Kanye West went on a 7-minute rant on The Ellen Show: crazy or fine?
CB and I were just chatting about Kanye West and what exactly is “wrong” with him when this story broke on Thursday. My take has always been that Kanye is a genius with issues, mostly a—hole issues, but that he’s also got some AD/HD issues. The word CB used was “manic,” and I could see how that could apply too. So, when I saw that Kanye had gone on a “seven minute rant” during his appearance on Ellen DeGeneres’ show on Thursday, I thought it was going to be a funny, silly, Kanye-style rant. When I watched this video though… I see the manic. I see someone who seemed somewhat unhinged. I also think he seems high on something?
In case you didn’t want to watch seven minutes of CRAZY, I’ll summarize and highlight. First of all, I enjoy how Ellen played this. She stopped him a few times and asked him questions, further egging him on, but mostly she just sat back and let him talk. And it wasn’t a rant-rant. He was working towards a point, it just takes Kanye a while to gather his thoughts. But yeah, still problematic. Some assorted quotes:
Whether he should think-before-tweeting: “Absolutely not. What’s the point of thinking?”
Whether he should have reached out to Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook: “I understand Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t use Twitter, even though I have had dinner with him and his wife and told them about how I wanted to help the world, and he said he’d help me, and blah blah blah. That’s how it feels though, it’s like the pursuit of happiness, it’s like you’re trying to sell this bone density machine, you know in that movie. … I feel that if I had more resources, I could help more people. I have ideas that can make the human race’s existence within our 100 years better. Period. F–k the paparazzi, whatever perception you have of me, starting with the truth, started with what everyone’s thinking, start there, put some dope s–t with it.”
Why he’s important: “I care about people. My dad lived in homeless shelters less than five years ago, to find out … he’s a psych major. My mom was the first black female chair of the English department of the Chicago State University. I was raised to do something, to make a difference.”
#OscarsSoWhite wasn’t a joke: “I didn’t take the Oscars as a joke. You know, ‘All black actors can talk about the glass ceilings we’ve dealt with, talk about how many times you’ve been blocked from being able to excel.’ It ain’t no joke.”
Who is left to create? “Picasso is dead, Steve Jobs is dead, [Walt] Disney is dead. Name someone living that you can name in the same breath as them. We’re one race, the human race, we’re a blip in the existence of the universe and we’re constantly trying to pull each other down. It’s like I’m shaking talking about it, I feel I can make a difference while I’m here, I feel I can make a difference through my skill set.”
Clothes are important: “I’m sitting with [President Barack] Obama, and Leo [DiCaprio]’s talking about the environment, and I’m talking about clothes, and everyone looks at me like, that’s not an important issue. But I remember going to school in fifth grade and wanting to have a cool outfit. I want to take away bullying.”
The thing that struck me as brutally honest was the part where he talks about the #OscarsSoWhite moment, and I think his point was lost, but it was a good point. The point he was trying to make was that black artists, black creatives and black entrepreneurs are always going to have a harder time being heard and understood by those within the white power structure, whether it’s Hollywood or the fashion industry or the tech industry or what have you. Of course, Kanye is saying that as a plea for money, in the hopes that someone will give him $100 million to make shoes and leather jeggings.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.
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