Unless you have been living under the largest rock in the world with no cable or internet access, when it comes to the Kardashians, you know what it is.
If anyone asks you what they do for a living, they’re being insincere and smug. We know what they do: They tell us every tidbit of their personal lives in front of a camera crew for professional gain. Everything they do and everyone they surround themselves with is readily available for public consumption. This has been the case for several years now. One doesn’t have to like that they make a living this way, but the cheapening of celebrity has happened and that family was shrewd enough to monetize it.
To that end, anyone who enters any of Kim Kardashian’s or her kinfolks’ spaces knows what they are signing up for. So when I heard Tyga’s recent interview with Los Angeles radio station Real 92.3, my immediate response was, “Negro, please.” My follow-up comment was, “You gotta shut your black ass up.”
On how the relationship impacted his career, Tyga said: “When you're in a very public relationship like that, it's hard for other people to see you differently than that. Being in that … it took a lot, careerwise, everything. It overshadowed a lot of my talents and a lot of things that I worked hard for.”
Tyga went on to add: “She's young. When you're young, you're going to make mistakes. All of those mistakes are going to be in the public eye so that puts a lot of strain on the relationship. Right now, I want to focus on what I need to do. I just wanted to get back to just me. I think for her as well.”
Indeed, Kylie Jenner is young—she’s 18—and Tyga is 26. Although Kanye West once said, disgustingly, that Tyga was “smart” for getting in “early,” I join the likes of Amber Rose in being disgusted by his relationship with Jenner starting before she turned 18. There is a reason West made that claim, though. As much flak as the Kardashian-Jenner ladies (minus Kourtney Kardashian) get for dating famous (black) men, the reality is, many of these men are just as opportunistic and strategic as the women.
The Kardashians like to date men who just love being part of a much larger family setting. If they’re not dating that kind of guy, they’re dealing with men with marginal fame compared with theirs who wouldn’t mind an upgrade. The kind of guy who feels like he's sitting in coach and wants more than just free nuts in his cramped middle seat. Tyga is that man in the middle who can’t wait to move on up. Why? Because the second he dates someone like Kylie Jenner, he becomes instantly famous.
This man was willing to risk his own episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit for the sake of netting more headlines than his rap skills got him. Yeah, as catchy as “Rack City” is, Tyga ain’t exactly going over people’s heads with his incredible vocabulary, penchant for metaphor and overall great skill. Even if we’re going to pretend that Tyga does care about his music career being overshadowed, if that is the case, why is he still talking about a relationship that’s apparently over?
Why did he make a music video including her?
Hell, Jenner recently joined Tyga in Jamaica, where he shot a video for “1 of 1.” You would think, for someone purportedly so concerned about how folks view his art in the wake of his celebrity, that he’d keep any member of that family far, far away from his professional life. That would be too much like right, though.
Instead, he’s still talking about it and still exploiting the reportedly dead relationship for attention. I’ve long been irritated by how the media handled Tyga’s relationship with Kylie. Not enough outlets questioned why a very grown adult man was dating a teenage girl—opting instead to romanticize and further normalize their relationship.
And just when we think we’re done with these two as a couple, Kylie is back to teasing them being an item across social media. If they are back together, he didn’t think to tell her to chill? Heaven forbid. But, you know, we’re supposed to believe his complaints about the attention he gets despite all signs suggesting he pursued it. No thank you. In fact, while I hate that Olivia Benson never got to toss him into the abyss, Tyga should feel free to jump crotch-first into it. Ugh. LEAVE US ALONE.
Michael Arceneaux hails from Houston, lives in Harlem and praises Beyoncé’s name wherever he goes. Follow him on Twitter.