Kanye West Starts SNL40 Performance On His Back, Performs ‘Jesus Walks’ And ‘Wolves’

Well, Kanye West certainly knows how to make an “SNL40” appearance. Kanye began his “SNL40” appearance singing flat on his back, looking up at the camera, which was positioned mainly behind his head. Singing the famous Kanye West “Jesus Walks” song, as seen on his YouTube Vevo account, which put him on the map back in 2004 for plenty of West fans, Kanye sounded alternatively hoarse and impassioned throughout his SNL40 appearance, and received tepid applause from the crowd.

“I’m just way too bad for you.”

At the start of the “SNL40” special, Kanye made fun of himself by pretending to snatch the microphone from Matt Lauer, based on Kanye’s own propensity to snatch a microphone from Taylor Swift, as he famously did in the past — or to pretend to bum rush the stage during the Grammy’s just as Beck was about to give his acceptance speech. However, Kanye’s SNL singing performance is winning mixed reviews on Twitter, with comments about the auto-tuning process that West used as ruining the special.

In actuality, Christina Aguilera employed the same technique of singing on her back, as seen in a documentary video from years past, with the singer taking the position of vulnerability to express her song in the manner she wanted it to come out.

Kanye also performed “Wolves” with Sia and Vic Mensa on #SNL40, but folks are ranting more and more about West’s voice on SNL than other aspects of his performance. Thus far, according to the social media scuttlebutt, the Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake “SNL40” cold open — as reported by the Inquisitr — seemed to be the most well-received “SNL40” sketch, because Eddie Murphy’s short, if almost non-existent, stand-up routine left lots of “SNL40” viewers wanting more from the legendary comedian.

The responses via Twitter show tweets ranging from outright disgust to those fearing Kanye’s song was evil. Yet and still, other Kanye fans are praising his SNL performance.

“I was gonna download that song that Kanye performed on SNL. But when I clicked the video, and upside down cross appeared! #heckno”

“Kanye fell short on SNL.”

“Kanye West, Vic Mensa & Sia just killed SNL.”

Kanye West actually debuted his “Wolves” song during his fashion show, reports Entertainment Tonight?, but after that “SNL40” performance, fans might wonder if West did the song justice due to the hoarse and coarse sound of his voice that came through. Whilst “Jesus Walks” started out wonderfully, the “Wolves” reviews prove a bit harsher.

[Image of Kanye West on SNL via NBC]