If you know anything about Kanye,
you know that it’s not everyday that he sits down to talk to the media. It’s
quite rare. And after reading his interview with the New York Times, I can
easily see why West would be concerned that his words might be misinterpreted.
He thinks and speaks in ways that can easily be manipulated. So it makes sense,
for clarity’s sake that Jon Caramanica, the journalist who interviewed
West, would stick to a simple question and answer format to avoid any
confusion.
In the interview Caramanica and West
discuss everything from the Grammy snubs, the infamous Taylor Swift incident,
his love for Kim, his thoughts on fatherhood and his concept of family now that
his mother’s passed.
Essentially, the interview covers
everything you always wanted to know…even if the answers may leave you wanting.
Check out some of the highlights below.
On fighting for what’s right in
music
When your debut album, “The College
Dropout” came out, the thing that people began to associate with you besides
music was: Here’s someone who’s going to argue for his place in history; like,
“Why am I not getting five stars?”
I think you got to make your case.
Seventh grade, I wanted to be on the basketball team. I didn’t get on the team,
so that summer I practiced. I was on the summer league. My team won the
championship; I was the point guard. And then when I went for eighth grade, I
practiced and I hit every free throw, every layup, and the next day I looked on
this chart, and my name wasn’t on it. I asked the coach what’s up, and they
were like, “You’re just not on it.” I was like, “But I hit every shot.” The
next year — I was on the junior team when I was a freshman, that’s how good I
was. But I wasn’t on my eighth-grade team, because some coach — some Grammy,
some reviewer, some fashion person, some blah blah blah — they’re all the same
as that coach. Where I didn’t feel that I had a position in eighth grade to scream
and say, “Because I hit every one of my shots, I deserve to be on this team!”
I’m letting it out on everybody who doesn’t want to give me my credit.
You want the historical record to be
right.
Yeah, I don’t want them to rewrite
history right in front of us. At least, not on my clock. I really appreciate
the moments that I was able to win rap album of the year or whatever. But after
a while, it’s like: “Wait a second; this isn’t fair. This is a setup.” I
remember when both Gnarls Barkley and Justin [Timberlake] lost for Album of the
Year, and I looked at Justin, and I was like: “Do you want me to go onstage for
you? You know, do you want me to fight” —
The Taylor Swift incident
But has that instinct led you
astray? Like the Taylor Swift interruption at the MTV Video Music Awards,
things like 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.
So no regrets?
I don’t have one regret.
Do you believe in the concept of
regret?
If anyone’s reading this waiting for
some type of full-on, flat apology for anything, they should just stop reading
right now.
But that is something that you
apologized for.
Yeah, I think that I have like,
faltered, you know, as a human. My message isn’t perfectly defined. I have, as
a human being, fallen to peer pressure.
So that was a situation in which you
gave in to peer pressure to apologize?
Yeah.
So if you had a choice between
taking back the original action or taking back the apology, you’d take back the
apology?
You know what? I can answer that,
but I’m — I’m just — not afraid, but I know that would be such a distraction.
It’s such a strong thing, and people have such a strong feeling about it. “Dark
Fantasy” was my long, backhanded apology. You know how people give a backhanded
compliment? It was a backhanded apology. It was like, all these raps, all these
sonic acrobatics. I was like: “Let me show you guys what I can do, and please
accept me back. You want to have me on your shelves.”
A fully trained professional singer couldn’t have done that record. It just wouldn’t have ever come out that way.
Yeah. I love the fact that I’m bad at [things], you know what I’m saying? I’m forever the 35-year-old 5-year-old. I’m forever the 5-year-old of something.
When he knew he was going to be a star
Even though you had always wanted to be out in front, was there ever a point where you valued your anonymity?
Yeah, I held on to the last moments of it. I knew when I wrote the line “light-skinned friend look like Michael Jackson” [from the song “Slow Jamz"] I was going to be a big star. At the time, they used to have the Virgin music [stores], and I would go there and just go up the escalator and say to myself, “I’m soaking in these last moments of anonymity.” I knew I was going to make it this far; I knew that this was going to happen.
On Kim Kardashian
But you’re in a very public relationship, a seemingly long and satisfying relationship: you’re about to have a child.
Any woman that you’re in love with or that loves you is going to command a certain amount of, you know, energy. It’s actually easier to focus, in some ways.
On “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” there’s a really affectionate scene where you go and help Kim sort through her clothes.
That was from a place of love. It’s hard when people read things in a lot of different ways. You know, the amount of backlash I got from it is when I decided to not be on the show anymore. And it’s not that I have an issue with the show; I just have an issue with the amount of backlash that I get. Because I just see like, an amazing person that I’m in love with that I want to help.
On Family
Did you think differently about family after your mother passed?
Yeah, because my mother was — you know, I have family, but I was with my mother 80 percent of the time. My mom was basically — [pause]
Was your family.
Yeah, that’s all I have to say about that.
On Fatherhood
What thoughts do you have about parenthood?
That is a really interesting, powerful question. One of the things was just to be protective, that I would do anything to protect my child or my child’s mother. As simple as that.
Have you ever felt as fiercely protective over anything as you are feeling now about those things?
I don’t want to explain too much into what my thoughts on, you know, fatherhood are, because I’ve not fully developed those thoughts yet. I don’t have a kid yet.
You haven’t experienced it yet.
Yeah. Well, I just don’t want to talk to America about my family. Like, this is my baby. This isn’t America’s baby.
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