The greatest living rock star on the planet — and perhaps the most hyped designer on the internet — has spoken out on a very diverse range of topics in a new, two hour long interview with Lou Stoppard at SHOWstudio. The latest installment in a series of live-streamed interviews with creative legends — which started with David Bailey in 2003 and has taken in Kate Moss, Björk, Tracey Emin, Lee McQueen, Lady Gaga and more — Yeezus spoke about his work, his famous family and his plans for the future as President of the USA.
On being misunderstood.
Does anyone fully understand Kanye West? “Yeah, there are people who understand. They see it, like they could see an earthquake coming on, or a tsunami coming. But there’s people who don’t really want to embrace what it is,” he says, explaining that class snobbery and discrimination are trying to put him down. “People’s misunderstanding of me is a misunderstanding of themselves,” he adds, “It’s easier first to shun it rather than to dig deeper and find out more about it.”
On calling himself a genius and a god.
“Otherwise I’m called celebrity, I’m called n***a, I’m called rapper – and not in a positive way… so I have to define who I am”. “All of my aspirations are currently things that white, 60-year-old people do…it’s not letting them know by wearing a suit, or wearing a Rolex…it’s letting them know by saying, ‘Let’s start with this: I’m a creative genius'”.
On his children.
Kanye didn’t answer Anna Wintour’s question about the name of his son, but asked whether he worried about bringing up kids as a celebrity, he said: “Yeah. Any situation you’re in you’re going to worry about raising kids. But it’s a champagne problem, some people can’t feed their kids; there’s people trying to make it to London. Celebrity shit isn’t real shit. I have no problems.”
On whether he will be respected as genius in fashion, as he is in music.
“Of course, I’m Michelangelo. There was a time when people were sculpting better than him, but he made David. If you think you can go on the internet and find a shoe people like better that the 350? Go fuck yourself! … That Michelangelo statement — [people will] take offense to that. Ask any musician period of the past 15 years and I would be the closest. Those are sonic paintings, clothes are wearable art, sculptures. I took the money I made from being the Michelangelo of music, and put it into building a sculpture studio.”
On his presidential campaign strategy.
Promising to be a uniquely plain-spoken and honest politician, Kanye says, “When I’m in debates, if I don’t know [the answer], I’ll say I don’t know and I’ll consult with the top 10 people and say, ‘This is the answer, or the best two guesses.’ It’s not about me it’s we”. Asked about the lyric, “No one man should have all that power” in his track Power, Kanye agrees people will bring it up, but says, “There’s a point when it isn’t just my family, but my family becomes the human race. You can help more people in a position of power”.
On class and education, and how mixed race kids are the future.
“Class is education. The biggest thing that make me the uncontrollable blah blah, came from education. I don’t even what to be in competition with people, I want them to be the best themselves.”
“It’s education, and I’m an American. [It’s different in the UK] because of the way the government is set up and there’s a Queen. People can’t say ‘I’m going to run for Queen’! It circumcises your dreams from day one. In America people can work their way up through the class system [but there’s a long way to go]. There needs to be a lot more mixed kids. I see the future of people being mixed. We’re meant to, but we’re taught we’re not meant to. I was taught not to bring home a white girl, but I like white girls, I like black girls too, and I can tell you from when I was single, white girls like black men! I’m not telling people who they should sleep with! I’m just zoning on what I feel today.”
On Caitlyn Jenner and the Pope.
“First thing I thought about [when hearing about Caitlyn’s transition], I thought about black radio hosts maybe making jokes about it, because the black culture is homophobic and they’re desperately trying to find news. But then it was like, fuck what people say, fuck what people think, I feel proud to be in a family that has so many people breaking ground for the generations to come. Wow. It’s like, ‘reality show’, that’s so new. My family should have had multiple Emmys now…To let your life be controlled by the public, would be like asking to sit in traffic, for the rest of your life! And Bruce, he just got off at the next exit. I’m sorry, that name’s offensive. I’m sorry, it’s new. It’s really the beginning of the future. We’ve tapped into technology and acceptance. Look at the new Pope! He’s dope!”
On his next album and bringing back Cruel Summer.
On changing the album title, Kanye explained: “I said when I first said that name, Swish, I wasn’t sure, but I knew I didn’t want to walk around with that name, So Help Me God — it was like a heavy backpack, and the switch lightened the load, so I could just work on the painting”. He says he makes albums often to try out cool techniques with video, for example. “I didCruel Summer because I wanted to shoot surround vision… I went to Def Jam and said I’ll make an album to get the money to do that video. I had to do like seven features, and my album’s taken so long. I’m making a straight up radio album, to show I can, and to shoot the videos. I don’t want to make an announcement, but we’re working to bring backCruel Summer.”
On his greatest contribution to creativity.
“Taking away the bullying… taking away people being able to bully you because you’re a creative.” He says the people with money and power are against creatives and, “don’t cut creatives in on any profits,” saying, “If they know someone is a genius, but not business smart, they take advantage of that”. Kanye is about empowering creatives.
On happiness.
“So, so , so, so happy. And I’m happy for the normal reasons to be happy because I married the woman of my dreams and I have a beautiful daughter….I have a lot of life ahead of me and I have the opportunity to be completely rogue and support myself.”