Kanye West has declared himself to be the "new Moses" in his latest unhinged rant. Unfortunately, he is taking things even further ... posting a video in which he appears to urinate on his Grammy Award.
We're not saying that Kanye has gone off the deep end. That ship sailed long ago.
But he has upped his game, from making erratic statements at rallies, in interviews, and on Twitter to posting yikes-worthy videos.
This time, he has placed his Grammy Award in a toilet .. and is making his contempt very obvious.
From the cropped image above to the selection of Ye's tweets below, Kanye is acting out for attention -- and he is receiving it.
All of this is about his crusade to free fellow artists from the "slavery" of their music contracts with massive corporations.
Now, we do tend to agree that many artists find themselves trapped in exploitative contracts that seemed favorable when they were young and naive and first signed on.
The "slavery" analogy is rarely, if ever, apt to anyone being paid real money for their work and not being forced to work.
Kanye takes things even further with his declaration that he is "the new Moses," making reference to a figure from a scriptural narrative of liberation found in the Torah.
We understand that his unmedicated bipolar disorder may include symptoms such as a sense of euphoria, an inflated ego, and a lack of impulse control -- thus tweeting without a filter.
But comparing yourself to any religious figure, whether they are human or divine, historical or literary, is almost always a mistake ... and often a mental health red flag.
But that pales beside posting a video of him appearing to urinate. (Technically, we cannot identify the fluid that is streaming in the video)
There are plenty of people who post urination videos every day. Many of them are sex workers, doing so to earn a living.
Kanye is doing this as a display of contempt and in a desperate (and successful) bid for attention. It's a little gross. It's also deeply weird.
We also should address that Kanye's video features ... other voices. Multiple other voices, like you would hear in the lobby outside of an auditorium.
Now, we know that Kanye and Kim live in a colorless void, so maybe sound carries further than it would in a home with more actual decor.
But it sure sounds like Kanye is recording this amateur watersports video just a dozen or so feet away from where multiple people, possibly women, are carrying on a conversation.
We know that Kanye feels like he can take on the world right now, like there is an urgent need for him to save and transform the world.
He is feeling this way because he is not adequately medicated for his mental illness.
We promise that, like countless other bipolar Americans, he could continue to pursue his passions if he were medicated and he might be more effective when he is no longer so obviously unwell.
Kanye West Declares: I Am Moses Reborn!!! The NBA and Music Industry are Slave Ships!!!
Kanye West has been alarming loved ones and the world with increasingly irrational statements and behaviors. Now, he has declared himself to be the "new Moses." Oh, dear.
"I’m not putting no more music out till I’m done with my contract with Sony and Universal…" Kanye tweets.
He then vows: "On God…in Jesus name…come and get me."
Stories of artists taking issue with their music contracts are all too common, and it seems that Kanye has some frustrations in that department.
For that, he has our sympathies. Being a singer is hard, and massive corporations often frustrate talented artists.
But Kanye had much, much more to express in a series of now-deleted tweets.
“I need a public apology from J Cole and Drake to start with immediately…" Kanye announced.
He shared: "I’m Nat Turner…I’m fighting for us,” in reference to a Black slave who led a slave rebellion in Virginia decades before the Civil War.
He has had a feud with Drake for years. As for his gripe with Drizzy and J Cole ... no one seems to know.
it is important to note that Kanye could be speaking in response to private matters not made public
though it is unclear why he would then post so vaguely about them in public
it is also possible that Kanye, being a self-absorbed egomaniac, is simply referring to imagined slights, and that Drizzy and J Cole areas in the dark as the rest of us.
“I’m waiting to meet with Sean Carter also," Kanye tweeted and deleted.
He then tweeted: “My bad I meant Shawn…no disrespect to my big bro."
Kanye and Jay-Z have had issues with each other going back several years, after Kanye's poor behavior and erratic statements got him on Jay-Z's bad side.
“I’m not industry bro…I don’t care…I’m in service to Christ…" Kanye tweeted.
He continued: "We need world healing…miss my brothers…"
Kanye concluded: "I refuse to argue with black men on labels we don’t own…even twitter.”
Kanye also related his aspirations to impress Jay-Z while speaking to Nick Cannon in a recent, unhinged interview.
“So I’m thinking people call me crazy so I’m going to show them, I’m gonna even show my big bro I’m not crazy,” Kanye announced.
He added: “I’m going to show Jay-Z ... that you could be diagnosed and people could point fingers at you, and you could still be a citizen and you could still have value.”
“I need to see everybody’s contracts at Universal and Sony," Kanye decreed.
This part of the tweet was great, with an older man in the industry offering help to younger artists.
But then, because Kanye cannot help himself, he ruined it.
"I’m not gonna watch my people be enslaved," Kanye announced.
He added: "I’m putting my life on the line for my people. The music industry and the NBA are modern-day slave ships."
Kanye then wrote: "I’m the new Moses.”
Okay so, first of all, "I'm the new" followed by any major religious figure, real or fictional, human or divine, is more or less always a mistake.
We understand that Kanye is unmedicated and that his bipolar disorder's symptoms may include delusions of grandeur, a sense of euphoria, and speaking (and tweeting) with no filter.
But ... his statement was obviously going to rub people the wrong way.
Also, he seems to be mixing his metaphors. In the scriptural narrative of Exodus, Moses liberates the ancient Israelites from Egyptian rule.
(Some historians speculate that this story actually describes Egypt separating from ancient Jerusalem, withdrawing assistance and governance from its former protectorate during a time of crisis)
Slave ships, on the other hand, were largely employed during the 400-year horror of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. He is, as we said, mixing metaphors a bit.
Kanye also made vague reference to Travis Scott's McDonald's deal and gave a shout-out to notorious fringe-Right commentator Candace Owens.
There is no medication or psychiatric treatment to magically make Kanye a good person, but if he were to seek psychiatric care, he might be able to reign in some of his impulses.
However, Kanye has expressed the belief that medication is designed to "silence" him and to make him "fat on purpose," so sadly we do not think that he will address this any time soon.
