Kanye West. Zane Lowe. Full Interview

and someone grab a secret you remember this place yeah yeah graduation yeah I was also thinking about some of the other things we've done as well which uh with the BBC like Abby Road sprung to mind with the strings oh yeah that was good that suit was like I would have worn something different if I could look back right now I could still do a suit I just wouldn't have done that exact the pale situation but talk about like really putting yourself on the line with that you know I mean that was you know so early on to you for you to be stepping in a room with that many players and that kind of just give yourself that objective I mean what are your thoughts when you think back about Abby roywood it's just nuts I thought it was good I thought it was what I was supposed to do at that time you know if I see something I see an opportunity I'm gonna go for it yeah you know what I'm saying we only you know we're all gonna die one day yeah it's true so we live like that live like you could die tomorrow you know go for it you know that those steps would have allowed that those steps have have been the um you know the platforms that allow me to make it this far and you have man and we're here and you know six albums original albums of of your own a throne record various records were good music to talk about man but seriously Jesus Bravo dude I mean that is one of the most creative records of you know of of any genre I've heard in a very very long time and you know just in terms of your output your most exciting sounding record I think man oh thank you very much you know yeah I feel you know I was able to start just making exactly what was in my mind again and not having to speak with the textures of the time because you know Cruel Summer is definitely Kanye West and there's something kind of weird and off about Mercy like when it has the high pitch that type of sound it sounds like art still a little bit even though it's obviously was a radio smash uh but it's still when when I you know get into the idea like the Trap drums and things like that are certain you know songs that are blatant you know radio hits it's like I'm speaking with today's texture and that's you know you look if you look at it 200 years from now it's not going to stand out in the way that you know 808s or Jesus stands out and completely can push or redefine or make people say you know hey I completely hate that or I completely love that but let me just think differently because everybody is like bound to these you know um no pun intended they're bound to uh 16 bars and eight bars and you know the normal uh radio uh uh the radio thing I was talking to Frank Ocean about this and said like you know my mom got arrested for the sit-ins and now we're more like the sit out like sit off of radio yeah and say Hey Radio come to us yeah you know we need to find something new because it's being you know controlled in a way and and manufactured in a way that you know uh really awesome you know artists you know uh can make amazing music and then and not break as far past as like something that's very like formulaic so it almost feels like a duty to you in a weird way having the people's ear having people's attention and for great music to be able to say well if I'm not challenging them if I'm not challenging myself not challenging radio what am I doing yeah well I'm not I'm not trying to regurgitate myself I showed I showed people that I understand how to make perfect you know Dark Fantasy could be considered to be perfect you know I say I know how to make perfect but that's not what I'm here to do I'm here to crack and crack the pavement and make new grounds you know sonically and in society coach shortly you've done that with Jesus I mean yeah it's fascinating for us to sit here and talk about this record now because normally when I talk to artists about records of this nature it's in the lead up to something so we're all kind of playing a guessing game you know what I mean you could tell me what you think of the record but I'm sort of trying to find my way around it the audience probably won't have heard it in this case it's been out for a minute so we can reflect on it with the benefit of hindsight too you've seen what everyone else has had to say about this record both good and bad but I'm fascinated to know today how you would describe Jesus as someone who made it how you would describe that record you know I just think that I'm a production I'm a production person I'm a product guy I'm a producer so um if I'm working on a John Legend album I'm gonna try to give John Legend the best you know home for him to stand and I'm gonna try to push Pusha T no pun intended once again this keeps happening to me to make the thing that represents what I like about his music the most and then for me it's Kanye West I gotta up and you did dude seriously from the minute it starts I mean seriously disgusting wow you're up in the lot probably at this point and you're kicking around ideas and you're putting things together and this sound comes into your head and you're like this is what I'm looking for this is no this this is me going to the studio with tomagi man yeah and them like who's Daft Punk and they had a synthesizer like the size of that wall right there and like this is just one session right here and this beat originally was like 14 minutes long and that part in the beginning was something we complete just distorted it yeah and like and I end up making that the intro you know I gotta yeah I gotta beef with you over this track it's too short I wanted more out of it yeah you know because it's one of the best beats on the record for me and you know it just feels like you're just getting warmed up was that kind of deliberate you know to pull back after in a couple of verses and go you know what we're going to get on with the album now um no that's just what I felt like it should be yeah yeah just a done its thing and you know like originally Blood On The Leaves was supposed to be first wow and which psychologically I know would have changed certain Jesus naysayers about the album but it wasn't that time for me I I didn't I didn't want to come up there and perform a lot of times the music can be presented as you know like a service position but I wanted to take a more aggressive approach with music you know people go on a vacation and say you got the drugs you got the music you know you got the wine you got the you know it's like it's in that territory you know what I'm saying but I wanted to speak up and say okay so my voice is only compressed to express myself artistically through music it's the only place where I actually have a deal you know so I can only consistently make things in music so I'm gonna take music and I'm gonna try to make it three-dimensional like like like uh um um on Star Wars and the Hologram will pop up out of R2D2 I'm gonna try to make something that jumps up and affects you yeah in a good or bad way yeah whether it's I'm going into a scream in the middle of the track because that's just the way I feel yeah but I'm not I'm not here to make easy listening you know Pro easy programmable music no you're so off the reservation on the side in the best possible way yeah I mean like you talked about the way that you use your voice in different ways you know you don't you don't rely on conventional rhyming flows your flows I mean the opening line years of season approaching you know a monster's awoke and like you know you're laying it out there this isn't my you know Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy part two you know I'm whileing out on this record straight away yeah and then from nowhere as well we just get treated to these wonderful moments where like you say it just it's almost like a collage like you're sitting here going you know what why can't I go into this yeah why not yeah you can you can't well you did yeah it's true it's like a car crash you used to be driving out of nowhere and it's out of nowhere that happens yeah yeah you know at what point did that kind of very deliberate feel to the record whereby breaks come in and join these really discordant electronic moments and everything seems to exist in this kind of very contradictory but it works kind of way at what point did that start to take shape because it is very you know omnipresent through the record as a whole the way it flips between one and the other was that in your head early on or did that come towards the end when you started to reduce the record uh would I didn't reduce it Rick Rubin producer reduced it he's not a producer he's a reducer but yeah I um was it always part of the process though for you like to say why don't I take elements of this and this and just bolted together um yeah it's just the way I was consuming information in my life at that time you know information from you know whatever negative information or positive information from the internet uh me you know just going to the Louvre you know and going to Furniture exhibits and understanding that trying to open up and do interviews with this learning more about architecture um taking 1 000 meetings attempting to get like backing to do clothing and different things like that and like getting no Headway whatsoever you know because you know and it was just that level of frustration and that's what you know this is what frustration sounds like yeah this is what frustration sounds like like for me as Kanye West I would not be Kanye West if it wasn't for Michael Jackson I was with Quincy Jones a couple of days ago at John Legend's wedding Quincy was telling me it wasn't just Mike but these guys broke down you know the barriers you know of course you know like Michael Jackson like he had to fight to get his video played because he was black this is Michael Jackson Michael Jackson's not even black he's Michael Jackson it's like a deposit you know like saying he's so crazy like how can he even be just classified as like you know this black artist so for me you know in my life and creativity it's been challenging yeah it's been challenging and everything but I was able to ascend to massive levels of heights and never stop right because of the foundation that my mother and my father and my grandfather laid through civil rights what Michael Jackson did with um with with music videos and the ground he wrote there would be no Kanye West if it wasn't for Michael Jackson that allowed him to be that right yeah so now let's take like where there's you know people who have uh you know issues with me as Kanye West to say why is he they classify you know my motivational speeches as like Rants and things like this like why is he saying that why is he doing that well I've reached a point in my life where my Truman Show Boat has hit the painting and I've got to a point that Michael Jackson did not break down I have reached the glass ceiling as a creative person as a celebrity when I say that it means I want to do product I am a product person not just clothing but water bottle design architecture everything you know that you could you know think about and I've been at it for 10 years and I look around I say wait a second there's no one around here in this space that looks like me and if they are they're quiet as so that means wait a second now we're seriously like in a civil rights movement like people used to joke about do you remember our South Park photo yeah I do remember how funny that was do you think there would be a Givenchy in the hood if it wasn't for that South Park photo yeah but no one thinks about that no one thinks about the names I got called for like wearing tight jeans you reference that in the record you talk about that no one's liked him since he was since you've been wearing tight jeans you know everybody knows that you you know you brought back real rap I mean you referenced that on the record yeah but what I'm saying yeah I had all that but I bought real rack back I'm I'm going to do dope things you know and I want to take this opportunity to speak to something because I go to hypebeast right sometimes just to look at the new things that are coming out and everything and every time my name goes up you know there's a series of you know people who like write just negative comments they want to joke around and say why is he still trying why is he doing this why is he they like diss me you know me as a person for trying now mind you I brought 10 years of product that is added to humanity yeah you know and now what they don't realize when I say hey this is Pusha T this is what it is I have to remind Pusha T that he's Pusha T because the radio if they're not playing a song of his that has an r b hook on it or works at a certain level of trap Tempo and plays in club live it's like we forget about that Clips album yeah that meant everything yeah and the reason why I related that to design and what we do in design is saying that's the music that us as creatives that wanted to get into design we looked at Cliffs as the gods and this is our soundtrack to creativity and it's not a trap beat that comes in on that soundtrack yeah to creativity yeah you know what I'm saying it's not no knock to trap cause you know I did can't tell me nothing I like it but it's been commercialized to the point where it's like and I'm not mentioning no names but what uh when people used to use the term r b right these people use your term but then it was rappers but then rappers didn't want to be no r b now the rappers is the new r b the rappers the new radio like where's the culture at yeah where where is the culture at so then ice cream and I'm sitting in the middle of it whether whether I'm at a at a dinner when Anna winter or you know I'm I'm I'm at a listening session uh with uh Pusher or me and Virgil are in Rome giving designs to Fendi over and over and getting our designs knocked down brought brought the leather jogging pants six years ago to Fendi and they said no how many you done seen with a leather jogging pants yeah okay meaning like so when I see when I see Hedy slimane and it's all like okay this is my take on the world yeah he got some nice five thousand dollar jeans in there it's some nice ones here and there some good here and there but we culture hmm rap the new rock and roll we coach her rap is the new rock and roll we the rock stars it's been like that now for a minute it's been like that for a minute had Easter Maine it's been like that for a minute we didn't we the real rock stars and I'm the biggest of all of them I'm the number one rock star on the planet there it is that record it says that that's what your album says and you come out and you know there were songs on there where you make that very clear so so what I want to explain to everybody out there is like I make music I can do it but I shouldn't be limited to only one place of creativity and it's literally only like one or two or three reasons why I haven't been able to break that down but why would you feel that you are because this is the thing is you guys don't understand you guys don't understand you guys don't understand that I did the Yeezys and they ebayed for ninety thousand dollars right and people wanted them bad as whatever right but I didn't get a call from Nike the next day you guys don't understand that I've met with companies and they say what we're trying to figure out is how we can control you and control that if you're an architect if you're a World Builder if you have all these ideas and you're Gowdy and you want to build buildings if you don't ever get that out what's gonna happen isn't that why you do it isn't it the process isn't it the point y'all don't do really hearing what I'm saying but I'm trying to as a creative yeah for you to have done something to the level of the Yeezys and not be able to create more and you cannot you cannot create that on your own with no support with no backing so when I say clean water was only served to the fairer skin what I'm saying is we're making product with chitlins t-shirts that's the most we can make t-shirts we can have our best perspective on t-shirts but if it's anything else your Truman Show Boat is hitting the wall and what's more important to me about this then everything that I could do sonically and everything is if I go somewhere someone says hey we don't like Kanye West you've heard that before right what people don't realize is I want to make uniforms for my high school basketball team through brand Yeezy I want to make that one step and then make another step and then eventually do uniforms for the entire city then I want those uniforms to be hot and make money and make that I eventually want to be the anchor and the force behind a billion dollar company and after I made that billion dollar step then I can go in and say hey I've got an opinion on this and that could be a 10 billion dollar step and I eventually want to be the anchor of the first trillion dollar company but when you sit and you have a meeting with the company and show them the most Innovative take on theater because you thought of it one night while you're sitting on top of Watch the Throne set which you design with as Devlin and I designed the set with as Devlin I thought of okay surround Vision it should be a screen above you below you to the left or right right of you in front of you also then I pay my own money that I get paid for doing gold digger which I never really liked that song but I always knew I would get paid for doing gold digger then I shoot a film in Qatar with three camera Crews with Nate Brown Virgil Matt William Nabil all of these crew all of the people that every video that pops up every other day on hypebeast that's my crew right so we go out and shoot that three camera Crews over five days edited over 30 days show it at amfar no show it and can the night before and far on the beach build it with in a pyramid with REM cool houses agency design the entire thing put editors in it blah blah blah people give a standing ovation I do an interview in New York Times the next year to say hey I did this and I want to let you know I did it right and then it doesn't get mentioned in the interview and a week later they do an interview with George Lucas and Steven Spielberg and they're talking about what the next Frontier theater will be and how it'll be higher price tickets and it will be something that's surrounding you and blah blah but maybe it's in the goggles I said wait a second I just only did the interview to tell people that I invented it I made it like I went I remember when I was uh dropping William Morris right and then sir Newkirk at that time said before you drop them go meet with Aria Emmanuel and I sat when I'ma said Ari I'm an inventor and he goes on to tell me about the way it works and what he said is you are a celebrity so basically what's going to happen is there's product here and this is where you end up right here if you could communicate this product you can make money off the product because look at Gaga she's the creative director of Polaroid I like some of the Gaga songs what the does she know about cameras so it becomes all of this thing where all of the musicians the musicians try to get more money by promoting other products right so you'll say hey you know what I've got this water and we've got you know we've got this red version we've got a red bottle and we got a David Beckham version here then we got a blue version so my opinion is no more than the patina on top of it when I understand the reason for my core of why something should work all the way through so I understand we want to make it about music but I wanted to take this step to say we got this new thing called classism it's racism's cousin this is what we do to hold people back this is what we do and we got this other thing that's also been working for a long time where you don't have to be racist anymore it's called self-hate it works on itself it's like real estate of racism where just like that when someone comes up and says something like I am a god everybody says who does he think he is I just told you who I thought I was a god it's told you that's who I think I am would have been better if I had a song that said I am a or if I had a song to say I'm a gangster or if I had a son to say I am a pimp all those colors and patinas fit better on a person like me right but to say you are a God especially when you got shipped over to the country that you're in and your last name is a slave owners how could you say that how could you have that mentality I mean I know in the past you've talked about like you know building hotels doing things that are Beyond people's normal frame of reference they know you as Kanye West and artists they know that if you that you're moving into fashion but these things I guess in a way are hard for people to comprehend because they don't have that level of Drive do you know what I mean has it always been like this for you have you always felt like you can set your mind to anything and you will achieve It ultimately I always felt like I could do anything that's the main thing people are controlled by thoughts their perception of themselves they're slowed down by their perception of themselves if you're taught you can't do anything you won't do anything I was taught I could do everything and I'm Kanye West at age 36. so just watch the next 10 years yeah yeah yeah one thing I want to express to people also people think a lot of my motivation is very like megalomaniac and self-oriented to the contrary completely I just want to help from day one I just wanted to help like my father was a black panther my father was a journalist a Paparazzi uh a photojournalist he was a Paparazzi had a dark room in our house like seven years ago he lived in a homeless shelter not because he was homeless because he wanted to help the ex drug addicts he wanted to get that close he started a foundation called good water and moved to the Dominican Republic to help right there to help with the prostitution to help with the extortion to help right there he stays in the Dominican Republic right now my mom was the first black female chair of the English Department there is no award show there's no amount of billboards there's nothing that that can Define me or make me pass what my parents made me and that's exactly who I am and I put on that pink polo and said broke broke and broke through that TV and now you gotta interview with me because their presidents was coming out the gate and they was like oh that ain't gonna work that ain't gonna work but me I'm here you know what I mean by I'm here like meaning like I got no play on Jesus on the on the on the radio right no not entirely true by the way a little bit but no number one records no Kanye West blah blah right so then I was going back and forth with uh with um uh the the company I'm in touring I'm with right now and I said I wanted to perform in the round and then creatively we just couldn't find it so I said put me up against the corner like how we did and Watch the Throne we'll just do that instead they said well you know we just can't technically do it because technically why why can't you do it they said look if you do that you're gonna be in breach of contract right so basically meaning like if I didn't sell the tickets I would go into debt right so they they pushed me my back against the ropes right and I said I'll take that chance I'll take that chance right so pre-order nine thousand the first day in Chicago doubling Watch the Throne full pre-orders in one day that meant the people stood up and said we like what Kanye is saying but we like New Slaves we do that all the time yeah but that through radio well yeah but I'm a radio broadcaster and I love your records I mean you know for me I'm not pinpointing just you I'm talking about the overall radio there is no get lucky on the album and perhaps you know it's just because that just wasn't the song and maybe it could be that but it sounds like there's hits on the album to me but it sounded like this hits that's distracted by the statements you and your corporation y'all can't control me on the first single yeah I mean you know this to me sounds like a radio hit where I'm coming from but you see yourself at the start you made a record that was built out of frustration and that you were trying to create cracks in the pavement I like that description more than you made an album for the radio hits as a Kanye West fan I don't you know turn to you around I never described it as an album full of radio hits no no no no no but I'm saying like you know I preferred than you to describe it as a cracks in the pavement than to have made a record just full of radioheads you know what I mean I want to hear where you're at buy that pause it that's a that song is a hit song minus the line you and your corporation y'all needs can't control me on your first single I think it's a great record but you ain't hear what I'm saying go on that song's a hit record minus you and your corporation y'all can't control me say it on your first single um because if you can't control me then you can't control him you can't control him do you can't control him and then the information age starts with curse while is talking about starts with Steve Jobs left to starts Steve Jobs made the internet usable this is the information age we barely scratched the surface yeah there's things that are moving the entire music industry was hit by a Glacier by the internet and Sean Parker just like that great show up in there and Steve is like no no wait a second come on yeah give him a little time there won't be any music you just give it away like that yeah you know what I'm saying but is changing yeah people are going to look at this interview and say hey I understand what he's talking about people gonna look at this interview and say I don't like Kanye look he looks mad I don't like his teeth they're gonna say why doesn't he just focus on music I liked him as a music they're going to say hey I want the old Kanye blah blah but one thing they will do they will play this interview in five years they will play this interview in 10 years and say he called that he called that he called that he said that was gonna happen that was gonna change you're a futurist yeah I'm a post-modernist as best as a as a uh as a career I'm a futurist mentally talking about the internet and where you feature into that obviously it's just a small part of the future and being a futurist it's only just an aspect of it it's changed the way everything moves but it certainly with regards to the biggest part it's our Earth well like you remember like and you see future movies and everything was in the sky like it moved to the sky that's where it is that's the internet right that's what it is that's our Sky yeah that's our future Sky we we kind of thought we knew what it was and it's flying cars we didn't get flying cars but we can send movies like in two seconds you know it's a good point it's a very good point so you talk about it being in its early stages and it being really not even yet at a point where it's developed its true potential I mean what are the key things that you've learned in your journey because I'm fascinated to go down this road for a minute if you want we could talk about this record I'd love to but while we're here this record is just the codes of that go listen to all my music it's the codes of self-esteem it's the codes of Who You Are if you're a Kanye West fan you're not a fan of me you're a fan of yourself you will believe in yourself I'm just the espresso I'm just a shot in the morning to get you going to make you believe that you can overcome that situation that you're dealing with all the time can I ask you a question about that yeah I want to talk to you about that aspect of your personality because you said that you're not here to um you know be you know it's all about you you're here to help and I believe you when you say that man you know I think you know you've given us great records you like to think about the way things are going to appear in the future you keep your eye on things you want to you want to make you know like you said you want to make basketball tops for you if you know if you're if you're old high school you want to do things right yeah do you allow yourself the time to be good to yourself do you allow yourself any time for yourself at all do you know what I mean I know you've got a good self-esteem and who you are but you seem to be doing a lot for the bigger picture for the for everything that's moving around you yeah do you give yourself time yeah it's like family time yeah it's what it's what Kim gave me yeah she gave me everything she gave me a family she gave me a support system she was in a powerful enough situation where she could love me without asking me for money which is really hard for me to find yeah what are some of the other things you know that you've learned about yourself since you became a family man you know I can't pinpoint that I don't have the answer right on me I got to think about it a little bit and give you a really good answer okay I've got like a lock and loaded amount of information that I'd like to express on a very wide scale that I'll give you but if you ask me a question like that I'll go back and think of it maybe I have an answer for you in a couple days you know okay no problem when you get other outlets you can you can relax and give other outlets more Breathing Room meaning like okay when I did the Coachella performance I had 30 dancers on stage mod you know Modern Performance artists and I had this lift and I had the Roman wall and I had like the Celine shirt and above all this type stuff so uh when Jay told me he did Watch the Throne he said I didn't want I don't you know I want to use dances of course and I said that's fine because I was doing a fashion show in Paris so I still had 30 girls on the stage but you know still had these elements of this mother recognize that wasn't the throne thing either I mean that wasn't necessarily what Throne was about you know that that type of performance necessarily um what I'm saying is it's about whatever I want to make it about this my world but you're with Jay on this though it is a collaborative project it's not just your vision on Throne yeah so then I would have to separate my world but still get some of my world out through the fact that I had a fashion show you see what I'm saying so it's like right now people could say oh he's frustrated he's Daddy's that no all I need is the Breakthrough the joint venture for my clothing same as Stella McCartney has same I can name so many people that have joint ventures of backing to be able to express themselves that way okay bam I need that that outlet and then you'll get things closer to Watch the Throne you'll get things closer to bound because obviously people more people are apt to like blood on the leaves and bound and Watch the Throne it's just more of an overall like happier Vibe right but Jay is more realized than me meaning more of his dreams and hopes and aspirations has come true and hopefully God willing by the time I'm his age that thing will happen for me also and I'll be in that place of a more zinned out place even it's like I couldn't have done this album without Rick Rubin I had to have a zen master come in and say okay this is just what we're gonna do you don't realize I am so frustrated like I am so frustrated like I am so I've got so much I want to give I've got ideas on color palettes I've got ideas on Silhouettes and I've got a million people telling me why I can't do it you know that I'm not a real designer I'm not this I'm not a real rapper either I'm not a real musician either like I don't know how to play the piano like I'm an artist I went to art college I went to art college and was looked at like I'm soft because I like wore like Italian clothes you know I'm saying when I'm rapping in front of camera and my pants is tight trying to spit a verse for cam you know so that's the same when I'm sitting there you know like sitting there at a fashion show like I'm there because I appreciate Phoebe follow I appreciate rap Simmons I appreciate Ricardo tishi and I look at them as my peers as creative people who dedicate their entire life to making something better for the world is that let me explain what anybody that knows an artist and you know someone that's giving that if you know an artist there's only one thing you can say give or ask them when you see them there are two words thank you there's no why did you do this yo I want that what's up no we dedicate our entire life to making our current time in Civilization better to adding something to the culture and there is only two words that you can say thank you give us an insight into the Fashion World though and what you've been going through there with that whole experience the biggest challenge you've ever had clearly to get your vision across yeah yeah oh I'd be helping me is that partly in and please don't you know take this the wrong way I just mean this in the art it for the process of conversation is that partly do you think because some of the people who are making fashion look at you and they go well you said it yourself they dedicate their whole lives to one thing you are exceptionally successful and gifted in this area to move into their area it's understandable there's a human aspect of Suspicion involved there because they're like well hang on a minute this is our life so what is it you're trying to achieve here do you think there's a part of that that's going on do you think I've dedicated the past 10 years of my life to this I've spent 80 percent of my time working on this and 20 of my time working on music why do you this why do you think the song in Paris is called in Paris because was in Paris because I had an office in a small courtyard across the street from Colette where I couldn't even find a good pattern cutter that's why we were in Paris I put in the ten thousand hours I've got a very particular specific take on men's men's Footwear no one can say I cannot design or understand how to design a guy sneaker when I was in fourth grade I was drawing Jordans when my mama couldn't afford them I was drawing those Jordans getting kicked out of class for drawing them and when I got that opportunity to work with Nike I went into that emotional space and place in my life and said what was it about that what were the cues that I could add when I make the Yeezys you know I don't ever do interviews and I wasn't the one rapper that had the opportunity to do a shoe at Nike for no reason it means it has to be another step it means it has to keep going people didn't love the Yeezys the way they did for no reason picture this for me to do the Yeezys and not have a joint venture backing deal with Nike the next day would have been like if I made Jesus walks and was never allowed to make an album if Drake was made his first mixtape and was never allowed to be signed if two chains only had 116 and then people say why are you mad do you know how many 16s Two Chains had in them he did a hundred features in one year 100 yeah 100 okay features let's get to the solution then Kanye let's work out how are you going to kick that door in as well how are you gonna get into that world your way on your terms I'm not trying to get into that world I'm trying to make a higher level of product for the real world because people say life isn't fair and unless you Kanye West or you you know this this pretty girl that dates the soccer player or your parents had money you don't get to wear Versace all the time and you hear it we love Versace Versace Versace Versace Versace Versace we love Versace Versace is the greatest designer of all time we love Versace but unless you was to the point where you rap so good and knock down so many doors and produce so much that you was able to actually get Dame Dash to give you a record deal because you was a producer not because he liked your ass because you was a producer just because damn newer was up and he was downtown with the models and the artists and all that said yo look at this this kid got some Talent you not affording Versace the creators they want to connect with people these artists the clothing designers they want to connect with people the same way that music gets to connect with people but the fact the cost of silk is too expensive and they won't lower their quality level so I can spend 2 million on a record and give it out at a democratic in a democratic way they could spend all their time making the greatest dress in the world and it's just impossible to hand make that many let me explain to you what a fashion office is like right sometimes if you're working on an album once it gets down to the last moment there's two or three people in the studio an engineer a manager the artist a label guy saying the Masters are due tomorrow okay they do not a day after tomorrow but let's get them in it Narrows down to that at a fashion office you've had people who have dedicated their entire life to this that are working 12 people 15 20 people interns coming in working to 4 a.m that night slaving to be able to put that thing on the runway pinning things right before they go out all 20 collections every day for fashion month that is the level of dedication heart and soul that goes into that but what happens is for real people the Democratic public the people who have a normal amount of money that work every day that like nice things we'll just make these same Cuts blah blah and provide this at a democratic cost the only thing about it that's different than Nike and apple is there's never a time where someone can walk in with some non-nikes and you feel less in yourself right you still feel like the greatest version of you right when you have those Nikes on right but you can have on a Zara pen right right and a girl walks in with the Celine version and you feel like that is the problem that is the problem I mean obviously not my problem because I look like yeah I mean I dressed the same way I did when I was like 12. but I'm talking about I'm talking about us the New Slaves the people who love fashion I'm talking about us you know because I'm a slave to it I love it dude I can tell like I love it yeah I love it since age five my mama brought me to a discount first spot and she and I'm and when she asks you what I like everything I like was too expensive for us that's five years old I went to my grandfather's funeral um like three weeks back uh and my cousin that works for me stood up and he told this story about you know how his mother was a tailor so he won best dress I won best dress in high school too a bunch of people in the lineage of my family won best dress but his mother was a tailor right his mother was a tailor a black an African-American tailor my grandfather was a hustler he used to take old vintage furniture and reupholster it then he had a store and he sold all of these different items that he thought would be good for people do you know how many times I sat with people and said hey I want to make a store and they said how could you make a story about my it's in my code it's in my code have y'all ever seen wrecking Ralph yeah remember remember how that girl in there the people that was racing yeah she was the glitch yeah you telling me they don't look at me like the glitch you telling me people don't look at Kanye West like the glitch right now and she was on the side of the video game the whole time it's in my code it's in my code I mean I watch what happens when you get on the mic or you get on stage and you say what you want to say and I want to refer this back to your comment about the glitch right and I watch people you know I see what some people say in comments and whatever after these things get posted and then and I go all right yeah I mean those are the people that think you're the glitch yeah John Suites but there's also a lot of people in the audience that love what you have to say love hearing what you have to say you know yeah appreciate what you have to say yeah do you focus on them as well yeah 100 but I'm doing it for everyone I'm doing it for the people who don't appreciate it because they'll appreciate it later and of course I'm doing it for the people who appreciate it if no one appreciate it I know I know it's a couple people up there that I appreciate it for sure I appreciate it and thank you very much and then people will say your voice is so strong why are you so focused on just clothing or why were you focused on just that award show why were you focused on that the same reason why I sat there and focused on that Otis beat when people didn't like ham and Miami Heat was losing and I'm in the Mercer and they literally right on the screen who's watching the throne and show a picture of LeBron and stuff and I said I gotta watch out the throne like in May Otis right and say this I know in Paris doesn't work without Otis you have to bring the flowers to the door first and we delivered Otis and then we did this so wait a second that's just a step towards this because people can say what do you mean you want to help the world and you're so concerned about fashion it's illegal to be naked it's not illegal to not listen to music that is a very high opinion to have that is something that is extremely important shoes you put on shoes every day you walking down the street with no shoes somebody might think it's something wrong with you sure if you walking down the street without a headphones like oh what's up how you doing today no headphones today cool no music today what is it you know no shoes look man what's going on yeah you're having problems with the family okay why are you socks at least yeah sandals yeah flip-flops on you very really flip-flops very rarely sandals with socks I mean Keep it Gangster I'm from New Zealand flip-flops are far more standard yeah exactly but not for black news though no flip-flops for black boots I don't care where you at I don't care where you at go flip-flops um wear some hot ass Jordans on the beach holy dude we've covered some stuff now can you do me a favor like my brain is just like I I walked in here I was gonna turn around to the guys I said man I hope I learned some stuff today my God I had no idea but would you would you indulge in me for for five or ten minutes and would you let me just geek out on a music level because you know me yeah I love hearing what you have to say some of it I love some of it upsets me because there's a fan I think you're too out on yourself but that's you that's who you are that's not for me to say yeah but what points do you think I'm hard on myself well I think you expect a huge amount of yourself on every level as well you should and I think that you expect a huge amount of everybody else to understand your motives at all times oh no I don't expect to be understood at all okay but like I don't expect to be I think that there's people who are wired by their parents to understand what I'm saying sure and there's people who are wired by their parents to reject what I'm saying but that doesn't mean that after I make what I'm saying that they won't use it because they will and I'm just saying I want to make things I want to be able to make things and I'm not going to be able to make things that I can call Kanye West just by making t-shirts at a certain point it has to connect I would not be here if it was not for a Rockefeller chain if it wasn't for Jay-Z's blessing and his co-sign and his protection when I was in New York City dolo I would not be here in the way that I am through the category of the drug dealer feel code rap game me as Kanye West as a young revolutionary coming out of Chicago would not have made it that far without Jay-Z being my big brother and watching my back at all times and this new place that I'm going to and what I want to do it has to be someone that says because I'm the thing is I'm speaking to everybody but I'm also speaking and sending cues to the right people to say come and help me help everybody else you will win with me you will win let's talk about the production side of things because you've opened the daughter collaboration in a big way on this record and even though you produced every song on this record you've been very very open to the idea of working with all sorts of very talented individuals yeah have you enjoyed that that aspect of it I mean in the past unit hasn't necessarily been that much of a group mentality to making it's the only way I could do it at this point I can't do it by myself I can't like I want it's I have no interest in sitting down in the studio by myself and making a track like when I made Overnight Celebrity which is great like I sat down there by myself and made it and there's people like yeah that's the answer make their but I like doing that I want to utilize the best resources that we have and have a conversation as you see I would rather have a conversation was was throwing a turning point for that because it felt like with Throne there was a freedom there that didn't necessarily feel like you were carrying the whole thing on your on your own and also you were free to be an emcee to be up front and be a part of that process with Jay and it wasn't like oh Kanye the producer rapper the whole encompassing thing did it begin around that time um yeah a rather but Dark Fantasy though when we we sewed that fabric so tight you know like for eight nine months you know with Pete Rock and no ID and Q-Tip everyone coming down to Hawaii Nicki Minaj Rick Ross we like texture and Jeff basker we created those textures to collectively you know like I would be you know eating breakfast with Ross in the morning and just come up with a line and stuff and then we all go play ball and NASA come out there and play ball with me in common and stuff come up with another line then go there and then Virgil have an idea we say that then Don C has an idea and like these are really great people that came together to make that and that and that's what I and I learned that process a bit from working on clothes because it's that communal you know process a lot to do it all on your own you can't handle everything on your own hey how about us as it as a people we can't do it on our own that's true we have to we have to understand that we're not each other's enemy we have to stop discriminating against each other due to class and due to race and due to location or financial you know position we have to say wow that is the best version let's use it let's bring it let's bring it to light let's move forward let's push forward as a civil a civilization because we're so jacked up on our own Egos and so misguided by mainstream you know marketing we don't know what the is real we'd be apt to get into a fight this quick for the dumbest reason definitely something that's like racially you know this or gender set you know it's like you know we we it's like repeated against each other we're mentally not in a place to be accepting to not be jealous in that part of that jealousy and that frustration that that that that that goes up across an entire Globe is due to some of these other High Corporation level limitations everybody is being served the nastic lunch food and like you know you heard the word minimalism a lot on this project even this is like uh you give us what you need may not be what you want give us what we need to proceed not what we necessarily want because we can't be trusted to a certain extent you know yeah because we don't have the education to know what to want yeah we don't know what to want this is what I was telling that writer in W I'm learning what I want this is the reason why I'm working at five Architects at a time but that time that I'm spending in a bad apartment I can't get that back and that education that I can get from working on it is priceless and there's very few people that are in the position to educate themselves as much as I can educate myself for me it's constant information intake I hang around Architects mostly yeah I want to talk about that side of things because I know that that's right you know that there was that's been talked about in relation to this record as well and that blows my mind I mean for me I try and connect the dots through my favorite records as much as I can but I need you to help me connect the dots on how architecture and how a certain type of design that you you surrounded yourself with whilst in Paris have somehow manifested itself into this and how they're not separate things yeah it all parallels it's like you know synesthesia seeing sounds it all parallels people will tell you this business isn't like this business it's the same people everywhere you go the same type of guy you might mean Hollywood you might mean that same type of character in fashion you might mean that same type of character in music you got some straight up people that do it for the love and they want to promote it it's all about that you got some people that's trying to like make their way it's like what the what you said five percent at 10 or 85 percenters and it's like it's a ten percent is the media for the most part the 85 don't really know what it is and the five percent is that no one is can't get it past the 10 percenters so this alone is would be a break this is a jump pass it's gonna get this is gonna get taken off the internet quick sure instead of paparazzi and Paparazzi gonna come at me I'm just standing like I know what you're trying to do right now sir I know exactly what you're trying to do somebody sent you at me somebody's trying to set me up somebody's trying to shut me up you know people will look at what's been going on with you and the cameras it's been going on with other people for a long time as well and I need you to help people who don't live your life and look at those magazines and there's millions and millions of people that do and look at those pictures who don't understand what it is that you go through in that situation what is it from your perspective you've got this platform you've used it to talk about a bunch of things so use it now to explain to them why is it what is it what is it like to go through that okay for me first of all dopeness is what I like the most dopeness people who want to make things as dope as possible and by default make money from it the thing that I like the least are people who only want to make money from things whether they're dope or not and especially make money and making things as least dope as possible photography used to be like a a a sexy profession it was like being a ball player like a rapper or like a you know venture capitalist or something like that right it was like you know they used to get all the girls and everything like a photographer you go up a photographer studio like that they completely you know change what photography is supposed to mean same as how there's like plenty of musicians that have sold the out and changed like the art of Music where people don't hold that to the highest level of Genius anymore meaning like if there's a high level artist like visual artist or a high level clothing artist they'll be held at a higher level of Genius uh uh points than a musician because the things in music that are selling the most are the least inspired for the most part and the least genius so uh so it confuses things so I take that to Paparazzi it confuses it Paparazzi is necessary not even a necessary evil it just needs to be legalized meaning at a certain point there's cut off switches you know what time it is you know what it's at like Paparazzi currently is like giving rules give it boundaries yeah and obviously like publishing like because they're selling our image and they're selling it in a bad way and if once let me get this straight what's offending you more the fact they're selling your image or the fact they're selling your image in a bad way in a bad way in a bad way a bad way and I'm not getting paid for right there you go so it's like the dopeness which makes the money I want the dopeness and the money yeah I'm changing things for my daughter and I'm gonna tell my daughter by the time she understands what it was man me and your mother were in a completely different situation than you're in at that time Paparazzi it wasn't legal people could take pictures people could climb over your fence people could do that you wouldn't even get paid for it you see all these checks that you get into age six cause people taking your picture you don't have to worry about thing a thing ever again just because people want to take your picture like and I and I and I made that happen Nori that's what I'm gonna tell so touring to be done oh I want to talk to you about control I want to talk about the person control about about about Kendrick's facing control because obviously you know he credited you he put you at the table where you rightfully should be with the m M's and the Jay-Z's he put you on that side of the of the equation and then he rattled off the list and I and I thought okay it's great you deserve to be at the table but 10 years ago if you hadn't been at the table and you'd been on his list how do you think you would have reacted would you have been appreciative of his message or would you come out swinging do you thinking written a response yeah I don't I don't do diss records yeah yeah you looking forward to the tour with them I mean that's an incredible double bill yeah it's 100 it's 100 I'm just looking forward to the the opportunity to speak to this brother as much as possible that come those conversations is going to be more than everything I even said right here because those are that he's one of our future Messengers you know and I'm gonna give them them jewels let's talk about this track here which was the first track that we were giving off this album to play on the radio which we did you said no singles but we ran with this one early and we've proven to be right so let's talk about this track here and who you worked with you worked with dark Punk on this one part and how the song came together well uh daff had the drums and then I just took the record I just started both this song I am a God and this song were made after Hedy samay didn't let me into his first Saint Laurent show but it wasn't that he wanted me to go but he just told me I couldn't go to any other shows all right right right right so um and I was like wait a second I can't go you're not telling no editor they can't go to any shows yeah I'm not your boy yeah you could control me in some way so I made off of that I went into the studio with the producers that made the music for his shop right and made I am a God yeah and Black Skinhead and that was your reaction to that situation that was my reaction that was the aspect of frustration you talked about it's just poured into this record yes yeah right on I mean let's talk about another track on here as well um New Slaves which is you know one of my favorite songs on the record and you know it's just as far as beats go is just remarkable before even get stuck into the subject matter which is a whole other level I mean you know you you know you're talking about the materialism about Commerce about corporations and everything else but at the same time you know there's a blurred line between whether or not you're a part of it whether you're objecting to it or where it stands I mean just give us some insight into what this song is I'm 100 a part of it I'm 100 in it I'm 100 I want to overcome it sometimes I'm the I'm the communicator of it sometimes I'm the maker of it sometimes I'm the consumer of it I'm in it I'm in the game um but for me um yeah I say I am a new slave you could be a slave to a lot of things I at this point obviously I'm a slave to my passion I'm a slave to my mission it's funny you drive in a Maybach past a homeless person you ask who's more free you could be trapped to you to your possessions you got to do this next deal because you got to do this with your house and you gotta get this car and you got to keep up every everybody stay next to you last name is Jones and you're trying to keep up with all of them and that's what it's like to be a celebrity a lot of times that's especially every rap is about how much money you make how many spends you got how many cars you got what house you got what you know what house A-Rod got we like you know rappers and musicians trying to compete with ball players with way bigger contracts meanwhile the music is the Titanic that's going down like this and everybody from the execs to the Musicians are running around trying to see how they can still keep that certain house level at certain car level that certain thing up and of course for me I'm I'm blessed and I'm privileged because I made such a powerful impact that I can make a certain amount on tour but also I'm blessed and cursed by my level of Education you know to be a Visionary all you have to do is make decisions based off of your eyes instead of your ears and your memory meaning so at the moment of the MTV Awards I made that decision based off of my eyes I was like that's not that's not correct that is invalid completely invalid and everybody else don't move that's off their ears oh he gonna get in trouble that's off their memory they don't move they're enslaved they're slave to what could possibly happen we're constantly slaves there's there's glass ceilings there's glass fences there's invisible walls don't think I ain't been many a times singing like Five Heartbeats in Paris I've been up there singing um y'all wanted this one of my outfits y'all want to say that y'all want to like try to diss one of my girlfriend's outfits Bubba um we're just singing y'all singing group ain't y'all we came out there they talked about y'all singing group ain't y'all sing something in and what we sing We Sing Pyrex we sang been Trill we sang snapbacks we sang Jesus but we want to sing Nike who want that clean water I tasted it I see what it's like we want to sing Louis Vuitton we want to sing on a Gucci level we want to sing as high as we can sing when we have pyramids we don't want to just have a little print on the back of our jacket that cost two thousand dollars making us feel like a king again for a day we don't want to just have the jewelry just trying to make us feel good we want to be good that's creation that's that thing that people slave over that's that thing that people are slaves to that's that thing I'm a slave too that's passion that's that thing where you can hold it that's that dreaming about a new pair of Jordans that's that's the process of opening up a Nike box that thing that Steve gave us when you open up your new iPhone and you got the iPhone 5 whether you stood in line for it or whatever you did and stuff and you open it up and you got this new product that's that Transformers in the box that you open up for Christmas or that new turbo Graphics 16 or Sega Genesis or Amiga computer or 3DO or Nintendo or it's like when you just open that packaging the process of the packaging that's that porno mag that that drug that that that that that that that drug addict bought for you when you was 14 that was in that package and you figured out how to pay that drug dealer before there was internet to buy you and you open up that and you know you're gonna make five of them girls your girlfriend all weekend that's why I'm on that Runway until I'm at the end of it FAIR Plan good luck yeah cool man thanks for your time again thank you all right thank you crew thank you oh my god dude that was the most intense

Channel: BBC Radio 1

Views: 1,432,190

Keywords: Kanye West (Record Producer), Zane Lowe (Musical Artist), BBC Radio 1 (Radio Station), In Conversation, Yeezus, Jay-Z (Record Producer), Kanye Interview, Kanye West Interview, Talking, Chat, Talks

Id: DR_yTQ0SYVA

Length: 62min 28sec (3748 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 01 2013