“I am Shakespeare in the flesh” he proclaimed, referring to his lyrical genius. Of course, I’m referring to Kanye West. Kanye West has won nearly 230 awards throughout his illustrious career, including 21 Grammy’s and 10 BET awards, though, Kanye would say he is not defined by these awards.

Kanye has become extremely controversial as of late, with bold statements, and perhaps a good amount of misjudgment at times, but like us, he's also human.

Kanye, though he is very much controversial, has become an icon of our time. He embodies confidence, he embodies humility at times, he embodies love and he embodies a love for life that is unmatched.

One thing I love in particular about Kanye West is his confidence. Yes, I do know that people view Kanye as a bit too confident in himself, but personally, I think a lot of people wish they could have even an ounce of that level of confidence.

Look no further than his VMA appearance in 2009 when he famously interrupted Taylor Swift while accepting her award. Yes, this was a horrible decision on Kanye’s part, and he has acknowledged that he was way out of line for doing that, but the level of confidence that he goes about life with is amazing.

I for one, know that I would not have the audacity to do that in any given situation. He displays this in other areas of his life with his recently bold tweets, and other lines such as “I feel like I’m too busy writing history to read it.” He's really showing that he has the mindset that he’s the best to do what he does, and he’s not sorry for it.

On the contrary, Kanye has shown that he also can walk the way he talks. On three separate occasions, Kanye has felt as though he was not deserving of awards he won, and invited those that he feels should have won, to come up and accept the award, and speak on his behalf, showing that just as much as he is capable of stealing the show, he’s just as capable of giving away the spotlight to those that deserve it.

Another thing about Kanye that should not be overshadowed by his outspoken personality is his genuine love for those around him. Many people think that Kanye does what he does for himself, and from what I’ve learned, that is a horribly wrong judgment.

Kanye West had to go through the death of his mother, which he accounts as being the worst time of his life. He’s been vulnerable enough to admit he did not want to live at stretches of time, but he has found a new passion for living. When he had his first daughter, North, he said in an interview, “After I lost my mother, there were times I felt like I would put my life at risk. I felt like sometimes I didn’t have something to live for, and now I have two really special people to live for, a whole family to live for, a whole world to live for.”

Kanye realizes that family comes before everything else in his life, which I feel like some celebrities could take notes on. He does this consistently. If you go on his social media he openly talks about how his wife is the most beautiful woman in the world.

He also has done a great job putting this love into words, with songs like “Only One,” written for his daughter, North, and “Hey Mama,” written for his late mother. While he may not always seem like the most loving, Kanye loves those that matter most to him.

Finally, Kanye lives his life to the fullest. In 2005, Kanye was in a car crash where he was extremely lucky to walk away with his life in hand. That same year, he won the Grammy award for best rap album on his record “College Dropout.” In his acceptance speech, Kanye noted, that the only thing certain in life is death.

Ever since that accident, Kanye has lived with a boldness that no one can match. He attacks life harder than anyone else does, and though it may be a bit flamboyant at times, it is what has driven him to the top of the rap world, and into the spotlight. Kanye is not sorry for what he does, which I admire greatly.

Kanye has become a very controversial figure, but if you’re a glass half full kind of person, I urge you to look past your previous judgments of Kanye and hope that you can see a man who is confident, humble, loving and lives life to the fullest. We're all human, and we all have flaws to answer to, but look past these flaws and there is an extremely talented and accomplished man.