Kanye West is a lot of things — a rapper, a designer, an entrepreneur — but don't you dare call him a "celebrity." The "Mercy" rapper took to the stage at the Adult Swim upfront at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City on Wednesday, May 15, and decidedly distanced himself from the term.
"I don't know if you know, [but] there's one thing about me, but I'm not a celebrity," he rhymed following a performance of hit "Runaway." "I don't know if you know there's one thing about me, but I'm a terrible, terrible celebrity. I don't know if you know there's one thing about me, but I'm the worst kind of celebrity … Because all I do is make real music."
West's impressive rant, which was transcribed by Complex magazine, covered all bases, including his hatred for the paparazzi, his distaste for making light of himself, and being treated as tabloid fodder.
"All I do is sit in the studio and make real, real sh-t. And that's it. That's mother f—ing it. That's mother f—ing it," he continued, adding that other aspects of celebrity are "throwing me off of my focus and sh-t."
Earlier this month, West, 35, made headlines after he walked into a street pole when he and girlfriend Kim Kardashian were out and about house hunting in Bel-Air, Calif. Kardashian, 32, quickly came to her beau's rescue, but several days later, West's $750,000 Lamborghini was the one that got shafted, getting caught in Kardashian's electric front gate.
West, who is set to perform on Saturday Night Live this weekend, hasn't been amused about all the attention, however. He told the audience that a friend had asked him if he was planning on going on SNL and doing "like, a skit about the paparazzi and sh-t and, like, humanize yourself?"
The rapper said his response was simple: "I ain't here to apologize to no motherf—ers, man. It ain't about me humanizing myself. At what point did I become un-human where I had to turn myself back? Or maybe I was demonized. Or maybe I was treated inhumane and not human in that kind of situation."
On a lighter note, however, West also performed his tribute to Kardashian earlier in the evening, a song he first did at the Met Gala earlier this month, which fans have dubbed "Awesome."
"Stop everything you're doing now/ Because baby, you're awesome," he sang to an excited Kardashian, who posted a photo from the event later that evening. "Don't let nobody get you down/ Because you're awesome/ You don't need to listen to your manager/ You must be tired of running through my mind/ Can I come inside? … I'm also awesome …/ I'd rather do nothing with you/ than something with somebody new/ Because baby you're awesome."
