Kanye West. Zane Lowe. Full Interview

Gra grab you remember this place yeah yeah graduation yeah wow I was also thinking about some of the other things we've done as well which um with the BBC like EBY 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 ASA theale 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'd be stepping in a room with that many players and that kind of to give yourself that objective I mean what are your thoughts when you think back about Abby Roy with the it's just nuts I thought it was good I thought it what I was supposed to do at that time you know if I see something I see opportunity I'm going to go for it yeah you know what I'm saying we only you know we're all Going to 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 of what have allow that those steps of have been the um you know the platforms that allowed 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 thrown record various records with good music to talk about man but seriously yeus Bravo dude I mean that is one of the most creative records Of you know 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 are just making exactly what was in my mind again and not having to speak with the textures of the time cuz you know Cruel Summer is definitely Kanye West and it'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 or certain you know songs that are blatant you know radio hits it's like I'm speaking with today textures and that's you know and 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 yeesus stands out and completely can Push or redefine or make people say you know hey I 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 the radio thing I was talking to Frank Ocean about this and said like you know my my mom got arrested for the stins and now we're more like the sit outs like sit off of radio and say Hey Radio come to us yeah you know we need to find something new be because it's being you know controlled in a way and and and manufactured in a way that you you know

uh really awesome you know artists you know uh can make amazing music and and that break as far past as like something that's very like formula 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 what 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 ground you know sonically and and Society culturally you've done that Withus I mean it's fascinating for us to sit here and talk about this record now cuz 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 GNA try to give John Legend the best you know home for him to stay in and I'm going to try to Push push your t no pun intendent once again this just keeps happening to me uh to make the thing that represents what I like about his music the most and then for me as Kanye West I got to up and you did do seriously from the minute it starts I mean seriously disgusting you know so you're you're up in the lck 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 Toman man and them like who's da Punk and they had a synthesizer like the sides 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 completely just distorted it and like and I end up making

that the intro you know I got a I got a beef with You over this track it's too short I wanted more out of it you know cuz 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 only a couple of verses and go you know what we're going to get on with with the album now no that's just what I felt like it should be yeah you just had done thing and

you know like originally Blood On The Leaves was supposed to be First wow and which psychologically I know it would have changed certain Jesus naysayers about the album but it wasn't that time for me I I didn't I didn't I didn't want to come up there and perform a lot of times 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 to music so I'm going to take music and I'm going to try to make it threedimensional like like like uh [Music] um on on Star Wars and the Hologram will Pop up out of R2-D2 I'm going to try to make something that jumps

up and affects you 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 but I'm not I'm not here to make easy listening you know Pro easy programmable music no you s off the reservation on the AL in the best possible way 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 yees season approaching you know

a monsters awoken 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 whing 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 just it's almost like a collage like you're sitting here going you know what Why can't I go into this why not yeah you can you you did yeah it's true like a car crash you just be driving and just out of nowhere that happens 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 well I didn't reduce it r

reduced it he's not a producer he's a reducer uh 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 bolt it 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 lou 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 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 you mean like in a POS 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 broke there would be no Kanye West if it wasn't for Michaelson 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 they 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 blah blah blah 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 gon 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 referenced that

in the record you talk about that no one's liked him since he since You' been wearing tight jeans you know everybody knows that you you know you bought back real rap I mean you referenc that on the record you yeah but but I'm saying I had all that but I Bought real rack back I I'm going to do dope things you know and I want to take this opportunity to speak to something because I I go to Hype Beast 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 Pusher te this is what it is I have to remind Pusher te that he's push your te because

the radio if they're not playing a song of his that has a R&B hook on it or works at a certain level of trap Tempo and plays and Club live it's like we forget about that Clips album that meant everything 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 Clips as the gods and this is our soundtrack to creativity and it's not a trap beat that comes in on that soundtrack to creativity

you know what I'm saying it's not no knock to trap cuz 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 a when people used to use the term R&B right the people used to use 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 I scream and

I'm sitting in the middle of it whether whether I'm at a at a dinner with Anna winter or you know I'm I'm I'm at at a a listening session uh with uh Pusher or Me and Virgil are in Rome giving designs to findy over and over and getting our designs knocked down brought brought the leather jogging pants six years ago to findy and they said no how many you done seen with a leather jogging pant yeah okay meaning like so when I see when I see Hy slag and it's all like okay this is my

take on the world yeah he got some nice $5,000 jeans in there it's some nice ones here and there some good Here and there but we culture rap the new rock and roll we culture 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 head stain it's been like that for a minute we 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

it says that that's why 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 and I'm just this 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 $90,000 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 gouty and you want to Build buildings if you don't ever get that out what's going to happen isn't that why

you do it isn't it the process isn't it the point Y don't think you're 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 fairest 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 than everything that I could do sonically and everything Is if I go somewhere and 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 then I eventually want to be the anchor and the Force behind a billion doll company and after I made that billion doll step then I can go in and say hey I've got an opinion on this and that could be a 10 billion doll step and I eventually want to be the anchor of the first trillion doll company but when you sit and you have a meeting with a company and show them the most Innovative take on theater because you thought of it one night while you were sitting on top of Watch

the Throne set which you designed with s Devin and I designed the set with Ed Devin and I thought of okay surround Vision it should be a screen above you below you to the left or right right of you and in front of you also then I paid 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 vers Matt William Nill all of

these crew all Of the people that every video that pops up every other day on hype beast that's my crew right so we go out and shoot that three camera Crews over five days edit it over 30 days show it at Amar no show it in can the night before Anar on the beach build it with in a pyramid with Rim cool House's 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 stepen Spielberg and they're talking about what the next Frontier of theater will be and how it'll be higher price tickets and it will be something that's surrounding you and blah blah blah but maybe it's in a 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 Sarah newerk at that time said before you drop them go meet with Ari Emanuel and I sat with him I 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 got a red bottle and We got a David Beckham version here then we got a BL version ver so my opinion is no more than the patina on top of it when I understand the reason from 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 I just told you that's who I think I am would it 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 Song to say I a pimp all those 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 an artist they know that 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 feel 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 uh a photojournalist he was a Paparazzi we had a dark room in our house like 7 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 ch of The English Department there is no award show there's no amount of Bill boards there's nothing that that can defy me or make me past 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 got an Interview with me cuz de president was coming out the gate and they was like oh that ain't going to

work that ain't going to work but me I'm here you know what I mean by I'm here like meaning like I got no play on yeus on the on the on the radio right not entirely true by the way a little bit but no number one records no Kanye West blah blah blah right so then I was going back and forth with uh with Um uh the the company I'm in touring with right now and I 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 on Watch the Throne we just do that instead they said well you know we just can't technically do it cuz what technically why why can't you do it they said look if you do that you're going to 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 9,000 the first day

in Chicago doubling Watch the Throne full pre-orders in one day mhm that meant the people stood up and said we like what Kanye is saying but we we like New Slaves but we do that all The time yeah but not through radio well yeah but I'm a radio broadcaster and I love your records I mean you know for me no 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 and maybe it could be

that but it sound like there's hits on the album to me but it sound like there's 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 HP where I'm coming from but you were you said yourself at the start you made a record that was built out of frustration and then you were trying to create cracks in the pavement I like that description more than you made an album full of radio hits as a Kanye wh

fan I don't you know turn to your album I never described as an album full of radio hits No no no no no but I'm saying like you know I i' prefer then you to describe it as a cracks in the pavement than to have made a record just full of radio hits you know what I mean I want to hear where you're at pause that pause that that's a that song is a hit song minus the line you and your corporation y'all can't control me on your first single I think it's a great record

but you didn't hear what I'm saying that Song's a hit record minus you and your corporation y'all can't control me say it on your first single because if you can't control me then you can't control him you can't control him then you can't control him and then the information age starts what KW is talking about starts what Steve Jobs has left us 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 Shawn Parker just like that great sh 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 going to say why doesn't he just focus on music I

liked him as music they're going to say hey I want the old Kanye blah blah blah but one thing they will do they will play this interview in 5 years they will play this interview in 10 years and say he called that he called that he called that he said that was going to happen that was going to change you're a futurist yeah I'm a postmodernist as best as a as a 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 music it's our earth like you remember like 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 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 that's a very

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 cuz I'm fascinated 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 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 your you know for your for your 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 in 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 MH which is really hard for me to find yeah what are some of the other things you know that

you you 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 cool 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 and maybe I'll have the answer for you in a couple days you okay no problem 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 Mo you know Modern Performance artists and I had this lift and I had the Roman wall and I had like the Selen shirt and blah all this type stuff so uh when Jay told me did watch the Drone he said I didn't want I don't you know I want to use dancers 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 you know I still had These elements of the recogniz 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 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 that he's that no all I need 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 are 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 a overall like happier Vibe right but Jay is more realized than me meaning more of his dreams and hopes and aspirations blah blah blah 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 Zen 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 okay this is just what we're going to

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 went to art college and was looked at like I'm

soft I likee like Italian clothes you know I'm saying when I'm in front of Cameron 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 Pho I appreciate rap Simmons I appreciate Ricardo tishi and I look at them is my peers as creative people who dedicate their entire life to making something better for the world let me 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 didn't you do this yo I want that what's up no we dedicate our entire life to making our current time and 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 or i' be helping me is that partly And and and please don't you know take this the wrong way I just mean this in theart 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 spent 80% 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 cuz 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 10,000 hours I've got a very 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 of my life and said what was it about that

what were the cues that I can 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 with 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 six Two Chains had in them he did 100 features in one year 100 yeah 100 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 going to 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 a 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 bace bace bass bace bace 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 your record deal cuz you was a producer not cuz he liked your Ras Because you was a producer just cuz Dame knew what was up and he was downtown with the models and the artists and all that sh yo look at this this kid got some Talent you 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 fa 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 moments there's two or three people in the studio a engineer a manager the artist a label Guy saying the Masters are due to okay they

do day After tomorrow but let's get them in it 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 4:00 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 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 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 than yourself right you still feel like the greatest version of you when you have Those Nikes on right but you can have on a Zara pant right and a girl walks in with the Seline version and you feel like

that is the problem that is the problem I mean obviously not my problem cuz I look like I I mean I 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 cuz I'm a slave to it I love dude I can Tell like I love it I love it since age five my mama brought me to a discount first spot and she and I'm and and she asked me what I like everything

I like was too expensive for us that's five years old I I went to my grandfather's funeral um like three weeks back uh and my uh 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 Tor a black an African-American tailor my grandfather was a hustler he used to take

old vintage furniture and roler 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 store blah blah blah it's in my my Code it's in my code have y'all ever seen wreck and Ralph yeah remember you 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 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 they they broke vanilla be's car vanilla be Von sweets they broke a car yeah like 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 CU 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 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 focus on just that award show why were you focus on that the same reason why I sat there and focused on that Otis beat when people didn't like ham and my hammy heat was losing and

I'm in the Mercer and they literally write on the screen who's watching the throne and show a picture of LeBron and stuff And I said I got to watch out Throne like a May OD right and say this I know and 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 cuz people could say what do you mean you want to help the world and you 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 you walking down the street without a headphones it's like oh what's up how you doing today no headphones today cool no music today what is you know no shoes look man what's going on you having problems with the family is he okay why are you socks at least yeah

sandals yeah Flipflops on very rarely flip flops very rarely sandals with socks keep it ganger I'm from New Zealand flipflops far more standard yeah exactly but now for black dudes though no flip flops for black dudes I don't care where you at I don't care where you at flip back um we have some hot ass Jordans on a 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 going to turn around to the guys I S man I hope

I Learned some stuff today my God I had no idea but would you would you indulge in me for for for 5 or 10 minutes and would you let me just geek out on a music level cuz you know me I love hearing what you have to say some of it I love some of it upsets me because as a fan I think you're too hard on yourself but that's you that's who you are that's not for me to say yeah but what 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 wasn't for Jay-Z's blessing and his cosign and his protection when I was in New York City Doo I would not be here in the way that I am through the category of the Drug dealer field 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 cuz 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 production side of things because you've opened the door

to 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 you know hasn't necessar being 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 then it's people like yeah that's the answer make that music by yourself again yay we want the Oh yay but no I don't feel like doing that I want 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 was Throne a turning point for that cuz 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 MC 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 did did it begin around that Time um yeah around but Dark Fantasy though when we we sewed that fabric so tight you know like for 8 n months you know Pete Rock and no ID and qtip everyone coming down to Hawaii Nicki Minaj Rick Ross we like texture Jeff baser we

created those textures to collectively you know like I would be you know eating breakfast with with Ross in the morning and just come up with a line and stuff and then we all go play ball and Nas will come out there and Play ball with me and common and stuff come up with another line then go there and then Virgil have a idea we say that then DC has a idea and like these are really really great people that came together to make that and that and that's what I I and I learned that process

a bit from working on clothes because it's that communal you know process a lot of times you can't do it all on your own you can't handle everything on your own hey how about us As a 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 a gender set you know it's like you know we we it's like we're pitted against each other we're we're mentally not in a place to be accepting to not be jealous and that part of

that jealousy and that frustration 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 nasty lunch food and like you know you heard the word minimalism a lot on this project even this it's 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

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 in 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 cuz I know that that's how you know that that was that's been talked about in relation to record as well and 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 and how architecture and how a certain type of design that You you surrounded yourself with won Paris has 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 this 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 say 5% 10% or 85% is and it's like this the

10 perent is the media for the most part the 85% don't really know what it is and the 5 perers that know what it is can't get it past the 10 perers so this alone is would be a break this is a jump past this going to get this get taken off the Internet quick s papazzi at s papazzi do that get them locked up that's what's gonna happen and Pap Ry gon come at me I'm just standing there 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 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 a sexy profession it was like being a ball player like a rapper or like uh 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 over 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 is you know what

it's that like Paparazzi currently is like understand give it 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 I start 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 going to 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 getting at age six cuz 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'mma tell her so touring to be done oh I want to talk to you about control I want to talk to you about the versing control about About Kendrick's versing 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 the list and 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 have come out swinging do you think and WR a response yeah I don't I don't do disc 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 those conversations

is going to be more than everything I even said right Here cuz those are that he's one of our future Messengers you know and I'm giv them Jewels let's talk about this track here which was the first track that we were given off this album to play on the radio which we did you said no singles but we ran with this one early and we proven to be right so let's talk about this track here and who you worked with you work with DAR Punk on this and part And how the song came together well

uh daff had the drums and then I just took the recre and I just started both this song I am a guy and the song were made after hdy seain didn't let me into his first St laurant show but it wasn't that he wanted me to go but he just told me I couldn't go to any other shows 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 show right and made I am a God yeah and black skin head M and that was your reaction to that situation that was my reaction that was the of frustration you talked about poured into this record yes yeah right on I mean let's talking 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 is just As far as beats go is just remarkable

before we 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 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 uh 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 mayback past a homeless person you ask who's more free You could be trapped to to your possessions you got to do this next deal because you got to do this with your house and you

got to get this car and you got to keep a every everybody stay next to you last name is Jones and you 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 spins you got how many cars you got what house you got What do 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 that certain car level that certain thing up and of course for me I'm 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 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 enslaved to what could possibly happen we're constantly enslaved there's there's glass ceilings there's glass fences there's invisible walls don't think I ain't been many of times singing like Five Heartbeats in Paris I've been up there singing y'all want to diss one of

my outfits y'all want to say that y'all want to like try To diss one of my girlfriend's outfits BL we just singing y'all sing a group ain't y'all we came out there they talking y'all sing a group ain't y'all sing something then and what we sing We Sing Pyrex we we sang Ben Trio we sang snapbacks we sang yeus but we want to sing Nike we want that clean water I tasted it I see what it's like we want to sing Louis Louis Baton we want to sing on a Gucci level we want to sing

as high as we could sing when we had pyramids we don't want to just have a little print on the back of our jacket that cost $22,000 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 to 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 turbog graphic 16 or Sega Genesis or amga 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 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 the internet to buy you and you open up that and you know you 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 play and good luck for man thank you time again thank you all right thank you crew thank you oh my god dude that was the most

intense my life that's right