Anyway, I'm not sure what the hell is wrong with Kanye. Is he an attention whore? An idiot savant? What?
I think Kanye's arrogance and egotism we see today stems from his years working as a music producer at Roc-A-Fella Records before he made his first album. He got to work and produce songs with some of the biggest names in Hip-hop and R&B, and at times was even sought after by big name artists working on his/her next album. Being sought after by big names and having big name music artists speak praises for him gave Kanye the perception that he's a legend in the music industry.
The perception as a legend was so much so, that when Kanye released his album
The College Dropout, he thought the album would be a shoe-in to sweep the Grammys, or at least get the "Album of the Year" award. To Kanye's genuine surprise, neither happened, and instead of taking the losses gracefully, he essentially threw a fit over it. While
The College Dropout is a very good Hip-hop album, Kanye's behavior at and after the Grammys did not help his case of "being robbed" of the awards he felt he deserved.
Now that Kanye has produced many award winning albums, racking up more than twenty Grammys in his career as a rapper, and becoming on of the top selling music artists of all time, Kanye probably holds this belief that he has transcended into a higher level of music producing/artistry that few if any ever reach. For people not to do as he demands, or to even slight him in any way, shape, or form, is being disrespectful to his greatness incarnate. Like most what most egotists think, it's not his behavior that's holding him back, it's society's misunderstanding and fear of his greatness. I also believe that most of his rants stem from this frame of mind.
