A Shakespearean tragedy as old as time, the fall of a legendary figure or group, whether it be through a major event, or a slow fall from grace. The death of the dinosaurs, the fall of the Roman Empire, The death of Julius Caesar, and most recently, the destruction of musical legend Kanye West’s legacy at his own hands.

Kanye West’s descent into madness and self destruction is one that has been a slow and painful one to watch for many of his fans, but one that many know was inevitable with the way it has been spiraling in the past 12 months. But one must ask, why has this happened, and where did it all go wrong?

Humble beginnings were all that aspiring producer Kanye West knew at the start of his career. His world had changed when on his path to stardom, he was part of a devastating car crash that nearly took his life, and forced West to reevaluate how he saw life.

The crash left his jaw wired, and changed his perspective on life, motivating him further to make and produce music. Despite his jaw being wired shut, he went on to create his debut album, The College Dropout, featuring the hit single Through The Wire which was recorded despite his jaw being wired.

As West’s musical career continued, he continued to drop legendary album after legendary album as he continued to trailblaze the musical scene, while also showing a great interest with the fashion industry and a great influence through his many collaborations, and soon to be fashion brand Yeezy. 

West’s controversies were well known to the public, but were often seen by the public as “character quirks” that defined him as an artist. His many documented beefs were always on public display, such as the ones with President George W. Bush, South Park, 50 Cent, Drake, Taylor Swift, and many, many other figures in the music industry.

West’s legacy was one of legendary status that few in modern history could ever rival, but that would all change for the worst, beginning in 2015.

It’s well known that since 2015, Kanye West has persisted in running for president, despite having no political experience, and likely no knowledge of the true nature of the president’s job within the country. Along with his continued “campaign” for residency, West would become entangled with quite possibly his biggest controversy at the time, his support of former President Donald J. Trump.

Kanye West proudly wearing his MAGA hat and meeting with Donald Trump within the White House was one that jarred the public, and led to mass outrage with his seemingly switched political beliefs, as many anti-Trump advocates noted Kanye West’s infamous quote about President George Bush not caring about black people. 

Despite the outrage and controversy, West continued to revel in the attention and continued his MAGA support, as well as his seemingly futile efforts to run for president of the United States. 

For most of 2019, 2020, and parts of 2021, West managed to stay away from major controversies, aside from his noticeably erratic music schedule and his heaps of unreleased music.

In the second half of 2021, and in 2022, everything changed, setting forth in motion West’s most deranged and complex controversies. 

The first major controversy was his beef with Drake, which was a back and forth that had been brewing since the early 2010s and had been a big thing back in 2018, when Drake had beef with Kanye West affiliate Pusha-T (who very clearly won the feud), but only came to the forefront in 2021. Drake and West continued to throw shots at each other, before ultimately resolving the beef through a joint concert in 2022, but Drake has since stated in a song that he only did the concert for Larry Hoover, to whom the concert was dedicated to freeing from prison.

West remained steady in his favor with the public, but a series of unfortunate events began in the life of KAnye West, and then it all began to horrifically crash down. 

The fall from grace began with his divorce from Kim Kardashian. The divorce itself made headlines, but the aftermath of the divorce would be the real beginning to his descent into madness. 

When Kim Kardashian forced West to move out, he proceeded to buy a house near the Kardashian household, and would go on continuous rants against the Kardashians, with all his behavior being excused by himself as “doing it for his kids.” West’s continued obsession with the Kardashians would reach new heights upon news of Kim Kardashian’s new boyfriend.

When news spread of Kim having relations with actor Pete Davidson, West began going on a social media tirade against Pete Davidson, claiming that he was bragging about sleeping with his wife, keeping him from seeing his children, and that Davidson had been hurling personal attacks towards Kanye regarding his mental illness.

The beef continued as a back and forth, with most of the shots being fired by West, ultimately cultivating in Pete Davidson responding to Kanye’s allegations and attacks on Saturday Night Live, and West making a song Eazy, featuring The Game where he dissed Davidson. Along with lyrics against Davidson and the Kardashians, the music video for Eazy portrayed a claymation version of Kanye West kidnapping, killing, and planting the head of Pete Davidson, with the head in the ground sprouting roses out of it.

After the beef, Pete Davidson went on to brand Kim Kardashian’s name on his body and proposed to her, to which Kim responded by breaking up with him.

If this situation didn’t prove West’s descent into madness, then it’s clear that his following controversies would lead down that path, as well as the path of disgrace from his fans and outsiders alike. 

On October 8th 2022, Kanye West would make his most infamous and his most career ending set of mistakes ever, all starting with a tweet stating that he was going, “defcon 3 on Jewish people.” This was a shock to pretty much everybody, seeing the legend Kanye West actively going against Jewish people, and openly making anti semitic remarks regarding their supposed running of the world and the banks.

Kanye decided to double down on his claims by reiterating his views on Jewish people, and beginning to associate with people that are directly involved in white supremacist groups like Gavin McInnes and Nick Fuentes. Even with all the heat West was taking, he still decided to continue his attacks and led to his ban on most social media platforms, and his eventual ban from Elon Musk’s Twitter after he posted a Star of David, an iconic Jewish symbol, with a swastika inside of it, which is the symbol that Nazis chose to put on their flag. 

All of West’s anti-semitic remarks would reach an apex when he went onto Alex Jones’ podcast and stated that there were things he loved about Hitler and the Nazis, and that Jewish people should find it in themselves to forgive the Nazis. To say this is an outrageous series of events would be the understatement of the century. 

The idea of a white person praising Nazis and Hitler is one that has unfortunately continued in the country, and is an idea that many have gotten used to, and are familiar with. On the other hand, a black man publicly supporting Nazis, and telling Jewish people to forgive the Nazis is an idea that has never happened on this scale, and it justifiably shocked the world, and got a multitude of responses from people across the music and fashion industries.

Every major person within the music industry renounced West’s comments and every major fashion company he was associated with dropped him immediately. From Adidas to Sketchers to Nike and more, West’s empire in the fashion industry began to crumble before his very eyes, causing him to lose over $2 BILLION.

If this wasn’t bad enough, West decided to make a song during his controversy, where he states, “tweeted defcon, now we past 3,” seemingly tripling down on his anti-semitic comments, with the song also featuring a clip from his infamous Alex Jones interview at the very end. 

It’s pretty clear that it’s over for Kanye West and his career, as there’s no way he can return from the cliff he has thrown himself off. It’s a sad end to a legendary journey, one that could’ve ended differently, with a legacy cemented in history and glory. One can only imagine how the legacy of Chicago’s Kanye West could’ve gone if he never picked up that MAGA hat.