Kanye West is writing a book of philosophy. In conversation with interior designer Axel Vervoordt for Pret-a-Reporter, Kanye revealed that he’s working on a book called Break The Simulation. Of course, he is. The same day, Kanye West reactivated his Twitter account. That was not a coincidence. This is clearly step one in introducing the new phase of Kanye West. 

The philosophy of Kanye West and Twitter are directly correlated. Without Twitter, we wouldn’t know Kanye’s philosophy on marble conference tables… 
 

… or water bottles. 

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Those are classic Kanye West tweets that have since been deleted. They have been replaced with gems like this: 

Kanye West is good at a lot of things but one of the things he is best at is building a STRONG brand. Kanye West is known for the outlandish but often oddly enlightening observation. Kanye’s philosophy on self-love has always been clear. He’s been boldly proclaiming how much he loves himself for YEARS. It used to be portrayed as radical before it became a punchline. In Jay-Z’s recent interview with David Letterman, he told a story about Kanye standing on tables in the recording studio yelling that he was the saviour of Chicago and he didn’t even have an album out yet. This is Kanye West. If nothing else, the man is consistent.

There have been valid critiques of Kanye’s re-emergence on Twitter and news of this book because, well, remember that time Kanye said he would have voted for Klan President and did that ludicrous photo op at Trump Tower? People have rightly decided they don’t want to read the musings of a man who would align himself with the racist currently residing in the White House. That’s valid. But you all know that I’ve been a Kanye West fan since day one.  And it may be my bias talking but I think of that time in Kanye’s life as a mental breakdown (he was hospitalized for 10 days) and lapse in judgement due to serious health issues. I will admit, however, that I’m not sure I would give the same slack to someone else. 

I will probably buy and read Kanye’s philosophy book. I know that’s likely because this isn’t Kanye’s first book. His first book was called Thank You and You’re Welcome and I owned two copies. I tore pages out of the first copy and hung them on my dorm room wall – pages with words of wisdom like, “Believe in your flyness, conquer your shyness.” Kanye’s writing may have evolved since 2009 but that may be the calibre of writing we can expect from Break the Simulation. 

Here’s what else Kanye said about his new book: 

I'm writing a philosophy book right now called Break the Simulation. And I've got this philosophy — or let's say it's just a concept because sometimes philosophy sounds too heavy-handed. I've got a concept about photographs, and I'm on the fence about photographs — about human beings being obsessed with photographs — because it takes you out of the now and transports you into the past or transports you into the future.

Think about who Kanye West is married to. And now think about why Kanye would be ruminating on the idea of “human beings being obsessed with photographs.” I’ll just leave that there. 

The fact that Kanye West is back on Twitter is exciting because Kanye on Twitter is always good for entertainment but my favourite Kanye story of the week involves Steve Harvey describing to Ellen what Kanye was like on Family Feud. The Kanye West who gets so excited to play Family Feud he smiles the whole time is the Kanye West I will forever be a fan of. I hope that guy is the one we’ll be getting more of in whatever this new phase is.