It seems whenever Kanye West comes up in the media for anything other than his music, it stems from some rant or run-in with the paparazzi. Most recently, he had an incident with Jimmy Kimmel.
However, I don’t think West is trying to be a Kardashian as some have accused. He’s simply expressing himself.
After Kimmel aired his “Re-Kreation” of West’s BBC Radio 1 interview, West snapped from his Twitter account and said in all caps, “Jimmy Kimmel is out of line to try and spoof in any way the first piece of honest media in years.”
Yet, the rant quickly turned personal with West making remarks toward Kimmel’s sexual life and relationship with Sarah Silverman.
Charlamagne Tha God, from Power 105.1’s morning show “The Breakfast Club,” even gave West his “Donkey of the Day” title later that week, saying that he’s “acting more like Kanye Kardashian.”
Before watching the interview for myself, I, too, agreed with Charlamagne, thinking that West clearly feels like he’s always being attacked and needs to stop the whining altogether.
However, after watching this interview, I think West is just being West. He is the person who will point out the elephant in the room while the rest of us try to pretend it’s not there.
When speaking on how the industry tries to guide all entertainers in the same direction, he spoke about Lady Gaga’s recent business ventures.
“Look at Gaga, she’s the creative director of Polaroid,” he said. “I like some of the Gaga songs; what the [explicit] does she know about cameras?”
He had a valid point. Most celebrities get placed as the “creative director” of a company and are expected to be satisfied, such as Alicia Keys with Blackberry.
Taking the time to watch the interview in its entirety was worth it. Honestly, the first part was rough, being that it was the part in which Kimmel spoofed.
But once you get past the rambling of part one, the other three parts are very enlightening and actually thought-provoking.
“Rap is the new rock and roll,” he said. “We the new rock star, and I’m the biggest of all of them.”
Guess what? He’s right. Rappers are the new music role model. They influence cars, clothes and everything you can think of in our modern day society.
While some of his statements are cringe-inducing, he made me think about myself, what I’m living for and what I want to accomplish. I feel that with the focal point being on a mere five minutes of the interview, people assume this is typical, irrational, ranting, angry, victimized West, but it, quite frankly, is the opposite.
We all have our Kardashian moments though, whether we look like Kim when we cry or sound like Kourtney when we whine. To sum up my thoughts, West is simply a living monument of the saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”