Despite his controversial past, 21-time Grammy award winner, rapper and producer Kanye West ran for President during the 2020 Presidential election, receiving well over 60 thousand votes out of the estimated 160 million votes counted.

If that name sounds familiar, he is the same Kanye West that stormed the stage during the 2009 Video Music Awards interrupting American sweetheart Taylor Swift from accepting her award for Best Female Music Video.

“Yo, Taylor, I’m really happy for you.” West said as he took the microphone from Swift. “I’mma let you finish but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time.”

In response to West’s actions following the VMAs, West practically got booed out of the country. He left America and he stopped doing music all together. West moved to Japan to get away from the paparazzi and then moved to Rome and lived there. West finally moved back to the states months after his incident when he finally started to work on his music again.

West never did publicly apologize to Swift and made their feud worse by rapping about Swift in his 2016 song “Famous” as he proceeded to say that he made her famous.

Despite West’s claim, Swift had already made a name for herself long before West had interrupted her in 2009.

West suffers from bipolar disorder, a manic-depressive illness that involves alternating periods of intense mania and severe depression. Bipolar disorder can be treated but not cured.

When West’s bipolar disorder was most severe, he was put on many different drugs that were supposed to help with his mood swings but they only limited his creativity and his mental capacity.

An impactful artist like West has to be able to be creative in order to produce music that people will listen to, so in early 2019 West got off the drugs and he started to have a spiritual uprising.

“The medications messed with my creativity, it messed with all kinds of things.” West said on the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast. “(The medications) blocked my ability to channel what God wanted me to do.”

Off the medications, West flipped his life around for the better. West searched all around America for the most talented gospel artists and created his own choir, Kanye West’s Sunday Service Choir.

With his choir West produced two gospel albums, “Jesus is King” and  “Jesus is Born.” His fan base still supported him in his transition from “I Am A God” to “Follow God” as West’s gospel albums have been streamed over 300 million times.

West and his choir toured the Globe as they showed God’s love through song and dance only to be paused due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

West officially started his bid for the presidency in July 2020.

“We must now realize the promise of America by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future,” West said in a Tweet. “I am running for president of the United States! #2020VISION.”

To begin his presidential campaign he started building shelters to help with the U.S. Housing issue. He calls these shelters “YZY SHLTERS” —  a place for people who can’t afford a living space somewhere safe for a short to long term.

Though West’s effort to campaign was there, he was too late to register as a candidate in many states. These states had already printed out their ballots and they were ready to ship the ballots out. West only showed up on 12 states’ ballots while voters in the other 38 states would have to write in West.

Despite this setback, West brought his campaign slogan “2020 Vision” into the forefront but he was unable to officially register his slogan because of his tardiness.

West had his first rally in Charleston, South Carolina on July 19, 2020, where he broke down in tears when the topic of abortion came up.

“I almost killed my daughter,” West said.

During this rally, West suggested that instead of offering Plan B, the expecting mothers should be given one million dollars to keep the baby. Doing this would put the nation even more in debt than it already is.

West put out a campaign ad in late October and he talked about what he visioned for his presidential run.

“America, what is America’s destiny?” West said. “What is best for our nation, our people, what is just true justice? We have to think about all these things together as a people to contemplate our future.”

Early on Election Day, Nov. 3, West conceded.

“Kanye 2024!” West tweeted at four in the morning.

During the 2024 election, West’s life story should be in everyone’s minds as he transformed his life into something good and he could do the same thing to our nation, changing it for the better.

“They say good things come to those who wait,”  West said. “So Ima be at least an hour late.”