Kanye West should be just about the happiest guy in the galaxy right now. He’s just had his first child, North; he’s engaged to Kim Kardashian; he’s besties with Anna Wintour; and he’s just about the only person in the world who can make a goatee look cool.
But 2013 has seen Kanye ranting at an Olympic level, spouting off in interviews, on Twitter and even onstage.
Why is he so angry? There’s no single reason. Like most people in the public eye, he’s deeply insecure. Many times Kanye has spoken of his hatred of being fenced in and viewed as just a rapper instead of a creative person in all fields. He also has a tendency to be a jerk. It’s a fascinating combination, and one that has made the album “Yeezus” one of the most incendiary of the year.
“It’s the sound of frustration,” he told the BBC in September, and that frustration boils over pretty regularly.
Tonight, he plays at Barclays Center — the first of four shows in New York this week — and if you’re going, prepare to feel the wrath of Kanye. It doesn’t take much to set him off.
Here are the Top 10 things that have gotten him riled up this year.
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1. Jimmy Kimmel
After Kimmel spoofed Kanye’s BBC interview by casting a petulant child to play the rapper’s part, Kanye went on an epic Twitter rant, branding the chat-show host a “manipulative media mutherf - - ker.” The faceoff was completed when Kanye appeared as a guest on Kimmel’s show last month, and they duly made up. For now, at least.
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2. The paparazzi
Yeezy has a special level of hatred for shutterbugs. Two altercations with the paparazzi happened in the space of a week in July at LAX — the second of which resulted in misdemeanor charges for Kanye.
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3. Ray J
Given Ray’s past sexcapades with Kim Kardashian, it was only a matter of a time before he clashed with Kanye. Sure enough, Kanye called Ray “Brandy’s little sister” and referred to him as “lame” during an appeaerance on “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.” Even a self-proclaimed “genius” is not above the odd schoolyard-level diss.
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4. Fendi
According to Kanye, he first went to the fashion house six years ago with designs for leather jogging pants, but was rejected. Now, they’re all the rage and Kanye is raging (“How many mutherf - - kers you done seen with a leather jogging pant?”). Regardless of who came up with the idea, it’s a chafing nightmare waiting to happen.
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5. Hedi Slimane
If you believe Kanye’s side of the story as told to “W” magazine, Saint Laurent designer Slimane told Kanye that he could only come to his Paris fashion show if he didn’t go to any others. Upset at the attempt to control his movements, Kanye wrote the track “I Am a God” about the slight. Nobody puts Yeezy in the corner!
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6. The New York Times
Although the newspaper dedicated an article the length of a short novel to Kanye’s rants this year, it apparently wasn’t enough because it failed to mention the concept and design of “Cruel Summer” — a short film co-directed by West based on Middle Eastern folk tales that played inside a giant pyramid at the Cannes Film Festival in 2012.
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7. Vogue
Any perceived slight against his baby-mama is likely to get Kanye upset — and not getting the cover of Vogue is one of them. “There’s no way Kim Kardashian shouldn’t be on the cover of Vogue,” he told Ryan Seacrest last month. “She’s like the most intriguing woman right now. She’s got Barbara Walters calling her like every day.” Um, can someone tell Kanye that Barbara Walters doesn’t edit Vogue?
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8. Lady Gaga
In the BBC interview, Kanye also took a swing at artists who get into bed with corporations — including Gaga’s creative-director role with Polaroid. “What the f - - k does she know about cameras?” he asked. Well, she knows what to do in front of one.
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9. Justin Timberlake
At a show in London in February, Kanye gave props to Jay Z but simultaneously knocked Justin Timberlake by declaring, “I got love for Hov, but I ain’t f - - king with that suit and tie” — referring to the “Suit & Tie” single Jay and Justin had just released. During an interview with Sirius XM’s Sway, Timberlake explained he and West eventually talked out their differences during an hourlong conversation at August’s MTV VMAs in Brooklyn. “I respect his opinion because I think he’s a genius, but I don’t share that opinion,” he said.
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10. His dentist
The furious rants are still coming in thick and fast on the current tour. At a recent Oakland gig, Kanye took down his own dentist for putting his incidental chitchat into music terms. “I understand English,” said Kanye, apparently annoyed at being patronized. “You don’t have to put it in music terms for me to understand mutherf - - king English!” Jesus, Yeezus. He was just trying to be friendly!