Kanye West and His Mental Health

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On February 10, 2004, Kanye West’s debut album The College Dropout was released. West turned from an underground, low-profile rapper-producer into one of the leading faces of the hip-hop industry, an industry that would suddenly be influenced by West’s music. West earned numerous accolades from the album, including a Grammy win for Best Rap Album and a nomination for Album of the Year. However, a year and a half later, the media transitioned from shining the light of West’s accolades as a musician and producer to frowning upon him due to his controversial statement of “George Bush doesn’t care about black people,” at A Concert for Hurricane Relief on September 2, 2005.

West, like every celebrity, is not able to avoid any scrutiny or criticism for his/her actions and statements from entertainment media and the paparazzi. West is far from criticism, with seemingly controversial statements here and there from him occurring always around the release of his latest album. (For example, West’s second album, Late Registration, was released three days before the “George Bush” statement.) Numerous controversial statements and actions have come from West, such as his meltdown on stage during his 2016 tour that had to be cut short due to his mental health, and saying on TMZ in 2018 that “slavery was a choice”. The entertainment media portrays celebrities as gods, perfect, impossible of committing flaws or errors, yet they cast out celebrities who make controversial statements and actions, or who stray away the norm of stereotypical “celebrity life”. As consumers of celebrity news through tabloids and social media, we should not distance ourselves from those who we do not see eye-to-eye with or don’t have the same moral code as we do. No celebrity should be ignored, ridiculed, or abandoned by one particular action. Kanye West should not be defined by the eye-popping tabloids that detail his “ridiculous statements” and what he posts on tweets during his rants, but rather, he should be known for his successful, record-breaking discography, and his ever-lasting influence on the music industry.

            The entertainment media has consistently turned their back on West for each controversial, unfiltered statement action West has done since the “George Bush”. Yet nearly each time West always seems to win over his haters through his music, releasing critically acclaimed album after critically acclaimed album. Unfortunately, West has seemed to lose the support of the entertainment media recently once again, now for his new political and religious views, and it looks unlikely they will “return” to his side and praise him for his recent musical production. When West visited the White House and met with President Donald Trump, praising Trump for what he has done while in office, West was faced with widespread criticism and backlash. West was accused of turning his back on his own race by meeting with Trump, an accused racist who was elected President by millions of alt-right, racist, white supremacists. The Undefeated, as well as numerous media websites, newspapers, and magazines, wrote West off. “His hall of fame career [is becoming] irrelevant by pushing his musical genius to the footnotes of his legacy,” wrote The Undefeated’s David Dennis Jr. These sources encouraged the general public to “not mourn” and “not [to] feel sad that his career has reached a point of return” (Dennis Jr., 2018).

Additionally, many critics portray West’s latest faith revelation, a born-again Christian focused on strictly making Gospel music from now on, as harmful and detrimental to his followers with a cult-like feel to it, despite West’s message of praising God and hosting weekly Sunday Services (pre-Covid) which were free that were more of a Church service than a concert. On the other side, while West is condemned for his affiliations and views on politics and religions, the entertainment media praises celebrities who endorse progressive, left-wing ideals and are seen as idols or gods themselves. When celebrities are seen as the highest power out there instead of a higher existential being and promote a similar progressive political agenda, the entertainment media praises and exalts them. If a celebrity strays from that path, such as West, the media either ignores them for eternity or condemns them for their free thoughts and opinion. West, barring he does a complete 180 (which is possible), will most likely not get the love nor appreciation he once commonly got from the entertainment media.

Kanye West’s whole musical career has been defined by his tragedies and triumphs. His breakout song that burst him onto the rap spotlight, “Through the Wire”, was created shortly after he was hospitalized from a car crash that led to “his jaw being wired shut” for a brief period (Phillips, 2018). His life was at great risk, almost lost; instead, the song from his debut album thrust him into the center of the rap/hip-hop frame. Four years later, after two more successful albums, both critically and commercially, West responded to his recent passing of his mother and his breakup with his fiancé with 808s and Heartbreak, an album that cemented his grasp on the hip-hop industry which once again redefined the future sound of rap music. West continued to respond to his own personal tragedies with musical triumphs, most importantly the release of his next album, My Beautifully Dark Twisted Fantasy. Fantasy, his first album after the “MTV-Taylor Swift incident”, instantly reached higher critical acclaim than any of his previous albums and is still regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time. Despite his slip-ups now and then due to controversial statements and unnecessary interruptions, West has responded to his criticism with musical masterpiece time and time again.

Still, the entertainment media has delved into West and his personal way too much. When West was hospitalized in 2016 due to mental illness problems, which was eventually discovered that West was diagnosed as bipolar, along with having an addiction to opioids, deep scrutiny into his personal problems ensued. Paparazzi swarmed his closest family members and friends, questioning West’s health. Even with two more albums released shortly after his release, which both received acclaim commercially and critically, the amount of deep detail into West’s private life is inexcusable, along with every other celebrity. The media’s portrayal of celebrities paints an image to their target audience, mainly young adults and teens, that could define a celebrity’s legacy and popularity as an actor/musician/dancer, etc…

The effect the entertainment media has on presenting celebrities is detrimental and harmful. “Today’s society is drawn to the approach where celebrities are portraying unrealistic lifestyles, which may appear simple, but leave the average person seeing false actions,” writes Ashley Morgan Wiedow of The Odyssey. Teens and young adults hope to replicate what they see from their favorite celebrities in terms of physical appearance, despite the near-impossible standards of beauty and attraction, leading to feelings “of less confidence, anger, and dissatisfaction” (Wiedow, 2016). Likewise, celebrities are not role models due to their behavior shown by celebrities, and harmful consequences to teens could ensue such as eating disorders, use of illegal drugs, and alcohol abuse. Lastly, the overexposure of celebrities entices teens and young adults to view them as idols, furthermore detrimental to the viewer’s wellbeing. Even though the media wants to inspire and encourage its target audiences, it ends up producing a negative impact.

            Kanye West is not the first celebrity to come under fire from all media outlets for his past actions and statements, and he will certainly not be the last. What’s worse is how the entertainment paints the picture that celebrities who “slip up” and make a mistake should be ignored, ridiculed, and “cancelled” for what they have done in the past, such as West for meeting with Trump and interrupting Swift at the MTV Awards years ago. West, as well as many other “cancelled” celebrities, is at risk of being remembered for these faults rather than the contributions he has made to today’s society through his discography and musical productions.