Kanye West is often given over to passionate discourse, and nowhere are his thoughts more crystallized — and shout-y — than on Twitter.
Ever since West first issued his inaugural 140 character comment, @kanyewest has become one of the most controversial, talked about and followed accounts on the social media site.
But if we had to describe Ye’s relationship with Twitter, we’d have to go with “complicated, and yet magical.” The music star’s latest Twitter issue, this “fight” with Jimmy Kimmel, is just the #tipoftheiceberg.
West made his Twitter debut in July 2010, sharing thoughts related to business, pleasure and regrets:
From July 28, 2010: The album is no longer called “Good A** Job” I’m bouncing a couple of titles around
From July 28, 2010: Up early in the morning taking meetings in Silicone Valley … Lol I spelled Silicon wrong ( I guess I was still thinking about the other type of silicone ITS A PROCESS!! : )
From July 28, 2010: I jog in Lanvin … I wish I had a Twitter when I was at the Lanvin store in Paris 3 weeks ago with Jay & B uuuuugh so many missed stuntastic moments
From July 28, 2010: hold on…. I’m bout to hop on this #BABYMAMAJET the jets Billionaires give to they baby mamas or they 1rst 2nd or 3rd wife
From July 29, 2010: I specifically ordered persian rugs with cherub imagery!!! What do I have to do to get a simple persian rug with cherub imagery uuuuugh
After he got the feel of it, he also used it as a way to apologize to Taylor Swift about “The Incident”:
It is distasteful to cut people off as a general rule. What’s the point of dressing tastefully if I’m going to act the complete opposite? … I’ve hurt, I’ve bled, I’ve learned. I only want to do good… I want to help as many people as I can. I want to help starting with the music and ending with the smile. It starts with this… I’m sorry Taylor.
And as a way to share how much he didn’t like certain members of the media, like “Today’s” Matt Lauer:
From November 2010: I don’t mess with Matt Lauer or the Today Show and that’s a very nice way for me to put it!
By the end of 2010, West’s tweets were practically works of performance art — and nearly everyone had a list of their favorite ‘Ye Twitter moments. Truth be told, sometimes he was pretty on target:
From August 1, 2010: Fur pillows are hard to actually sleep on
From August 20, 2010: French fries are the devil
From September 16, 2010: You basically can say anything to someone on an email or text as long as you put LOL at the end.
From October 16, 2010: I hate when I’m on a flight and I wake up with a water bottle next to me like oh great now I gotta be responsible for this water bottle.
They were so talked about, Josh Groban even sang about them:
But as the years wore on, West’s Twitter account also got him into some trouble — such as when he tweeted about abortions.
Sometimes he was effusive — like when he listed a bunch of things he didn’t like, including “big a** striped scarves” and “khaki trench coats with jeans and off-brand workout sneakers,” or outlined his plan to create a company called DONDA in a series of 80+ tweets.
In October 2012, West decided to leave Twitter altogether, and took his exclamation marks, ellipses and persistent capitalization with him. When he returned, though — and we all knew he wouldn’t be gone forever — he seemed more elusive than before, like when he just tweeted a series of words in January 2013, or deleted all of his tweets in May 2013 and left a single message, “June Eighteen.”
In context, we’re not even sure where his epic Twitter fight with Jimmy Kimmel even falls. True, it was surprising to see West return to old habits — his Twitter account has been more promotional vehicle than emotional outlet lately — but, when you think about it, it really isn’t wholly out of character. All caps, a little photoshop action — nothing we haven’t seen before. In case you missed it, here’s Jimmy Kimmel’s response:
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