Page Six: Kanye West is the most difficult artist to deal with in the business
Here are some photos of Kanye West looking happy (ish) yesterday at LAX. These photos were taken following his Twitter rant at/to Wiz Khalifa, and the look on Kanye’s face seems to indicate that he thinks he “won.” If his aim was to make people aware of his new album, WAVES (not SWISH), then sure, he probably won. If his aim was to make people aware of the fact that Kanye is still a tantrum-prone child, then he succeeded there as well. Following his latest hissy fit, Page Six did an exclusive about how the people at Def Jam (Kanye’s label) are not pleased with him at all.
Kanye West is in full-on “[I’m] the greatest artist of all time” mode, and not even his label bosses at Def Jam can control him.
“Kanye drives Def Jam more off the wall than any other artist drives anyone at any other label off the wall. He tortures them!” says an industry insider.
Case in point: “On his last album, ‘Yeezus,’ he yelled at them and told them they’re incompetent and should be fired. He’s the most difficult artist to deal with in the business.” But the source adds, “He can be as big of an a--hole as he wants, because even on his worst day, he still makes better hip-hop records than most.”
But our source, who has heard tracks from “Waves,” tells us West shouldn’t be so cocky: “It’s not the greatest album ever made. The people he’s getting feedback from are not the same as when he’d go to Jay Z to get feedback. Now, it’s from Kris Jenner. The stuff he’s done lately is dumbed down because of the Kardashians, but he’s still brilliant.”
A more friendly West insider insists: “‘Waves’ is that classic Kanye sound. The idea that his music has been dumbed down because of bouncing it off the Kardashians is nonsense. The core group that have been around him since the beginning has remained the same. The album is the return of the old Kanye.”
Well, as I know from his Twitter rant, WAVES is a gospel album. That’s what he said! I personally thought Yeezus was a decent album and I disagree with the idea that Kanye’s sound is dumbed-down post-Kardashian. If anything, his sound has gotten more complicated and less radio-friendly. But I don’t doubt that Kanye is a total pill to deal with professionally, nor do I doubt that people at Def Jam are pissed off. The one thing that bugs me? When people blame the women in Kanye’s life for his own drama. Like, if you think Kanye’s a douchebag, then just believe that he’s a douchebag. He’s not a d-bag because of Kim or Kris Jenner or Beyonce. He’s a grown-ass man. Let him own his sh-t.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
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