History YMMV / KANYEWEST

* OvershadowedByControversy: Without mincing any words: Kanye West is extraordinarily attracted to drama. From high-profile tabloid scandals like his clash with Music/TaylorSwift, to his political comments during UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump's presidency, to the many, many accounts of strange, reckless actions motivated by anything from his mental health, to his ego, or even just a desire to get a rise out of people, Ye's public profile is astonishingly polarizing. The fact that he himself invites adversity to a significant degree ([[WriteWhatYouKnow having made his provocative life a central focus in nearly all of his work]] since ''My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy'') pretty much ensures that his scandals are nigh-unavoidable even if you're trying to just be a fan of his music, and perhaps even if you aren't. He also praised Hitler, publicly. Stop deleting this.

* OvershadowedByControversy: Without mincing any words: Kanye West is extraordinarily attracted to drama. From high-profile tabloid scandals like his clash with Music/TaylorSwift, to his political comments during UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump's presidency, to the many, many accounts of strange, reckless actions motivated by anything from his mental health, to his ego, or even just a desire to get a rise out of people, Ye's public profile is astonishingly polarizing. The fact that he himself invites adversity to a significant degree ([[WriteWhatYouKnow having made his provocative life a central focus in nearly all of his work]] since ''My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy'') pretty much ensures that his scandals are nigh-unavoidable even if you're trying to just be a fan of his music, and perhaps even if you aren't.

** Kanye's overall demeanor. There is no denying that he is a complete and total {{Narcissist}}, but whether you find his ego [[AwesomeEgo endearing]] or [[ItsAllAboutMe insufferable]] is another story. Certain recent comments about Jewish people have also done a lot to attract controversy, which is [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment all we will say about that]].

* OvershadowedByControversy: Without mincing any words: Kanye West is extraordinarily attracted to drama. From high-profile tabloid scandals like his clash with Music/TaylorSwift, to his political comments during UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump's presidency, to the many, many accounts of strange, reckless actions motivated by anything from his mental health, to his ego, or even just a desire to get a rise out of people, Ye's public profile is astonishingly polarizing. The fact that he himself invites adversity to a significant degree ([[WriteWhatYouKnow having made his provocative life a central focus in nearly all of his work]] since ''My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy'') pretty much ensures that his scandals are nigh-unavoidable even if you're trying to just be a fan of his music, and perhaps even if you aren't. He also praised Hitler, a fact which some fans on this very Wiki go out of their way to try to willfully downplay, ignore, and erase.

* OvershadowedByControversy: Without mincing any words: Kanye West is extraordinarily attracted to drama. From high-profile tabloid scandals like his clash with Music/TaylorSwift, to his political comments during UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump's presidency, to the many, many accounts of strange, reckless actions motivated by anything from his mental health, to his ego, or even just a desire to get a rise out of people, Ye's public profile is astonishingly polarizing. The fact that he himself invites adversity to a significant degree ([[WriteWhatYouKnow having made his provocative life a central focus in nearly all of his work]] since ''My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy'') pretty much ensures that his scandals are nigh-unavoidable even if you're trying to just be a fan of his music, and perhaps even if you aren't. He also praised Hitler, afact which some fans on this very Wiki go out of their way to try to willfully downplay, ignore, and erase.

* OvershadowedByControversy: Without mincing any words: Kanye West is extraordinarily attracted to drama. From high-profile tabloid scandals like his clash with Music/TaylorSwift, to his political comments during UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump's presidency, to the many, many accounts of strange, reckless actions motivated by anything from his mental health, to his ego, or even just a desire to get a rise out of people, Ye's public profile is astonishingly polarizing. The fact that he himself invites adversity to a significant degree ([[WriteWhatYouKnow having made his provocative life a central focus in nearly all of his work]] since ''My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy'') pretty much ensures that his scandals are nigh-unavoidable even if you're trying to just be a fan of his music, and perhaps even if you aren't.

* OvershadowedByControversy: Without mincing any words: Kanye West is extraordinarily magnetized to drama. From high-profile tabloid scandals like his clash with Music/TaylorSwift, to his political comments during UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump's presidency, to the many, many accounts of strange, reckless actions motivated by anything from his mental health, to his ego, or even just a desire to get a rise out of people, Ye's public profile is astonishingly polarizing. The fact that he himself invites adversity to a significant degree ([[WriteWhatYouKnow having made his provocative life a central focus in nearly all of his work]] since ''My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy'') pretty much ensures that his scandals are nigh-unavoidable even if you're trying to just be a fan of his music, and perhaps even if you aren't. He also praised Hitler in public, so, yeah.

* OvershadowedByControversy: Without mincing any words: Kanye West is extraordinarily magnetized to drama. From high-profile tabloid scandals like his clash with Music/TaylorSwift, to his political comments during UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump's presidency, to the many, many accounts of strange, reckless actions motivated by anything from his mental health, to his ego, or even just a desire to get a rise out of people, Ye's public profile is astonishingly polarizing. The fact that he himself invites adversity to a significant degree ([[WriteWhatYouKnow having made his provocative life a central focus in nearly all of his work]] since ''My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy'') pretty much ensures that his scandals are nigh-unavoidable even if you're trying to just be a fan of his music, and perhaps even if you aren't.

** Kanye's overall demeanor. There is no denying that he is a complete and total {{Narcissist}}, but whether you find his ego [[AwesomeEgo endearing]] or [[ItsAllAboutMe insufferable]] is another story. Certain recent comments about Jewish people have also done a lot to attract controversy, which is [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment all we will say about that]].

** Kanye's overall demeanor. There is no denying that he is a complete and total {{Narcissist}}, but whether you find his ego [[AwesomeEgo endearing]] or [[ItsAllAboutMe insufferable]] is another story.

** As of 2022, his anti-Semitic ramblings and appearances wearing [[BoomerangBigot shirts emblazoned with the words "White Lives Matter"]] may have been the [[RoleEndingMisdemeanor last straw]] for a lot of people who had previously put up with his antics, with many business and fellow celebrities cutting ties with him. [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment And that's all we'll say about that]].

** This all came to a head when he made comments on Twitter and gave several interviews that were heavily anti-Semitic in October 2022. This not not only got him temporarily banned from social media, but also caused several endorsements to cut him loose. Kanye also lost his billionaire status.

** This all came to a head when he made comments on Twitter that were heavily antisemitic. This not not only got him temporarily banned from social media, but also caused several endorsements to cut ties with him and Kanye lost his billionaire status.

** This all came to a head when he made comments on Twitter where he made several antisemitic comments that not not only got him temporarily banned from social media, but also caused several endorsements to cut ties with him and Kanye lost his billionaire status.

* CriticalResearchFailure:
** His verse on the ''Cruel Summer'' remix of [[Music/ChiefKeef "Don't Like"]] has a line where he says he was "''in too deep'' like Mekhi Phife'" -- although the film ''In Too Deep'' actually starred Omar Epps.
** "Black Skinhead" contains the infamous bars, "Keep it 300 like the Romans/ 300 bitches, where the Trojans?" 300 is a number associated not with the Romans but with the Spartans, and the Trojans were not, in fact, the enemies of Rome but of Greece.
** His repeated comments about the need to end the 13th Amendment to the US constitution (which he mentions in "On God") were scrutinized a lot, including by historians. It's been pointed out that since the 13th was the amendment that abolished slavery, removing it would theoretically legalize slavery again. Ironically the whole reason Ye claimed there was a problem with it in the first place was that it allows forced labour in prisons, which many have argued is not that different from slavery. Ye ended up walking back his comments and explained he should have said that he wanted the Constitution to be amended again, not to simply repeal the 13th.

* ImprovedByTheRecut: Or, in this case, the finished cut. ''The Life of Pablo'', after a series of "updates" within the first four months of its release, is looked at more favorably now than it was in early 2016. A number of critics even re-reviewed the fully updated album and found it to be a vast improvement over the original version.

* VindicatedByHistory:
** People have been a ''lot'' kinder to ''808s & Heartbreak'' after the success of ''My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy'' proved that [[ObfuscatingStupidity Kanye knew damn well what he was doing the whole time.]] To give an idea how far things have changed for the album, when the first single dropped back in 2008, the responses ranged between confusion to mockery, so much so that [[Series/TheColbertReport Stephen Colbert]] threw a ''very nasty'' pint-shot at Kanye over it. Now it's considered one of Kanye's best works outside of ''My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy''. It also doesn't hurt that it's Kanye's most influential album by far, more or less singlehandedly reinventing the modern R&B scene and influencing artists like Music/TheWeeknd, Music/{{Drake}} and Music/JCole.

** ''The Life of Pablo'', after a series of "updates" within the first four months of its release, is looked at more favorably now than it was in early 2016. A number of critics even re-reviewed the fully updated album and found it to be a vast improvement over the original version.
** ''Yeezus'' is still a bit divisive today, but it's much more fondly looked at in recent years.

* FirstInstallmentWins: There's still, to this day, many people who consider ''The College Dropout'' to be his best project.

* EvenBetterSequel: ''Late Registration'' was seen unanimously as a step up from ''The College Dropout'', with critics especially commending its more textured production (as in not relying on samples).

*** The actual music video for "Black Skinhead" isn't much better. Aside from the imagery of barking dogs and [[RuleOfSymbolism people wearing black pointed hoods]], it features a [[UncannyValley CGI model of Kanye]] who is either [[ShirtlessScene half-]] or [[MaleFrontalNudity fully naked]] between various shots, as well as baring whip marks and tribal tattoos towards the end. And then [[BodyHorror the animation glitches up...]][[https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/833514816211517490/872237818204815400/Screenshot_16.png?width=842&height=473 Jesus]]...

* UncannyValley: The video for "Black Skinhead" (or "BLKKK SKKKN HEAD") features a computer-generated Kanye that zigzags this line for the whole video.

*** ''The Life of Pablo'': "Famous" or "Fade"

*** ''Donda'': "Hurricane" or "Praise God"

** When Kanye and The Game released their new 2022 collaboration, “Eazy", the song's cover art is a very disturbing red picture of ''a flayyed monkey screaming''. Several people commented on what a jumpscare it is. Even PETA filed a complaint about it.

** When Kanye and The Game released their new 2022 collaboration, “Eazy", the song's cover art is a very disturbing red picture of a flayyed monkey screaming. Several people commented on what a jumpscare it is.

** Kanye's long-term beef with Music/{{Drake}} has also spilled over into their respective fanbases, Drake fans thinking Kanye is [[KnowNothingKnowItAll a pretentiously deluded provocateur]], Kanye fans thinking Drake is a [[{{Wangst}} laughable]] and [[ItsTheSameNowItSucks creatively sterile pop panderer.]] Once the beef went into overdrive in 2021 (turning Kanye's ''Donda'' and Drake's ''Certified Lover Boy'' into DuelingWorks), so did the antagonism between fandoms.