The New York Times’s pop-music critic, Jon Caramanica, sat down with controversial rapper-producer-fashionista Kanye West at Shangri-La Studio out in Malibu, California, for a highly amusing conversation that spanned several hours over three days in late May and early June. The pair covered a wide range of topics, including West’s upcoming album, Yeezus, out June 18, the Taylor Swift fiasco, his baby with Kim Kardashian, and how he’s the next Steve Jobs.
Here are craziest Kanye West quotes from the must-read interview:
On Being Out for Justice:
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“I’m going to use my platform to tell people that they’re not being fair. Anytime I’ve had a big thing that’s ever pierced and cut across the Internet, it was a fight for justice. Justice. And when you say justice, it doesn’t have to be war. Justice could just be clearing a path for people to dream properly. It could be clearing a path to make it fair within the arena that I play. You know, if Michael Jordan can scream at the refs, me as Kanye West, as the Michael Jordan of music, can go and say, ‘This is wrong.’”
On Grammys:
“I don’t know if this is statistically right, but I’m assuming I have the most Grammys of anyone my age, but I haven’t won one against a white person. But the thing is, I don’t care about the Grammys; I just would like for the statistics to be more accurate.”
On Fighting for What’s Right:
“I am so credible and so influential and so relevant that I will change things. So when the next little girl that wants to be, you know, a musician and give up her anonymity and her voice to express her talent and bring something special to the world, and it’s time for us to roll out and say, ‘Did this person have the biggest thing of the year?’ — that thing is more fair because I was there.”
On Whether Fighting for What’s Right Has Ever Led Him Astray, e.g., the Taylor Swift Incident:
“It’s only led me to complete awesomeness at all times. It’s only led me to awesome truth and awesomeness. Beauty, truth, awesomeness. That’s all it is.”
On Calling Out President George W. Bush on Live TV:
“Yeah, it was pretty bugged out. When you think about it, I was wearing like, a Juicy Couture men’s polo shirt. We weren’t there, like, ready for war.”
On Looking Bummed Out:
“Maybe 90 percent of the time it looks like I’m not having a good time.”
On Impending Fatherhood with Kim Kardashian:
“Well, I just don’t want to talk to America about my family. Like, this is my baby. This isn’t America’s baby.”
On the Inspiration for His New Album, Yeezus:
“Architecture—you know, this one Corbusier lamp was like, my greatest inspiration.”
On His Love of J-Kwon’s “Tipsy.”
“People would think that’s like a lower-quality, less intellectual form of hip-hop, but that’s always my No. 1.”
On the Outfits He Wore Five to Seven Years Ago:
“Yeah, kill self. That’s all I have to say. Kill self.”
On Other Designers Dissing His Fashion Line:
“If you don’t make Christmas presents, meaning making something that’s so emotionally connected to people, don’t talk to me.”
On His Legacy:
“I think what Kanye West is going to mean is something similar to what Steve Jobs means. I am undoubtedly, you know, Steve of Internet, downtown, fashion, culture. Period. By a long jump. I honestly feel that because Steve has passed, you know, it’s like when Biggie passed and Jay-Z was allowed to become Jay-Z.
I’ve been connected to the most culturally important albums of the past four years, the most influential artists of the past ten years. You have like, Steve Jobs, Walt Disney, Henry Ford, Howard Hughes, Nicolas Ghesquière, Anna Wintour, David Stern.
I think that’s a responsibility that I have, to push possibilities, to show people: “This is the level that things could be at.” So when you get something that has the name Kanye West on it, it’s supposed to be pushing the furthest possibilities. I will be the leader of a company that ends up being worth billions of dollars, because I got the answers. I understand culture. I am the nucleus.”
[Ed Note: But really… David Stern?]
