Kanye makes waves, there’s no denying it. He’s one of the most prolific musicians of our time, and one of the most controversial. After becoming a father in 2013 and getting married in 2014, 2015 brought not only the release of his first footwear and clothing line in collaboration with Adidas, but also the news that he would be running for President. Now 2016 has brought even more Yeezy – the return of G.O.O.D. Fridays and the Amber Rose debacle, alongside his new album.
That, and another run-in with Taylor Swift.
With the intense Twitter rants of Kanye and his horrendously long and complicated feuds with various celebrities, it’s been pretty difficult to keep up to date with all his drama. Since the past two weeks in particular have been so Kanye-centric in terms of pop culture news, here’s a brief run-down of what has actually happened… His song Famous from the newly released album The Life of Pablo, contains the line “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / I made that bitch famous,” referring, of course, to Taylor Swift and causing instant controversy. Taylor’s representative then followed up by stating that, although it had been previously claimed that Taylor had approved the lyric, she in fact hadn’t, stating “Kanye did not call for approval, but to ask Taylor to release his single ‘Famous’ on her Twitter account. Taylor had declined and cautioned him about releasing a song with such a strong misogynistic message,” and that “Taylor was never made aware of the actual lyric, ‘I made that bitch famous.’”
Kanye West, however, stuck to his story when discussing the lyrics later on Twitter. Apparently the lyrics are “actually something Taylor came up with… She was having dinner with one of our friends whose name I will keep out of this and she told him. I can’t be mad at Kanye because he made me famous! #FACTS.”
And so the feud continued, and then escalated as friends and family got involved. Taylor’s brother posted an Instagram video of him “getting a head start on some spring cleaning” (see below!), where he unceremoniously chucks away a pair of Yeezy’s – the trainers designed by West for Adidas. Other friends of Taylor also joined the conversation with messaged of support, such as supermodel Gigi Hadid who tweeted “My attendance somewhere does not mean I agree with everything being said in the music playing there. My friends know of my loyalty.”
Taylor’s Grammy speech for 1989 winning ‘Album Of The Year’ could also be taken as a less than subtle dig at Kanye, with her giving a rousing speech to let people know that letting people sabotage things you’ve worked hard on is never a good idea – “As the first woman to win Album of the Year at the Grammys twice, I want to say to all the young women out there: there are going to be people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame. If you just focus on the work, and you don’t let those people sidetrack you, someday when you get where you’re going, you’ll look around and you’ll know that it was you and the people who love you that put you there and that will be the greatest feeling in the world.”
Now it’s been leaked that during a rant backstage at SNL, after the staff of SNL removed flooring from his set due to it reflecting the lights oddly, Kanye referred to Taylor as a “fake ass.” In the audio posted by pagesix.com, Kanye can be clearly heard stating “look at that shit, they took my fucking stage off a ‘SNL’ without asking me. Now I’m bummed. That and Taylor Swift, fake ass.”
Now, apparently Kris Jenner is worried that he’s bringing shame upon the family name, with a source stating that, “his Twitter rants are out of control, and Kris fears that he’s taking the family down. Kris wants Kanye to hire someone to handle all the noise and drama so he can focus on being an artist.”
I honestly feel like an entire essay could be dedicated to the history of the beef between Taylor and Kanye, let alone the rest of the drama he’s dragged up with Wiz Khalifa, Amber Rose, and other celebrities in the past. Just when you think it’s gone quiet, the drama erupts all over again. Who’s to say that this is the end?
See you next time on Keeping Up With Kanye!
Edited by Sarah Holmes
Image sources:
http://www.gossipcop.com/taylor-swift-cries-grammys-kanye-west-crying-gr…
http://consequenceofsound.net/2016/02/taylor-swift-rejects-kanye-wests-m…
Sources:
http://pagesix.com/2016/02/18/kris-jenner-worries-kanye-is-ruining-the-kardashian-brand/
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/taylor-swift-vs-kanye-west-a-beef-history-20160216
http://pagesix.com/2016/02/17/dont-f-k-with-me-hear-kanyes-uncensored-snl-meltdown/