Kanye West set the music world on fire with his performance of new single “All Day” at the Brit Awards yesterday, and today his honest interview with BBC’s Zane Lowe resulted in genuine tears, introspection, bon mots and enigmatic catchphrases. We culled the best quotes below.
Kanye’s honesty and curiosity continue to know no bounds, and we appreciate it. But if you’re just here for the tears, try minute 26.
On people in the fashion world:
“Every single company you could imagine [was] just like no, you’re a celebrity, you’re not here to create, to think, to have an opinion… “If I meet someone I respect or look up to, I will literally kiss their feet. A lot of agent’s people who work under the main guy, they will try to level you. They talk down to you.”
The radical goal of his fashion forays:
“The deal is all about the moment when i can bring a shoe to a kid in foot locker and take it back to when i worked at the GAP and put the shoes on his feet. the deal about when the star of the show is a 5’3″ girl and a 5’3″ girl has never been the star of a fashion show.”
On wanting his fashion to eventually be widely accessible, price-wise:
“I feel people are rallying, because they know I want to fight for an H&M or Zara type concept, and I know that Adidas can eventually get those price points. Exclusivity is the new N-word. Nothing should be exclusive. Everyone should have an opportunity to drink from the same fountain. The idea of exclusivity is a new colored people fountain concept. Saying we’re going to overcharge sneaker culture guys, to drink at the right fountain. We have to reboot our mentality period.”
On his formerly misguided approach to corporate collaboration:
“I was using the wrong words, my rap was wrong… I was getting the drink thrown in my face as opposed to leaving with the girl at end of the night. Think about the type of wild shit I used to say in interviews and imagine if someone said this very thing to a girl at bar. ‘Yo whatup baby I’m a genius… I’m telling you, I sold all this.’ She’d be like, ‘Yo, chill, get me out of here already.’ And that’s who I was, that was the frustration I was seeing. I was like the 40-year-old virgin of dealing with corporations…”
But he had a point, though:
“I had my point. My message was simply: your egg, my semen, we change the world. That’s going to come out wrong. I like saying shit that sounds wrong.”
His forthcoming album is marked by struggle:
“The college dropout came out of a fight to want to rap, and this album came out of a fight to want to design.”
On his aesthetic:
“It’s still the struggle, but the beauty from the struggle. [It’s like’] The song ‘Amazing Grace’ coming out of the worst pain possible and making the most beautiful song as possible. ”
On pressing the “‘Ye Button:”
“As soon as people start paying games, I stop playing games. At any minute I can hit that ‘Ye button and we can go back to day 1.”
Working with Sir Paul was awesome:
“I like the differences of views in our approach to music, like when I’m sitting making music with Paul McCartney. I come in and I have this list of complaints … and he’s like come on man, it’s all cool though, how about we make a song?”
Paul McCartney is the Ralph Lauren of music:
“I liked songs like that when I was growing up. And I mean, the type of chord changes that Paul does, I mean I don’t even understand them [that’s cause he invented them]… to be involved in writing a song like that. Meeting Paul McCartney is like meeting Ralph Lauren. They’re the greatest of their field of all time. Period.”
The future (aka the “futch”):
“Fusion is the future, period. The mixing of ideas, the two lunch tables working together.”
On losing his mentor, fashion professor Louise Wilson:
“I think she knew she was going to pass. She was asking me about my daughter, about my wife. She said, ‘So many students, they don’t give it their all. The problem is soon as they do anything halfway good, when they’re 2 or 3 years old, their parents clap.’ She just looked at me and she said, ‘Kanye, don’t clap…’ I didn’t know we were going to lose her. She said thank you for the times where we came to performance, and this really meant a lot to me… [breaks down]. That’s never happened to me in an interview before.”
Design will save the world:
“I think people think that I pander to fashion. ‘It’s just a jacket or something, it’s just a dress.’ But I believe that the world can only be saved through design. And when I say through design, I know some snarky classist editor is going to take that as ‘Kanye said the world will be saved with a couture dress.’ That’s not what I’m saying… the mentality behind design. Art is to be free. Design is to fix.”
North West needs a sibling:
“I’m practicing really hard. I try as many times a day as I can. Nori, this one’s for you. You need a sibling.”
On the Beck post-Grammys kerfluffle:
“Everyone has the right to be wrong… ironically, when I was having dinner with Taylor Swift, the Beck album starts playing and I was like. ‘Wow, this is really good, maybe I might have been wrong.’ And the Grammys are like an ex girlfriend. Soon as you get in the car with them, you want to go right back home.”
Drake needs to just spread his wings:
“I don’t have any advice for this young man, but what I can say is: ‘Run. Fly. Go as fast as you can. Don’t stop.’ And you know, any time I can be of any service, advice…whatever you need. Anything we can collectively do to deliver more awesomeness to the world, as a team. Not just me and him, but us all.”