A lot of people want to mark the downfall of Kanye West's persona/artistic process/sanity at the events that preceded 808s & Heartbreak. He lost his mother and his soon-to-be wife left him. His entire life was in shambles and everything was downhill for him.

But I fail to see how this is seen as a point where he "snapped." A lot of people thrive when the flame is put under their ass, and Kanye clearly did. In the midst of his biggest struggle, he was able to focus and release 808s & Heartbreak, an amazingly prophetic album that spelled what was to come. Although it wasn't well received at the time, it's evidently become one of his most important releases.

The fact Kanye was album to stay so artistically focused and put out 808s & Heartbreak shows, to me, that the events preceding the album didn't make him snap at all. They only helped him. But something clearly DID happen that changed Kanye irreversibly. Something that made him as unstable as he is today.

After searching and talking to a lot of older Kanye fans like myself, I've deduced the clearest origin point for all of Kanye's most obvious flaws today, the penny freestyle:

Before you dismiss this as a joke, please hear me out. At the time, this freestyle seemed to be a funny joke where Kanye rolled with a heckler and made a scene out of it for laughs. But knowing what he know about Kanye today, is it not clear that he was truly and sincerely offended by this? Kanye most definitely is the type to take sincere offense at someone in the front row throwing a penny at him. This hurt him.

We try to make jokes out of things that hurt us the most. His outburst on stage over this penny shows a man trying to rationalize his entire ego falling apart. Kanye most definitely took comfort in the platform he had. He was so willing to wear his heart on his sleeve and be open emotionally, which is something very few rappers were doing before him. He changed the game.

So at his most vulnerable, a penny being thrown at him was able to shatter this illusion. Kanye stopped feeling safe in that moment. He's clearly more paranoid than ever, a paranoia which grew more and more from the penny. This paranoid and distrustfulness, a detachment caused by his perception of his fanbase being ruined, has been laced through his music ever since.

Listen back on Real Friends. Kanye doesn't f*** with friends or other people anymore, not since the penny. What was Kanye So Appalled over? And is it not possible that Monster is simply Kanye waxing over what that penny made him become?

How did he become the black skinhead? What was it that was hitting his head? Was it the penny?

On God is the most obvious reflection on the penny yet. Nearly every bar here deals with some sort of trauma Kanye has experienced, and the penny is clearly alluded to.

"Life gon' have some lows and some highs
Before the Grammys ever gave me a nod"

"I bleached my hair for every time I could have died
That's on God"

Although Kanye thinks he survived the penny, his ego clearly didn't. This man is broken and falling apart more and more. I know that's only stating the obvious, but we need to acknowledge the origin point of all of his failings and flaws so we can prevent it in the future.

Remember it through his own words, how he views the person who threw the penny.

"You tried to play nice, everybody just took advantage"

U rly typed all that out damn

When time travel is available to the public first thing i'm doing is preventing this from happening to my former idol.

ok so what ur saying is .... he do be kinda looking fresh doe?

Can't Take a Joke by Drake out now!

Facts

uhhh thread highkey wild

OP not wrong

another great thread by Nana btw!

ok dis plausible

DMed u on discord so Answer Me

Based!

Ty

But what would his music be like without it? Would we still have MBDTF?

Good Ass Job without Chance>>>>>

well, i'm convinced

also first page wild asf

YES

Chance used his connection to cara lewis kanye's agent to work with kanye Ye didn't even fw bro music