When you think of
Kanye West, what comes to mind? Arrogance? Talent? Superhuman powers? How about a combination of all those things--because that's how he sees himself.
Kanye sat down with
Details magazine for an exclusive interview for their March 09 issue in which he talks about his image, his career, his future wife and the word Gay.
Here are some highlights from the interview:
Kanye on his image: “I had a style that was over-the-top, overly expressive, and it forced me to just lay back and be a little cooler. One of the problems with being a bubbling source of creativity — it’s like I’m bubbling in a laboratory, and if you don’t put a cap on it, at one point it will, like, break the glass. If I can hone that … then I have, like, nuclear power, like a superhero, like Cyclops when he puts his glasses on.”
Kanye on his music career: “There’s nothing more to be said about music. I’m the f–king end-all, be-all of music. I know what I’m doing. I did ‘808s’ in three weeks. I got it. It’s on cruise control … Man, we talked about music for God knows how long! Now let’s talk about how my f–king sweater didn’t come back right from Korea. That’s what’s interesting me.”
Kanye on the woman he wants to marry: “What I feel like — ’cause I wanna be married, of course—I feel like the type of girl I would be with is a fellow superhero. So we get that ‘already flying and now we’re just flying together’ thing.”
Kanye on being the voice of this generation:
"If not me, then who? Someone could be a better rapper, dance better. But culturally impacting*? When you look back at these four and a half years, who’s the icon at the end of the day? Who broke down color barriers? What other black guy would a white person use as a fashion reference?”
Kanye on the word gay: “Titles are very important. I like to embody titles, y’know, or words that have negative connotations, and explain why that’s good. Take the word gay — like, in hip-hop, that’s a negative thing, right? But in the past two, three years, all the gay people I’ve encountered have been, like, really, really, extremely dope. Y’know, I haven’t, like, gone to a gay bar, nor do I ever plan to. But where I would talk to a gay person — the conversation would be mostly around, like, art or design — it’d be really dope. From a design standpoint, kids’ll say, ‘Dude, those pants are gay.’ But if it’s, like, good, good, good fashion-level, design-level stuff, where it’s on a higher level than the average commercial design stuff, it’s, like, gay people that do that. I think that should be said as a compliment. Like, ‘Dude, that’s so good it’s almost … gay.’”
