14 DAY TRIAL // Kanye West has a new album coming out in less than a week from now and, in a lengthy interview with the New York Times, he’s promoting it in his typical, egomaniacal fashion. He calls “Yeezus” a minimalist work of art and says that, for the first time, he’s doing exactly what he wants, musically speaking.
Throughout the interview, Kanye tries to make a point that he’s often been overlooked or criticized (by the industry, by critics, by media, by fans) for being black and for being an outspoken, highly opinionated individual, but he’s found his voice and has learned how to use it.
This is what “Yeezus” is all about: a piece of art that represents his very best, that includes exactly the kind of music he’d always wanted to make, without giving two cents about critics and about so-called “fans,” or giving in to peer pressure to please either.
The message might be simple but the way Kanye delivers it is certain not to win him any new fans, for it includes gems like “I am so credible and so influential and so relevant that I will change things” and “I am the nucleus [of culture].”
Furthermore, Kanye doesn’t have any regrets because he’s too busy having only “complete awesomeness” all the time.
Speaking of the Taylor Swift incident and regrets in general (of which he has no idea because he doesn’t even believe in the concept of “regret”), he says that, “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.”
Kanye also compares himself to Michael Jordan when speaking about how he wants to make things right in the world in a way that he doesn’t bother to detail in any way.
“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’,” he says.
“You know, this one Corbusier lamp was like, my greatest inspiration,” Kanye says of working on “Yeezus.”
“I lived in Paris in this loft space and recorded in my living room, and it just had the worst acoustics possible, but also the songs had to be super simple, because if you turned up some complicated sound and a track with too much bass, it’s not going to work in that space... like I say, I’m a minimalist in a rapper’s body,” he adds.
The full piece is here. Those who don’t like Kanye’s music (i.e. have no reason to excuse such egomaniacal manifestations) find it hilarious in a few places and infuriating in most. Fans see in it the representation of a creative genius.
Read for yourself to see which is which.