Coconuts were discontinued, and Kanye collapsed

Kanye West (nicknamed "Kanye" in China) is a "madman", this is the view that the world has long agreed on.

Especially in the past two years, Kanye's madness has reached new heights:

In 2020, he ran for the US presidency with a high profile, wanting to reforge the glory of the United States in the name of God; Frequently publish various "violent theories" on social media, and from time to time empty the account and withdraw from the Internet; Frequent verbal battles with major cooperative brands, angrily denouncing each other's "plagiarism" behavior; In particular, Kanye's long-term series with his ex-wife Kim Kardashian (Kim Kardashian) has made people around the world eat enough of the world's top melons.

In the eyes of many people, Kanye has become a full of fun, he is too maverick, whether it is a unique understanding of trends, art, or various abnormal words and behaviors, he is constantly refreshing his appearance in the eyes of the public: Kanye in the twenties of the twenty-first century seems to have entered a state of mental disorder, and the "collapse of personality" is his personality.

Kanye's madness made him constantly "fight", but no one expected that this time Kanye kicked an iron plate. Because of a few tweets and some remarks, Kanye is in an unprecedented crisis, and it is not an exaggeration to say that the people have defected. What is this rap superstar, artist, and top trend designer going through?

The iron plate that Kanye kicked is the issue of race, which is known as "political correctness."

On October 3, 2022, during Paris Fashion Week, the 9th season of the Yeezy collection was officially released. At what should have been an ordinary press conference, Kanye wore a T-shirt with "White Lives Matter", which caused great controversy in Europe and the United States for a while.

Kanye's purpose is obvious, undoubtedly pointing the finger at the "Black Lives Matter" black movement that has been vigorous in recent years, and he has repeatedly expressed his disapproval of the BLM movement on social media, believing that BLM has lost its original meaning, has not brought equality to the black community, and has even become a scam for some groups to extract profits. But as one of the world's most famous black people, his irony in "White Lives Matter" still caused public outrage, and many people denounced him as a white supremacist and betrayed the entire black community.

This once again inspired Kanye's "fighting mentality", and in early October, Kanye once again entered output mode, firing wildly on Instagram and talking about the fashion circle "Qunru". The farce intensified, and the Instagram official finally began to restrict Kanye's posting, and Kanye, who had entered the berserker state, immediately switched to Twitter. On October 9, Kanye made another violent statement on Twitter, which directly shocked people around the world. For no other reason, this time Kanye was fighting against the wrong object, and he pointed the finger at the Jews.

In the Root of All Evil tweet, Kanye bluntly stated that he had entered a third-degree death alert (referring to the state of war readiness for Jews), and said that blacks are also one of the tribes of Jews, and directly opened fire: "You deliberately provoke me and try to silence anyone who opposes your 'mainstream thought' (referring to Jewish political issues)."

One stone stirs up a thousand waves. As one of the most core groups related to "political correctness", Jewish-related issues have always been highly sensitive in Europe and the United States, and Kanye's unspoken words have instantly attracted a large amount of opposition to it. But Kanye, who has already risen to the top, did not repent, and in follow-up media interviews, he bluntly said that he would not apologize for his previous Jewish remarks, and said on the podcast that even if he did make anti-Semitic remarks, adidas would not break his contract with him.

While Kanye was still frantically exporting his views on BLM and Jewish issues, a storm was brewing. On October 19, Kanye responded to his anti-Semitic remarks in an interview, saying he had no intention of hurting anyone, but apologizing appeared to be too late. The next day, Ali Emmanuel, CEO of WME-IME and entrepreneur of Jewish background, took the lead in launching an offensive against Kanye, calling on companies that cooperate with Kanye to terminate its contract, and set off a wave of termination against Kanye.

The first to cut the table is the well-known trendy brand Balenciaga. Soon, adidas, which is trusted by Kanye, also announced the termination of cooperation with Kanye, and on the same day, GAP, which reached a ten-year cooperation agreement with Kanye in 2020, also announced the termination of the contract, "Vogue" magazine and its editor-in-chief announced that they would cut off cooperation with Kanye, and the fashion industry began to reject Kanye.

The turmoil also affected Kanye's old art field, the well-known Hollywood agency CCA announced the cancellation of film and television cooperation with Kanye, the upcoming stadium tour was also canceled, Kanye's new documentary was also announced to cancel the release, which was put on hold indefinitely. O. O. D. Music Label was also announced by the record company that it would not renew its contract, and its song and radio streaming sales also ushered in a cliff decline.

Kanye has also become one of the biggest stars targeted by the European and American ban culture "cancel culture", and his Instagram and Twitter have been banned one after another; Madame Tussauds removed its wax figures; JPMorgan Chase announced the severance of ties; Forbes magazine also removed it from its list of billionaires. His "beloved" Kim Kardashian also posted an announcement of the cut, saying that "hate speech is intolerable", even his divorce lawyer team terminated his contract, and even the game "Fortnite" announced that Kanye would be permanently rejected.

From business to media, Kanye has been almost abandoned globally.

The follow-up public opinion brought about by this turmoil has also become complicated. Most people applauded Kanye's "cancel", believing that Kanye deserved it and needed to pay for his racial speech, while some people held a melon mentality, in addition to waiting for how Kanye could live, some lamented the impact of anti-Semitic speech, and some even thought that this kind of banning confirmed Kanye's judgment. Some of Kanye's fans support Kanye and even want crowdfunding to help Kanye return to the Forbes billionaires list.

Under the turmoil, Kanye's wealth has shrunk significantly, from $1.5 billion to $400 million, and the title of "richest singer" has been given to Rihanna, a diva who "got rich" from the beauty industry.

Another piece of news also confirmed his predicament from the side. It is reported that after being terminated by Adidas, Kanye once took his yeezy series to the sports brand Skechers for help, but was rejected and became a realistic version of "once you loved to ride, now you can't afford to climb high". Just a few days ago, Kanye was a top icon in the global fashion circle, the absolute "child of God" in the fashion industry. Is Kanye's business empire really about to collapse?

That's right, outside of his status as a top superstar, Kanye is indeed a rare business wizard.

In 2000, Kanye became popular because of the hip-hop superstar Jay-Z's album, and after only three years of debut, he became a hot star producer in the hip-hop music industry at that time. But Kanye isn't content to be behind the scenes, and he wants to be the next era-changing superstar.

In 2004, under the painstaking efforts, Kanye officially released his first album "The College Dropout", in the era of gangsta rap, Kanye became popular with his unique student perspective, close to life content and novel production, let the world know the new star rapper named Kanye West, "TCD" It has also become one of the most stunning album debuts in the history of European and American hip-hop.

In the following years, Kanye released two albums, "Late Registration" and "Graduation", plus "TCD" to form Kanye's famous "College Trilogy". It is worth noting that on the album cover of the "College Trilogy", Kanye created and played a classic image "College Dropout Bear", which also became a classic representative image of early Kanye.

It was also the dropout bear that started Kanye's fashion career, and in 2006, Kanye partnered with the trendy brand Bape to launch the co-branded sneaker "dropout bear" Bapesta. This is just Kanye's little test, at this time, the concept of Yeezy sneakers is forming in his mind.

In 2008, the Nike Air Yeezy generation that Kanye and Nike creative director Mark Smith jointly conceived and designed was officially released, which instantly attracted the attention of sneaker lovers around the world, and Kanye's unique artistic concept was also displayed in front of the world, and the retro and conceptual design conquered the public. The sneakers sold out immediately, and it was Nike's first attempt to sign a contract with a star other than an athlete, in a sense, Kanye ushered in a new era of celebrity collaboration.

But with the advent of Nike Air Yeezy, Kanye's artist career fell into a low point. At that time, he suffered multiple blows from the unexpected death of his mother and the breakup of his girlfriend for many years, and under the sadness, he released his own bloody work, the album "808s &;;;;;; Heartbreak", but because of its too advanced music concept, it has been questioned by countless fans and music critics.

In 2009, he was already not "normal" and made a crazy move to shock the world at the MTV awards ceremony, when announcing the Best MV Award, he suddenly took the stage and snatched the microphone of the winner Taylor Swift (Taylor Swift), bluntly saying that the award should belong to another diva, Beyoncé. This is the famous Maimen incident, and it opened the curtain on the long bullying scandal that followed.

Faced with countless people's verbal criticism, Kanye chose to retreat to make music. In 2010, the peerless album "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" came out, Kanye turned around the negative public opinion with his musical talent, and with this "the greatest hip-hop music album of the 21st century", he truly became a world-class superstar, and his commercial value skyrocketed.

Since then, Kanye has truly ushered in a take-off in the business world. In 2012, the second generation of Nike Air Yeezy was released, the injection of ancient Egyptian elements brought a new aesthetic to the sneakers, and "red coconut" became one of the most valuable collectibles in the sneaker market. Also in 2012, Kanye officially announced his foray into the field of trend design, announcing the establishment of the independent design organization "Donda's House", announcing that he will carry on Jobs' legacy and dedicate himself to discovering outstanding artists and providing the best creative products for the world.

Kanye's tone was big, but as it turned out, he did. Donda's House has almost become the "Whampoa Military Academy" in the field of fashion, where Kanye has discovered a large number of top trend designers. The representative figure is Virgil Abloh, the artistic director of LV's menswear collection and a ghost designer who died in 2021.

Virgil Abloh, a former creative director at Donda's House, met Kanye while working as a part-time nightclub DJ before moving into Donda's House to work on costume design. During this period, Virgil Abloh founded Off-White, the world's most well-known fashion brand, with its unique design and Kanye's promotion, Off-White swept the world, zebra crossing elements and high street concepts have also become one of the trends in the trend circle in recent years.

In 2018, Kanye announced that it would no longer support Donda's House, but as with the success of Virgil Abloh, with Kanye's continuous support for six years, a large number of trendy talents have been discovered, Samuel Ross, Matthew Williams, Heron Preston... Many former members of Donda's House have since risen to prominence and have profoundly influenced current fashion trends. In a way, Kanye has not only influenced the development of hip-hop and even pop music in recent years, but also played a crucial role in the development of global fashion trends.

Not to mention Kanye's Yeezy series in collaboration with adidas. In 2013, after parting ways with Nike, Kanye accepted the invitation of adidas, and the Yeezy Adidas series that changed the global fashion aesthetic was also announced, Yeezy 750 350 and other series can be described as hot in the world, with the commercial success of Yeezy, Kanye has also officially received recognition from the fashion circle, and has set off countless waves in the fashion shoe market. Since 2018, the Yeezy series has sold more than one billion dollars a year, becoming one of adidas' most important businesses in recent years, and the only card that adidas has benchmarked with Nike in the field of trends.

With the success of Donda's House and adidas Yeezy, Kanye has also become a top icon in the fashion industry, and in recent years, he has also become the world's top shipper, no matter how peculiar the design, as long as Kanye and his wife Kim appear on the upper body, they can set off a boom in the fashion circle. With his unique artistic talent, Kanye has opened his own stylized trend path, since he started, stars are no longer only fans of trends, but also become the real creators and leaders of trends. This is also the deep reason why Kanye has repeatedly contradicted his partners later, in his opinion, he should not be limited by capital, he wants to hold the "right to speak" in his own hands.

Kanye does have the confidence to do so, from dropout bear to Yeezy, to the "Ye series" trend, Kanye has proved his genius in artistic concepts and IP creation with his talent, and has proved his business vision. In 2019, Kanye officially entered the Forbes TOP100 income list, ranking among the most well-known billionaires, and in 2021, more media said that Kanye's net worth is estimated at $6.6 billion, making him the richest black man in American history.

Perhaps it was the commercial success that took Kanye's "madness" a step further. In the early days of the anti-Semitic rhetoric, when multiple social media were blocked, Kanye also made a high-profile announcement to acquire a social media for his own opinions, but Kanye, who regarded himself as "capital", seemed to really understand the power of capital this time, and the business empire that he had worked hard for many years was in jeopardy.

A few days ago, Kanye's Instagram was finally unblocked, but instead of repenting, he championed NBA star Irving, who is also mired in anti-Semitic controversy, and once again raised a 30-day ban. This time, Kanye seems to be going crazy to the end.

In May 2022, at a live broadcast event related to the 120th anniversary of Nanjing University, Xu Xin, an alumnus of Nanjing University, a famous domestic investor and the "queen of venture capital", recalled the teacher who influenced him the most in college, which was a female black foreign teacher named Donda West.

What impressed Xu Xin was Donda West's unique educational philosophy, and at the first lecture, she wrote an impressive passage of English on the blackboard: "You are unique, you are a miracle of life, no one was like you in the past five hundred years, and no one will be like you in the next five hundred years." She also mentioned the teacher's child, Kanye West, who loves to break dance to his students.

This may provide a perspective on what makes Kanye different. Unlike many rappers, Kanye was born into a middle-class family, his mother was a professor at the University of Chicago, and his father was a photojournalist, and it was in this family environment that unlike most of the low-level blacks floating in the block, Kanye saw a broader perspective from an early age, which is why Kanye came to China with his mother's job transfer at the age of ten and attended primary school in Nanjing for a year.

Since then, Kanye has been deeply inspired, and unlike other black people, he is able to see everything from a more different perspective and truly perceive the world. Later in his growth, he also received a good higher education, and with his unique musical concepts and deeper thinking, he produced the "College Trilogy" that influenced the entire hip-hop music trend.

It was from Kanye that hip-hop musicians and listeners began to realize that the streets, crime, and money were not the only things worth writing about, but also the current situation and inner world. Kanye is also bold enough to pioneer the addition of a large number of strings to the album to explore more musical possibilities.

What makes Kanye live as a cultural icon is his avant-garde.

Under Donda's encouraging education philosophy, Kanye believes in his own energy and talent, and it is this inner strength that prompts him to constantly explore, "808s & Heartbreak"'s novel use of AutoTune electronic music, breaking the boundary between rap and melody; "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" combines pop + rock + synth + experimental music and other elements, making hip-hop music break out of the original shackles and truly become one of the great music genres.

But whether it is full of emotions, pioneer exploration, or belief in himself, it is constantly affecting Kanye's self-perception, and the overly avant-garde and personal concept is always in fierce confrontation with the outside world's views, changing and alienating his words, deeds and state. This contradiction culminated after the death of his mother, Donda, and Kanye began to go crazy.

From a certain point of view, Kanye is an artist who believes in freedom of the extreme, and his excessive belief in himself has led him to reject all levels of control, as early as 2005, Kanye has accused President George W. Bush of not caring about blacks in live broadcasts, and later robbed Maimen, terminated his contract with Nike, and now anti-BLM and anti-Semitic incidents, all of which reflect Kanye's excessive belief in himself and resistance to the influence of external forces.

In fact, this contradiction is also exacerbating his mental exhaustion, Kanye does suffer from bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses, and is very serious, often unable to control his emotions in public, many surprising words and actions may be his cry after a nervous breakdown.

But I have to admit that Kanye has its own unique worldview and value system. Taking this anti-BLM movement incident as an example, as early as 2013, Kanye discussed the situation faced by the black community in the song "New Slaves", unlike the musical discussion of most black rappers, Kanye believes that the upper class is enslaved the black group with consumerism from the perspective of consumer trends, and dissolves the real problems faced by black people through the illusory presence after commercial operations.

In the lyrics, he sings, "I'd rather be discredited than swallow my voice." Whether his remarks are reasonable or not is inconclusive, but what can be found is that Kanye has always maintained a logical self-consistency and defended his views in an almost crazy, paranoid way.

However, Kanye is ultimately troubled by spiritual internal exhaustion, whether it is constant confrontation with the outside world or the blows of family and career, which has led him to seek a sense of belonging to religion, and since 2018, he has begun to explore the field of gospel rap, hoping to heal the hearts of himself and his listeners with religious gospel elements. Musically, Kanye has entered a difficult period of self-reconciliation, but in daily life, he shows himself crazy, which makes the two sides of genius and madman more prominent.

In 2021, Kanye launched a new album series, this time, he no longer resorted to religion, but to his mother. The all-black cover of "Donda" came out, and he ran like a child at the audition, but he was extremely confused. In the eyes of many people, this genius is probably really crazy, and now Kanye confirms their conjecture, still fighting, never repenting, and believing in love.

A scene from Donda's third audition seems to provide a footnote to what happened today: in the center of the stadium, Kanye walks into the symbolic cottage with a fire burning on his body until the flames burn everything to the ground.

This article originated from the Hedgehog Commune