Citizens the world over have thought Kanye West was a little off his rocker from time to time (okay, most of the time), what with his constant egotistical claims that he’s the biggest rock star on the planet and his downright insane Twitter rants.
But a former friend and colleague is now suggesting that Kanye’s issue could be more than just extreme arrogance.
Rhymefest, who has co-written many songs with Kanye including “Jesus Walks” and “New Slaves,” recently tweeted to fans that he believes his fellow rapper needs help in the form of spiritual and mental counseling.
Rhymefest quit working with Kanye about a month ago – an odd time to leave given that the rapper just debuted his new album, “The Life of Pablo,” last Thursday.
Previously, fans assumed Kanye’s bizarre behavior was due to one of two possibilities: A) he’s a jackass or B) he’s grandstanding for publicity.
But when a close colleague goes public and says there may be a deeper problem, well, that’s not something we can ignore.
We most certainly do not have a team of psychiatrists here at THG, but the likelihood of a personality disorder does not seem so far-fetched.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder is recognized by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) and lists the following symptoms:
- Having an exaggerated sense of self-importance
- Expecting to be recognized as superior even without achievements that warrant it
- Exaggerating your achievements and talents
- Being preoccupied with fantasies about success, power, brilliance, beauty or the perfect mate
- Believing that you are superior and can only be understood by or associate with equally special people
- Requiring constant admiration
- Having a sense of entitlement
- Expecting special favors and unquestioning compliance with your expectations
- Taking advantage of others to get what you want
- Having an inability or unwillingness to recognize the needs and feelings of others
- Being envious of others and believing others envy you
- Behaving in an arrogant or haughty manner
Again, we are in NO position to provide an actual diagnosis, but the points above appear to describe Kanye’s public persona to a T.
We’ve all had experience with narcissists in our life, but Kanye’s behavior – from publicly trashing other artists and ex-girlfriends to pumping up his ego with outrageous claims of genius – seems beyond normal standards.
Earlier today, Kanye took to Twitter to announce he was $ 53 million in debt and asked for a $ 1 billion loan from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to support “the greatest artist of all time.”
