‘Kanye West in Twitter rant’ isn’t so much a story, as a given. But, even by the rapper’s own standards, his recent feud with Jimmy Kimmel has stepped up considerably over the last 24 hours.
To recap, Yeezus recently gave an uncensored interview to the UK’s Radio 1 with the deejay Zane Lowe, during which he made a number of highly quotable statements.
Among them : “Rap is the new rock ‘n’ roll. We are the real rock stars and I’m the biggest of all of them,” “I’m the number one rock star on the planet,” “I have reached the point where my Truman Show boat has crashed into the painting,” and “My greatest pain in life is that I will never be able to see myself perform live.”
Naturally, the Radio 1 sit-down was rich pickings for comics, pundits, and the news cycle.
Stepping into the breach Jimmy Kimmel — well known for his love of spoofs — aired a “Kimmel Kid (re) Kreation” skit featuring two children (and milkshakes) playing Lowe and West on the Tuesday edition of Jimmy Kimmel Live.
To say West took the spoof badly is an understatement. On Thursday, the Atlanta native posted a series of apoplectic tweets attacking Kimmel. One of which read:
“JIMMY KIMMEL IS OUT OF LINE TO TRY AND SPOOF IN ANY WAY THE FIRST PIECE OF HONEST MEDIA IN YEARS.”
As later explained by Kimmel during his same day show when he read out some of West’s tweets, the comedian said the rapper had called him in his office earlier and given him two choices.
The first, to “apologize publicly,” and the other was — as Kimmel recalled — was a statement that, “my life … your life is going to be much better if I apologize.’”
After telling the studio audience he didn’t know why the rapper was so angry as the sketch was “pretty innocuous” and getting in a few jabs of his own, Kimmel quipped :
“Finally, I’m in a rap feud. I always wanted to be in a rap feud.”
Needless to say, West’s response to Kimmel’s response was another round of rage on Twitter.
On Friday, the rapper posted the link to a Slate article which described Kimmel’s spoof as “lame and unfunny,” before citing quotes by Jibril Durimel, a fashion and brand consultant.
COMMENT FROM JIBRIL DURIMEL: “I’m really Against what Jimmy K. did with that parody.”
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) September 27, 2013
“Like Kanye said – Finally someone speaks some inspirational and real words that haven’t been exposed in a while and JK comes out with this” — KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) September 27, 2013
“It’s simple, mediocre dreamers think this is humorous but all Kanye is pretty much saying in the interview is to dream to be the best.”
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) September 27, 2013
“A god”. But then he’s made out to be ridiculous for wanting to be at an even higher level of self confidence.” — KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) September 27, 2013
“Exactly what he meant by “SELF HATE!” I don’t want to dick ride KANYE just saying that if more people actually listened”
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) September 27, 2013
“they’d grow wiser after listening to the interview.” — KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) September 27, 2013
“Jimmy K. is the EVIL guy trying to keep people in a box and not want more out of themselves. He does this by making fun of real dreamers.”
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) September 27, 2013
West then retweeted a message from music manager, Irving Azoff:
. @jimmykimmel your low blow comment was uncalled for and shows that you still don’t understand the big time.
— Irving Azoff (@irvingazoff) September 27, 2013
For his part, Kimmel responded again to West on Twitter, joking : “I challenge you to a rap battle @KanyeWest #Iplaytheclarinet.”
Meanwhile, West’s Friday didn’t improve after his Twitter blitz.
The beleaguered rapper was door-stepped at his home at 4 am by paparazzi quizzing him over his Kimmel feud, and clearly hoping for a money shot response.
Somewhat justifiably, West told the snappers to “Shut the f**k up!” calling one persistent photog a “bloodsucking mosquito” and a “bully.” Click here to see footage of the tense driveway encounter.
Any bets on whether West and Kimmel will actually rap battle?