Posted by Jenna Postler
Life has come full circle recently for Kanye West.
It's been over a year since the artist's infamous, "I'mma let you finish" incident at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, when he stole the microphone from 20-year-old award winner Taylor Swift. For fans and critics alike, it seems that the hip-hop artist's career is finally back on track. To re-launch his career, West used an unlikely option: Twitter.
As many celebrities do after committing a faux pas, West disappeared from the music scene for several months following the incident. Out of the public eye, we can only assume that the artist took this time to do some soul searching.
On July 28, West joined the social networking site Twitter, and he hasn't stopped tweeting yet. In and of itself, West creating a Twitter account is not big news. What's startling about West's use of technology is that he has cemented himself in popular culture as simultaneously being a professional crazy person and a gifted artist.
West, in addition to providing us with the snippets we would expect from a rap artist about cars, women and clothes, took to giving his followers important life advice. West, who tweets about a variety of things, several times a day, has composed such insights as: "HEADED TO THE CLUB... these tweets were made of real bits of panther!!!!" and "Make sure your accounts receivable are faster than your accounts payable."
After the initial insanity of West's tweets wore off, and fans stopped laughing at his random tweets about cherubs and goblets, West began to use his Twitter account for self-promotion. Through a series of tweets on Aug. 22, West announced his plans to release a new song a week as part of a program called, "G.O.O.D. Fridays."
Since then, West has kept to his promise to release a new track a week until Dec. 25. The artist's weekly releases have featured such artists as: Raekwon, Jay-Z, Swizz Beatz, Nicki Minaj and Bon Iver. The releases are no doubt part of a promotional program preparing for the release of his fifth studio album, which is currently untitled.
West's most recent, and arguably his best to date, G.O.O.D. Friday release is titled "So Appalled." The track features RZA, Jay-Z, Pusha T, Swizz Beatz and Cyhi the Prynce. The sheer lyrical genius of this collaboration is best demonstrated by rapper Pusha-T's verse, in which he rhymes: "Success is what you make it, take it how it come. A half a mill in twenties like a billion where I'm from. An arrogant drug dealer the legend I've become, CNN said I'd be dead by 21."
With releases like "So Appalled," West is providing fans with real, talent-filled music that we haven't seen from the artist since his third studio album, "Graduation." After an ill-fated experimentation phase with auto tune, and his album "808s & Heartbreak," some feared the artist would never get back to giving his fans quality music.
Luckily, just over a year after the Taylor Swift incident, West is back on track and just as eccentric as ever.