Interview Magazine: Cover Story Excerpt

MCQUEEN: You've been on the
Scene as an artist
Now for 10 years, which is impressive
Given the level of interest and
Artistry that you've managed
To sustain in your work in the process
You've become incredibly influential so
You talk about doing all of these
Other things, which is great
But there's really no amount of
Money that could make
You more influential than you are now so my
Question is: What are you going
To do with all
Of the influence that you have right now?

WEST: Well, influence isn't my definition of
Success it's a
By-product of my creativity i just
Want to create more i would be
Fine with making less money
I actually spend the majority of my money
Attempting to create more things not
Buying things or solidifying myself or trying
To make my house bigger, or trying to
Show people how many Louis Vuitton
Bags I can get, or buying my way
To a good seat at the table
My definition of success, again, is getting
My ideas out there the first company that
Has really given me a shot
Is Adidas they did the deal i
Mean, Damon Dash did the deal, at
The end of the day he
Signed Kanye West 12 years
Ago what does that mean now? What does that
Mean to music? You know
People say things about creativity
And jobs and every 10 years, blah, blah
Blah but I don't have a
Desire to not continue
Making music when I left Chicago and moved
To New York, it wasn't because I didn't
Love Chicago it was
Because I needed to go to
New York so right now
I've got other innovations and
Other thoughts that I want to pursue
As I was saying earlier, i create
Like a 3-year-old when you're 3, you
Wake up one morning and say
"I wanna ride a bike" And then the
Next day, you wake up and say, "I wanna draw"
I don't want to be in a situation where
Because I was good enough
At riding a bike one day
Then that's all I can do
For the rest of my life
I mean, you know firsthand
Being a fine artist and then moving
Into the Hollywood space you
Know, I say to Renzo Rosso, Bernard Arnault
And François-Henri
Pinault, the heads of Diesel
LVMH, and Kering, "Come to my show and look
At the mountain I made
Look at these 20, 000 people screaming
And then tell me I don't deserve to
Design a T-shirt" If I want to
Design a T-shirt in my lifetime
Then please help me do it! People say, "Well
Why don't you just do it
On your own?" Are you telling me to
Sew every single T-shirt? People say
"Why do you antagonize the
High-end companies and
Your fan base?" and this and that
But what I'm saying is that in working
With partners like Louis Vuitton and
Zanotti and Balmain and Fendi like I have
And please forgive me for using film
As a metaphor because I hate when people
Do that with music I feel
Like it's a better form of film that
I'm working with when I work
With them i'm working with better cameras
I'm working with better editors steve
Please forgive me because I feel like it's
Super patronizing whenever someone
Does an analogy
Or a metaphor that relates to the
Field that you currently work in

MCQUEEN: No, not at all

WEST: I'm sorry i find it
Super-insulting whenever people give
Me a music analogy it's like, "You know
I would have understood it if
You just said it
In English you didn't have to put it
In music terms
Like you somehow know more about music or
I would understand it better if it
Were in music terms" So please forgive me for
Putting that in film terms i mean
Talking about film to Steve McQueen

WEST: I think it was when Damon
Dash had me and some other
Roc-A-Fella artists come over he stressed the
Importance of connecting with London
Especially then we went to France
And I hated France when we first went
There now, of course, I love
It but at the time
There was a rapper out of
Chicago who wanted me to show up
At some event of his
And he was trying to threaten me in some
Way physically if I didn't show up
Because we had done a record together and
Dame Dash had to man-up on
The situation and apply a bit of
Gangster to have them fall back
Just for me to be able to get
On that first flight to London
MCQUEEN: It's interesting how when Malcolm
X ventured out of the
United States for the first time
He went to Europe, he went
To Africa, he went to Mecca, and then
When he came back
To America, he realized that, to
Some extent, for him
It wasn't about black or white, it was
About people in talking to you now
It seems like you feel the same way
That it's never really been
About race for you, but at
The same time, it has very
Much been about that
If you know what I mean

WEST: My mission is about what I
Want to create it's for people
For humanity it's about things that
Can make the world
Better i'm not saying that I'm going to
Make a better world I'm just saying that I
Will provide some things that will help
And my glass ceiling that I'm facing is
Based on my color you know, i
Was looking at some cheesy-ass MTV
Videos a while ago, and
It was so funny because it was like, "Wow
These videos are pre-Michael Jackson" and
People forget that Michael Jackson
Had to fight to get on MTV because he
Was considered to be an urban artist
This was, like, the greatest pop star of
All time, and they told him
"We're not gonna play your video because
It doesn't fit our format"

MCQUEEN: It actually stunned me to find out
That you've never won Best Album at
The Grammys i suppose I shouldn't be
Surprised, but it's kind of odd
Considering what you've done in music
Over the last decade

WEST: I wasn't even nominated for Best
Album this year this year
I only got two nominations
By the Grammys: for
Best Rap Album and Best Rap Song

MCQUEEN: Well
That's my problem with all this stuff
It's ghettoization and I'm talking
About country as much as rap
It's all just music and
I've got a problem with people kind
Of trying to categorize it, where
It's either good or it's bad
I find it all odd
To be honest have you ever
Been nominated for Best Album?