Kanye West has never been one to hold back.
Holding back actually goes against everything he stands for.
He’s always been ready and willing to discuss so many of his thoughts and feelings, even if those thoughts and feelings are controversial, upsetting, or just plain wrong.
Remember when he said that slavery was “a choice”?
Those aren’t the words of a man who watches what he says.
But in a series of tweets he made yesterday, he’s opening up a lot, even for him.
Just be warned, the subject matter is actually pretty dark.
He kicked things off by giving some general tips — he told his followers to “love everyone,” “stop trying start doing,” and to “break the status quo.”
He also advised to “Trust your feelings don’t calculate your perception.”
Then, a couple of hours after that, he started to tell a story.
“I saw the Alexander McQueen documentary and I connected with his journey,” he wrote.
“I know how it feels to want to take your life back into your own hands even if it means taking your own life.”
So sad, right?
But if you’re familiar with Alexander McQueen, it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that Kanye identifies with him.
McQueen, of course, was a fashion designer. He had his own label, but also worked as the chief designer for Givenchy for several years.
His designs were unique, as were his shows, so much that eccentric celebrities like David Bowie and Lady Gaga used his work in their music videos and tours.
But, as Kanye mentioned in his tweet, he ended up committing suicide in 2010.
Friends claimed that he’d been deeply unhappy leading up to his death, and that he’d also been doing lots of drugs.
You see now how Kanye could relate?
“To make this clear and not weird,” he continued after his McQueen tweets, “I’ve had these kinds of thoughts and I’m going to tell you things I’ve done to stay in a content place.”
He followed up with “How to NOT kill yourself pt 1,” which is “Avoid being around people who make you want to kill yourself.”
We’re not sure if that’s all there is to it for him or if he just got distracted, but he hasn’t elaborated any further on the topic.
He didn’t reveal when he dealt with suicidal thoughts, but it’s easy to imagine that could have been part of the issues he faced in 2016 that led to his hospitalization.
We’ve heard a lot about that time in Kanye’s life, but the general consensus is that he suffered a complete mental breakdown.
Several factors could have contributed to the breakdown, like Kim Kardashian being robbed at gunpoint in Paris just a month before.
At the time, sources claimed that he was used to Kim being the strong, supportive one, so when she needed him to be strong for her, it was too much for him.
The anniversary of his mother’s death was also right around this time, so that had to have been an added bit of sadness.
Kanye was on tour then, and he left a couple of concerts early and sometimes spent more time ranting about Jay Z than rapping, and he ended up canceling the tour altogether.
Immediately after that, he assaulted an employee at a gym, an ambulance was called for a “psychiatric emergency,” and that was that.
It’s been nearly two years since then, and though he’s definitely had his ups and downs, he’s never been that down since.
Hopefully his tips for avoiding those kinds of dark thoughts have been working, and hopefully he’ll share more of them soon — perhaps even a book!
After all, with tips like “avoid being around people who make you want to kill yourself,” who knows what other gems he has in that head of his!