Kanye West Holds Up Notepad, Gifts The World A Meme

Ally Perry • Writer and Editor

Feb 14, 2022 1:00 PM EST

Being a famous person is a hefty responsibility. You don't just get gifted all that money and prestige to sit around doing nothing; there are millions who look up to you, or rather at you, at all times. As one of the chosen court jesters for all of the common people, a truly great celebrity always knows how to create a spectacle. Fame is a binding contract to making your life into performance art, so it better not be boring.

Few individuals alive today embody this better than the man formerly known as Kanye West. Alongside being one of the most seismic and important musical artists of the 21st century, Ye is arguably one of the most preeminent public figures when it comes to the grandiose public gesture. In case a weekend's worth of headlines haven't made it clear enough, he has officially entered his divorced dad era.

Naturally, he's approached this with his trademark panache. The past few days have seen him devote his Instagram account to pining for soon to be ex wife Kim Kardashian, griping about visitation rights for his kids and most importantly of all, taking out his frustrations on Kim K's unlikely new beau, Pete Davidson.

In a now-deleted string of posts, he launched an attack against his rival that made it clear that no hatchets were getting buried any time soon. Sharing private texts that showed a failed attempt at peace making and digging up numerous old pictures and rumors, some doubted that it was the musician himself who was trashing Davidson. This led to him uploading a series of pictures, in which he held up a dated notepad to prove that he had not been hacked. It didn't take long for some eagle-eyed fans to realize that one of these photos would make the perfect exploitable.

This isn't the first time that Ye has made his mark on the memeosphere. He's drawn attention with everything from his costumes to his numerous other feuds, and even been turned into a jump scare. Recent follies, like his ill-fated 2020 presidential campaign, or the Donda release party have only added to the fascination. As if that wasn't enough, his interruption of Taylor Swift at the MTV Video Music Awards remains seared into the back of our minds almost thirteen years later as an example of the perfect memeable celebrity moment.

However, it's rare that he gives the world a format that is as ripe for taking advantage of as this definitive proof of posting. Whatever dumb little message you may have for the benefit of the wider internet right now, you know what the background image needs to be.