempting fashion. It destroyed any chance of me getting my name on a label”.
10KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas Day 2
It’s not just awards shows that get West riled. Earlier this year he took to his blog to complain about a less than complimentary portrayal in ‘South Park’, in which he “starred” as an egomaniacal gay man attracted to fish. West claimed to see the funny side: “South Park murdered me last night and it’s pretty funny.”
11MTV Video Music Awards 2009 – Arrivals – New York
Back in 2005 his target was none other than US President George W Bush. During a TV benefit for victims of Hurricane Katrina, he accused the government of insitutional racism: “George Bush doesn’t care about black people!”
12Paris Fashion Week Menswear – Vuitton Front Row
While at Live 8, West also accused American politicians of insensitivity, claiming they “…ride home in their Benzes and Bentleys while poor Africans starve.” Because of course Kanye pootles around in a battered Fiat Uno, doesn’t he?
13SWITZERLAND OPENAIR FRAUENFELD
Meanwhile, his blog reveals him to be paranoid as well as arrogant. In 2008 he compared his plight to that of Princess Diana. After a dispute with an intrusive photographer he wrote: “I AM NOT A CELEBRITY. I’M A NORMAL PERSON THAT’S JUST FAMOUS.”
14People Kanye West
The following year his rage was ignited by someone pretending to be him on Twitter. His measured response? “I DON’T HAVE A FUCKING TWITTER… WHY WOULD I USE TWITTER???” He’s changed his mind since then. Cue 1.6 million followers, and a whole lot of self-aggrandising waffle.
1550th Annual Grammy Awards – Show – Los Angeles
He went on to address Twitter staff, offering the cryptic threat: “TAKE THE SO CALLED KANYE WEST TWITTER DOWN NOW …. WHY? … BECAUSE MY CAPS LOCK KEY IS LOUD!!!!!!!!!”
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Kanye’s knack for shooting his mouth off often takes other forms. In 2007 he revealed his unanbashed love of pornography. “I could stay in for a good two days with my stash,” he divulged. Ewww.
17Rolling Stone 40th Anniversary Party
In the same interview, West claimed to need sex four times a night. “I think I have a sexual problem, a sexual addiction,” he said. And then, just to clarify: “I want to do it all the time.”