Kanye West Is Right: Jimmy Kimmel’s Sketch Was Ignorant and Stupid
Kanye West went off on Jimmy Kimmel on Twitter tonight, launching several trending topics and prompting many of West’s 9 million Twitter followers to scratch their heads. Though relatively few people saw the video that started all this before tonight—thus the head-scratching—the rant was in response to a segment that aired on Jimmy Kimmel Live! earlier this week. In it, Kimmel mocks Kanye at length, and then brings in two young children to reenact West’s recent interview with the BBC:
Kimmel’s bit is lame and unfunny, and depends only on ignorance for laughs. But if you can bear it, it’s worth breaking down piece by piece, because it exemplifies a particularly lazy and pervasive line of thinking about Kanye West.
Kimmel begins by relating how “he [Kanye] said he’s the No. 1 rock star on the planet, whatever planet he’s on.” He’s referring to this passage from the interview:
Rap is the new rock and roll. … We the rock stars, and I’m the biggest of all of them.
If Kimmel finds this funny, it’s only out of ignorance. Rap is the new rock and roll—or rather, it’s considerably bigger and more influential now than rock is. And so rappers are the new rock stars—as host and influential music figure Zane Lowe correctly acknowledges in the interview, “it’s been like that for a minute” (or, to be more precise, at least since the early 2000s). And Kanye is, by general consensus, the biggest of all of them; even Drake, who’s likely to score the No. 1 album in the country this week, just said so only a few nights ago. In other words, the planet Kanye’s on when he says that is Earth. The real question is what planet Kimmel is on.
Next Kimmel says, “Does Kanye West know you’re not supposed to be your own hype man?” The answer, of course, is that in 2013, you are supposed to be your own hype man. Even the concept of the hype man, at least outside of live hip-hop, is fairly outdated. In the era of solo rap megastars—when the rappers that dominate the charts have names like Kanye West, Drake, Eminem, Nicki Minaj, and Jay Z—it’s precisely the job of the rapper to be his own hype man or woman. We’re a long way from Public Enemy.
The next clip Kimmel plays shows West claiming that he brought the idea for leather jogging pants to Fendi. The punch line is supposed to come when Kanye says, “How many mother****ers you done seen with a leather jogging pant?” Kimmel responds, “I don’t know, none? Is that really a thing?” The short answer to that question is yes, they are. In fact, in hip-hop and R&B, they’re a pretty big thing, worn by names like Rihanna, Beyoncé, and yes, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West. If Kanye really did come up with that idea and no one listened, it’s understandable that he would be upset about it.
The next part is important. Kimmel adds, “That seems impractical to me, but I don’t know fashion. And to be honest I don’t follow a lot of what Kanye West has to say.” This is the point at which Kimmel, instead of assuming everything West has to say is laughable on its face, should at least have tried. After all, I didn’t know what Kanye meant by “leather jogging pants” either, but I did know that Kanye is an extremely intelligent person. All I had to do was Google it.
But instead of trying to understand, Kimmel does the opposite: He revels in his lack of comprehension, and puts Kanye’s words in the mouth of a child, in order to infantilize him. The point of the joke is clear: I don’t understand these remarks, so clearly they are the nonsense talk of a small child.
I’m not going to defend everything Kanye West has ever said. I’m not even going to defend everything Kanye West said in his angry response. But the real problem here isn’t Kanye, it’s Kimmel. If you don’t know the fashion world, then you shouldn’t try to tell Kanye West, who’s rubbed elbows with many of the biggest fashion designers in the world, about fashion. More importantly, if you’re a 45-year-old white dude who apparently doesn’t understand a thing about pop music, you shouldn’t try to tell one of the biggest hip-hop artists in the world about hip-hop.
It’s a gift. Or to quote a famous seer, you punch up, not down.
Yes, despite Jimmy being on ABC, Kanye West is a much bigger star than Kimmel. In the old days, network television made you a king. Today, a rotund Korean pop star can be much more famous as a result of many more views on YouTube. That’s the dirty little secret of late night television…very few are watching. In a world of DVRs and Netflix, do you really want to see a tired format wherein everybody on the tube imitates what David Letterman invented thirty years ago, even Dave himself?
No.
Credit Jimmy Fallon. He’s a mediocre interviewer at best. But he’s got the Roots as a band, and is constantly pushing the envelope with innovative skits.
But Kimmel was there first. When you’re nobody, you’ve got to take chances. Never a comedian, most famous for being Ben Stein’s sidekick, Jimmy Kimmel was not running his show on autopilot, but trying to figure out how to gain fame, and unlike his aged brethren he realized it was all about the Internet, about YouTube, whilst other outlets were busy issuing takedown notices, Jimmy was making content especially for YouTube, and gaining traction as a result.
Testing limits. That’s the only way you can go viral. Furthermore, since Jimmy is playing every day, he can afford to take shots, he can afford to make mistakes.
So he does a riff and a clip about Kanye West.
And unfortunately, Kimmel is right, Kanye comes across in the interview as someone completely out of touch with the public’s perception of him. That’s what happens when you live in a bubble and are surrounded by yes-people. You think you’re always right and your feces don’t stink.
So Kimmel points this out and Kanye goes nuclear!
Big mistake. This is Jimmy Kimmel’s wet dream, what he’s wishin’ and hopin’ for, one of the world’s biggest pop stars has singled him out for attention. In the process, Jimmy gets bigger and Kanye gets smaller.
The virality is just beginning. And Jimmy has already won the war. Because he’s got a sense of humor about himself. He realizes it’s all irrelevant. Why didn’t Kanye realize that tomorrow Kimmel would make fun of someone else and the clip would disappear? Instead, he poured gasoline on the fire. Calling Kimmel to complain. Effectively threatening him.
Oh that works. That’s like hurling invective online. An endless pissing match.
But usually it’s nobodies, not somebodies.
How does Kanye win here? Has he not seen “House Of Cards”? You win through thought, you utilize your advantages to exact your desire. You can’t change what’s past, you can only get even.
Taylor Swift writes songs about her exes. (If you’re young, male and virile, I’d run away. She’s got to have a hard time getting a date, at least with somebody reasonable.)
Kanye could write a song about Kimmel. Even better, he could exert pressure amongst his friends not to appear. You act behind the scenes, you leave no trail, you don’t criticize in public unless you’ve got no fear of appearing a buffoon.
Which Kanye does here.
I just don’t get it. He’s got a baby with Kim Kardashian, who comes from a family that specializes in media manipulation. Hasn’t any of it rubbed off on him? They all know they’re famous for nothing. Except for momager Kris, who suddenly is taking umbrage and pontificating about issues outside her wheelhouse. You’re a well-paid media manipulator, that’s all!
You’ve got to know who you are. Especially in this connected era, where we not only want to talk about you, but bring you down to our level. Yup, that’s what the 1% doesn’t realize, sure, we want to be you, but mostly we hate you, because we realize the game is rigged and we can never ascend the ladder.
So if you’re smart, you stay out of the fray. Rich people should never ever talk to the media, unless their job demands it. Bankers, lawyers before them, their professions have been eternally tarnished by the inane things they’ve said. Now pop stars have specialized in saying stupid stuff. But they must speak to the media to gain traction. Then again, you can speak in a controlled fashion online these days, you don’t need the media as much as you used to. But if you’re gonna talk, think about the consequences, know that show business is high school with money, someone’s always looking to take you down.
So Kimmel’s got a long term contract and a video that goes viral, making his bosses applaud him as he continues to make bank for them day after day.
Kanye’s riding a stiff album, and we all know it’s so hard to come back from failure or what looks like loss.
So who’s the winner here?
Jimmy Kimmel, no contest.
P.S. But Kimmel is just an entertainer. Want to be a legend, speak truth. But most legends don’t speak to the media at all, or fabricate, like Bob Dylan, or control access and results like so many movie stars. If Kanye West thinks he can break the paradigm, he probably believes he can release an album in 2013 without a hit single and anybody will care. We saw how that worked out.
This article is the product of a very pressed stan. Ye's women's fashion shows are critically panned. Hardly anyone's here for his wears. So, this whole bit about Kanye being some fashion insider just because Anna Wintour lets him sit at the table every once and a while is beyond laughable. Who here is shocked that Kimmel used a child to portray him? That whole bit in the BBC interview about the suped-up Nike's he sold on Ebay, like he was somehow entitled to endorsement deal from them because of those shoes. Shut up! Fendi and Nike are doing just fine without him, and if he's half the fashion genius that he thinks he is then he should have no problem launching his own successful line. He's got money and connections. His barriers for entry into the fashion game are non-existent compared to a struggling designer with actual talent. So, there's no excuse for his shortcomings in the fashion world. I don't even like his baby mamma, but Kim's sartorial choices have gotten much worse since he started picking out her clothes.
