Kanye West. Wikipedia defines him as a "rapper, songwriter, record producer, director, entrepreneur and fashion designer." He has sold 21 million albums, 66 million digital downloads and has been the recipient of 21 Grammys, a feat unparalleled by most musicians of his age. He is no stranger to annual lists of "most influential people of all time" and he is a great contributor to many "greatest albums" compilations. Many consider him to be the father of "alternative hip hop," a style of rap that deviated from the typical "gangsta" sensibilities of the early 2000's. His new approach to the genre went on to influence the likes of such hip-hop superstars as Big Sean, J. Cole and Drake. He is, without a doubt, one of the most dominant figures of the hip-hop industry.

And he is in a downward spiral.

Let's make one thing clear — I love Kanye West's work from the last ten years. When I got my first iPod and logged onto iTunes for the first time in the sixth grade, the first things I downloaded were popular songs by Fall Out Boy, Green Day (give me a break, I was in sixth grade) and Kanye.  And that was what I was really drawn to by his music — I didn't feel completely out of my element listening to Late Registration. Kanye's songs gelled perfectly well with the alt-rock songs that were popular in middle school. Even more amazingly, as I grew out of the whole rock-and-roll boy band music, I grew more appreciative of Kanye West because I realized he gelled with all kinds of music. He didn't fit into the rap stereotype of the time.  

Now my experiences with Late Registration and Kanye's earlier work may very well differ from everyone else's.  But one thing nobody can deny is his ability to stay fresh. His sound was constantly changing. Graduation expanded on the alternative hip-hop sound prevalent in The College Dropout and Late Registration. Then he completely changed the game with 808's and Heartbreak, an album defined even less by rap and more by synthetic beats and melodic choruses … it was a rap album unlike any other at the time, ditching the traditional rap structure to emphasize sound.

What followed was My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy which changed the face of rap even further. The album was made up of songs that lasted well over the normal 3-4 minutes. Many of the songs were backed by unconventional samples, ranging from Mike Oldfield's gospel-sounding "In High Places" to the piano-based "Avril 14th" by Aphex Twin.  But most impressive was the unprecedented quality of the production; it was baroque in its nature, with baroque being a term I don't think anyone ever expected to serve as a descriptor for a rap album.

What did Kanye do next? He took a complete 180 with his next solo album, Yeezus, stripping his music of all the frills that defined Fantasy.  Just as the industry began imitating the high-quality design of his previous outing, Kanye introduced the notion of an industrial-sounding rap album. The lyrics were outrageous and the beats were heavy-hitting and, once again, unconventional. And best of all, Yeezus made it clear the Kanye West cared nothing about what anyone had to say — he was the best at his game and he knew it.

Can you see the underlying theme in his career from 2005 to 2013? Change.  Evolution. Influence. He broke away from conventions. He tried new things,  and it was all with resounding success. Kanye became a cultural icon, and with the release of Yeezus, a symbol for the "I Don't Care, I'm Better Than Everyone" generation.

Despite his incredible success, Kanye has always been a polarizing figure. He publicly stated that George Bush didn't care about black people in 2005. He interrupted Taylor Swift's acceptance of "Best Music Video" at the VMA's in 2009. President Obama has even called Kanye a jackass. Despite the success he's had in his profession, he has always been a character shrouded in controversy.

Now if you hated Kanye West back then, there was no way you'd pardon him for his public missteps. But I think it was easy for his fans to forgive his more outrageous actions. He never shied away from addressing his controversies after the fact. He publicly apologized to President  Bush and Taylor Swift (and many believe the song "Runaway" to be a reference to the VMA's incident as well as an indirect apology to Swift). He has openly stated that many of his outbursts can be attributed to the fact that his close relationship with his mother was cut short upon her death in 2007. And even though I hate to make excuses for people, being famous can't be easy; Kanye West had a meteoric rise that even the most mature and sensible people would no doubt be overwhelmed by. Being scrutinized by the public eye is a tough feat.

The problem today is that Kanye West still hasn't grown out of this phase. He's about to release his seventh solo album. He has been at the forefront of the hip-hop scene for ten years now. He has had ample time to learn from his mistakes. But he just keeps making them.  

In 2013, West arguably took his overstated opinions too far. "Black people don't have the same level of connections as Jewish people," Kanye said in a radio interview, "We don't got family that got money like that!" Besides the obvious inappropriateness of assuming that members of the Jewish community have better opportunities and more money than other minority groups, it's clear that Kanye's "political" statements are getting more and more baseless and absurd. Remarks like that are a prime way to kill your credibility.

Even more recently, in September 2014, Kanye stopped in the middle of a live performance to demand that everyone in the audience stand up or else he would stop the show. He then called for all disabled audience members who could not stand to show proof of their disability before he would start performing again. Of course, the disabled community got pretty offended.  His bloated self-image is funny in the context of an album like Yeezus — it's annoying and offensive in real life.

But the event that really tipped the scale for me happened just a few weeks ago and is my reason for writing this article.

The Grammy Awards, 2015. Beck beats Beyonce for "Best Album of the Year." Kanye acts as if he's going to grab the microphone and start another rant a la the 2009 VMA's. But he doesn't — it's a joke. He laughsEveryone else laughs. We figure he has not only learned from his previous controversy, but is good-humored enough to joke about it. Good for you Kanye, right?

Wrong. After the ceremony, he must have figured he had to leave his mark somehow. He went off on a rant saying that the Grammy's needed to stop "playing with us" if they wanted "real artists to come back." As if that wasn't enough, he made yet another attempt to steal an artist's accomplishment away from them. "Beck needs to respect artistry," Kanye said, "He should have given his award to Beyonce."

Even the biggest Yeezy fan I know, Nick Chbane, 23, had this to say about Kanye's apparent downfall: "I agree. He's super 'screw the system' and that's kind of annoying." Kanye has always been outspoken, but at this point. he's extremely successful and, as far as anybody else can tell, didn't have many hardships growing up to speak of. He was born into a middle-class upbringing and had a relatively smooth ride to the top of the industry. This country has been pretty good to him and I believe his constant criticism of it is hypocritical and unwarranted.

"It's also weird that his biggest outbursts have been at award shows," Chbane notes. I have to agree; aside from his odd obsession with Beyonce, why is he so preoccupied with the Grammys? Isn't it a pretty well-established fact that, like the Academy Awards, the Grammys are a majorly political popularity contest? Does Kanye not have better things to worry about? I would think that the quality of your work and your personal dedication to it is more important than what a group of voters have to say about it. But it seems as though Kanye can't comprehend the idea that there is no causation between lack of attention and lack of quality, something kids are basically taught in kindergarten.

And speaking of quality, Kanye's work seems to be just as much on the decline as his social acceptability. "I haven't even bothered listening to his new songs," Chbane admits. If you have heard the songs that have been released from his to-be-named new album, you have heard the change in style. But unlike with 808's or Yeezus, this change in style isn't for the better. The songs we've heard so far seem to lack structure. They are the musical equivalent of nonsensical, rambling tangents … maybe that makes sense given the artist behind them.

"I overlooked those things a lot, but now it's starting to be a bit much  It's much more constant now," Chbane said of Kanye's polarizing views and controversial antics. And I think that it won't be long before many people feel that way. Without innovative music, there's not much to distract people from an artist's public life. Coupling increasing prevalence of controversial events with a decrease in music quality results in an artist that can no longer be considered the best in the business. Kanye is becoming less of a serious musical performer and more of a caricature of himself.  

At one point, I considered Kanye West to be a genius burdened by the pressure of making the best product possible. His controversial antics could be attributed to tumultuous family problems and the pressure of success. But it's time for him to grow up. He has made it clear that years beyond his mother's death and several awards later, he's still insecure and inappropriate. And what's worse, the quality of his music is sinking just as rapidly as his public image is. It saddens me to say it, but those are the hallmarks of a great icon in decline.

Kanye West will always be the father of alternative hip hop. He will always be referred to as an innovator of the industry as we know it today. And maybe his album will be a surprise and deviate completely from what we've heard of it so far. But for now, when referring to Kanye's greatness, it will be in the past tense. "Nothings last forever," according to the lyrics of "Heard Em Say." Those words have never been more relevant.