got me thinking about where he is as an artist right now, and I wonder if the guy's just kind of a mess. His mother died in 2007 under absolutely horrible circumstances. He broke up with his fiancee shortly thereafter. He's clearly somewhat overextended, whether it's designing laughably overhyped sneakers for Louis Vuitton, interning behind the scenes at Gap, or guesting on so many singles you'd think he was Ludacris. His last album contained some good songs, but it's a somewhat crabbed and bitter record, and it justifiably wasn't received the same way his previous efforts had been. When he showed up at the VMAs drinking from a bottle, it seems sort of predictable that something bad might happen, given his past history at awards shows. I mentioned yesterday that I thought his response was part of a pattern of foolishness, calculated or no: what I forgot to mention, and which I think is important, is that Kanye was nominated for both Video of the Year and Best Male Video for "Love Lockdown," and which he didn't hype, something I think makes the idea that he genuinely was offended on behalf of Beyonce (Which is an entirely valid artistic judgement. That Taylor Swift video is pretty lame.) a little bit more credible.
Kanye's been riding the ego train for a long time, and while he's been criticized for it, no one's tossed him off the back and declared "No ticket" before. To a certain extent, whether it's the Jesus pose, the declarations of "Can't Tell Me Nothing," etc., he's been the contemporary apotheosis of astonishing self-confidence Ta-Nehisi critiqued yesterday. Sunday night, he fell, and fell entirely by his own hand. It seems to me it's been a while in coming. Artistically, he seems to be hyperextended, one minute playing with Auto-Tune, the next relying on his weakest skill set, his rhymes. I'm sure the interest in fashion is genuine, but it doesn't mean it's what he's best at, or that he can handle both it and the music and do them well. On Leno, he apparently said he needed a break. It sounds like he needs that time, both to sort out some personal things, and to make some professional choices about his priorities.