Keeping Up With Kanye

Nobody’s heard much from Kanye West since his little encounter with Taylor Swift last year, when he interrupted her acceptance speech at MTV’s Video Music Awards. It’s pretty interesting, then, to see all the attention he’s gotten lately – and perhaps even more interesting to see how he’s gone about attaining it. While he’s more mature now than the guy who told Rolling Stone he’d get into the Bible if someone had written it today, he still knows how to get people talking about him as if he’d never gone away in the first place. For those few individuals who are out of the loop on what kinds of shenanigans West’s been up to, here are a few bullet points to get you up to speed:

– He’s Tweeting as Many as 14 Messages a Day

There was a time when Ashton Kutcher was the undisputed king if tweeting, but compared to some of the stuff West’s put up, he makes Kutcher seem amateurish. He can hardly go two hours without tweeting, and when he does, it’s usually something novel – in terms of the stuff that turns up on Twitter, at least. In fact, a couple of them are so hilarious that, ever since a comedy team called Paul and Storm started captioning cartoons from The New Yorker with them, you can catch them in everything from The Washington Post to The Atlantic. People who actually write for The New Yorker should be so fortunate.

– His Comeback Album Has a New Title

After you come out with an album called “Graduation,” following it up with one called “Good Ass Job” seems like the next logical step. Then again, with the job market for graduates as limited as it is, finding a job seems like a dark, twisted fantasy. That’s actually what he’s calling it now: “Dark Twisted Fantasy.” On top of everything, for reasons no one’s explained yet, Roc-A-Fella Records has decided to release it in November, two months after the September street date he’d had in mind. He likes to make a big deal about being late, but come on.

– MTV’s Letting Him Come Back to the Video Music Awards This Year

Whenever you see his name on the VMA guest list, it’s a safe bet that West will wind up being the center of attention. Just look at what’s happened these past couple of years: When he lost in every category he was up for in 2007, West said it was because MTV refused to “give a black man a chance.” He swore he’d never go on MTV again, which made it all the more surprising to see him come back the following year to perform his new single. He almost ruined his career when he crashed Taylor Swift’s big moment last year, and there’s a good chance he’ll do something just as unbelievable this year. What a guy – when you need a little controversy, accept no substitutes.