Kanye West delivers eight minute rant on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' - Los Angeles Times
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Kanye West sits down to talk and talk and talk with Jimmy Kimmel

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The Jimmy Kimmel/Kanye West feud reached its peaceful conclusion on Wednesday night with Kanye making an extended appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” And while many people thought the pair’s feud was yet another media hoax, Kimmel swore it wasn’t. And it’s easy to believe him. No media stunt would have involved Kanye going on an extended, rambling rant on Kimmel’s show.

The great Kanye-Kimmel spat of 2013 began late last month after Kimmel aired a re-creation of one of Kanye’s grandiose radio interviews with kids sitting in for Kanye and his interviewer. Kanye took great offense at the sketch and called Kimmel to have a chat that Kimmel himself said was “a bad conversation.”

After that call, Kanye hurled off a series of tweets angrily mocking Kimmel and comparing him to SpongeBob SquarePants. Though many of the tweets are unprintable here, one that can be quoted read, “JIMMY KIMMEL IS OUT OF LINE TO TRY AND SPOOF IN ANY WAY THE FIRST PIECE OF HONEST MEDIA IN YEARS.”

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In the interview, Kanye called himself the biggest rock star in the world.

Well, all those hurt feelings have been settled, Kanye and Kimmel fans. So rest easy.

The controversial recording artist did not fight with Kimmel on the show and both men appeared to have settled any disagreements they had. Kimmel even showed the audience a photo of Kanye posing with Kimmel’s father when the three men met at a wedding a few months before.

But he did reiterate that his angry feelings about the sketch were real and told the audience, “I’ve never done a publicity stunt in my life.” He continued, “I’m not running for office. I’m just here to make good music and make people feel good when they hear my music.”

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Of course, Kanye being Kanye, he couldn’t resist adding some of his trademark ego, telling Kimmel, “I’m a creative genius, and there’s no other way to word it. I know you’re not supposed to say that about yourself. I say things the wrong way a lot of times, but the intention is always positive.”

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The apperance seemed like a pretty standard talk show guest appearance, though one fraught with a lot of back story. But then came the final segment, when Kanye, apparently without even intending to, launched into an epic and rambling monologue that covered everything from the fashion industry to Michael Jackson to snobbery to his life ambitions. The rant was touched off by Kimmel’s gift of leather jogging pants for Kanye’s infant daughter, North.

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Before you knew it, he was off on a nearly uninterrupted eight-minute rant, railing against the classists out there who discount him for being a rapper and the mother of his child, Kim Kardashian, for being a reality show star.

“I’m only 36 years old, I have other goals,” he said. “And I’m going to use my platform, every platform, to stand up and say, ‘I’m going to make something. I want to make the next Ralph Lauren.’ ”

How rambling was the rant? Here’s a sample: “Think about creative people in school. When you picture them, you picture them all the way in the back of the class, sketching or maybe getting beat up .... Creative have gotten beat up my entire life. There’s moments where I stood up to drug dealers in Chicago .... My mother made me believe in myself, no matter how many people told me ‘Stop believing in yourself.’ ... I refuse to follow those rules that society is set up and the way that they control people with low self esteem. With improper information, with branding, with marketing. I refuse to follow those rules. It’s about truth, it’s about information, it’s about awesomeness. The only luxury is time. The time you spend with your family. That’s the only luxury. The concept of luxury is improper to me .... With Nike, with Apple. You remember there were phones that cost $4,000?”

And on it went. Kimmel barely had to say anything, except, “Kanye West, everybody. We’ll be right back.”

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