Kanye West is set to release his newest album on Thursday, his first studio project since 2013 and the seventh of his career. The album, which has been the subject of gossip since new songs began leaking out as early as the summer of 2014, has been hyped with tweets from its creator, who calls it “the best album of all time.”

People make fun of West for comments like these, and it’s easy to see why: He’s one of the most outwardly egotistical artists of our generation.

But who says you have to hate his behavior?

It’s well-established that celebrities have pretty big egos. If they show any sign of humility in public, that’s actually seen as different. Even Jennifer Lawrence, known for her down-to-earth nature, has gotten a little cocky after four Oscar nominations — and she has the right to — she earned them.

West, meanwhile, has won 21 Grammy Awards from 53 nominations, with three of those nominations from the 2016 awards show, which is this weekend. And if you don’t consider the Grammys a reliable barometer for musical talent, consider that West has three albums on “Rolling Stone” magazine’s list of 500 greatest albums of all time, and his 2010 venture, “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,” sits at the very top of “Pitchfork” magazine’s list of the best albums of this decade so far.

If none of that works for you, at least acknowledge that he’s not just some attention whore completely undeserving of our attention. Great artists are not meant to be loved universally. Look at all the people who trashed The Beatles when they first started getting big.

One of my favorite traits about Kanye West — besides the fact that he makes really good music — is how differently he uses his celebrity status from any other major pop star. You know if he’s at any awards show. You know if he’s gone on a semi-coherent Twitter rant or a bizarre rambling speech at one of his concerts.

That’s the Kanye West I know and love — an artist so proud of his opinions and beliefs that every detractor in the world won’t stop him from making his art.

West means what he says when he says it, regardless of how clumsily it might be said. When West interrupted Taylor Swift’s 2009 VMA acceptance speech for her “You Belong With Me” video, he famously stormed on stage to tell the world that Beyoncé’s video “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” deserved it more. Seven years later, which video has held up better of the two? Arguably, West was correct.

When he made the off-the-cuff quip that then-president George W. Bush “doesn’t care about black people” at an NBC-hosted Hurricane Katrina benefit concert, it developed into a genuine national commentary on Bush’s response to the disaster and how black New Orleanians weren’t being given equal treatment by the media and the president’s relief efforts.

And when West complains about awards shows, he’s really looking for genuine talent to be recognized for its achievements. When he complained about Beck’s “Morning Phase” winning Album of the Year over Beyoncé’s self-titled album in 2015, it was less about Beck winning — he later said he loved Beck — and more about a black artist being shut out of the award again. Only three hip-hop records have won Album of the Year at the Grammys, and only two black acts have even won the award at all this century.

In a time where artists are all-too-restricted by label executives and PR spokespeople, West is a loud voice in a field of near silence, and he has the right to brag about where he is now, especially with the incredible success he’s had in his career. As an artist with such wide-ranging influence across the music industry, who cares if he complains about awards shows every once in a while?

Brett Weiser-Schlesinger is a sophomore newspaper and online journalism major. He can be reached by email at bweisers@syr.edu or by Twitter at @brettws. His column appears weekly in Pulp.

Published on February 9, 2016 at 7:39 pm