Kanye West: no American icon has self-destructed so spectacularly | Andrew Lawrence

The rapper and fashion designer had it all - wealth, power, status, autonomy. But in the end it wasn't enough

In 2009, Kanye West was riding high. 808s & Heartbreak - his fourth studio album and a marked departure from his soul-based, hip-hop sound - proved a resounding critical and commercial triumph. A foray into clothing design had culminated in a Paris fashion week sneaker show with Louis Vuitton and a shoe line with Nike, the first for a non-athlete.

No longer was West the dorky producer turned rapper agitating to break out of Jay-Z's shadow. He had become something even bigger: a true star. The only person who could stop Kanye was Kanye - or Ye, as he's preferred to be known of late.