"Great" Kanye interview
haze25
759 Posts
SPIN: You made a conscious effort to shape Graduation for the next level of mainstream success?KANYE: A conscious effort to take it to the next level in every form of success. More black people bought this album than any I've made.SPIN: Does that make sense to you?KANYE: Uh-huh. Because I made the album blacker.SPIN: You think Graduation is blacker than The College Dropout?KANYE: Way blacker. "Can't Tell Me Nothing" -- how hood is that record? "Good Life" is straight Steve Harvey, all day long. "Flashing Lights"? I never had a record that was that black. But it's white at the same time. Certain things are so good it doesn't have to be white or black. That's what Graduation is. Take "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger." It's a white sample, but everything I do to it is to make it as black as possible. So I'ma make the bass as black as possible; I'ma make the lyrics as intense as possible.SPIN: Are these choices strictly artistic, or are you thinking as a marketer, too? Can you separate those roles?KANYE: I can't. I'm a pop enigma. I live and breathe every element in life. I rock a bespoke suit and I go to Harold's for fried chicken. It's all these things at once, because, as a tastemaker, I find the best of everything. There's certain things that black people are the best at and certain things that white people are the best at. Whatever we as black people are the best at, I'ma go get that. Like, on Christmas I don't want any food that tastes white. And when I go to purchase a house, I don't want my credit to look black. [Laughs]SPIN: And what foods would fall into that category?KANYE: White-people food? You know what it is. You never ate fried chicken and said, "This tastes white." It's America. People know the stereotypes. I play to the stereotypes. I believe in the stereotypes. And I submit to them. [Affects a black, Southern accent] "Man, black people sure can cook some chicken! And I'ma get some black chicken."SPIN: Some of the samples -- Elton John's "Someone Saved My Life Tonight," Michael Jackson's "P.Y.T." -- must not have been cheap. Could you have afforded them on the first two albums?KANYE: I'll tell you one thing, as a black person: We have no problem breaking ourselves for what we want. But it's not just affording it; it's getting people to want to clear something for you.SPIN: You were only seven when Thriller peaked. Was Michael Jackson on your radar when --KANYE: [Stares incredulously] Was Michael Jackson on my radar?! I'm black.
Comments
Also Kanye needs to let the fuck go of the entire racial lense. he rides off 'white' samples half the time and most of his singles are collaborations with white artists.
what does this mean?
I don't know, I don't doubt that what he's saying is being misconstrued, or just highlighted to paint a particular picture about his perspective. but free from context, what I'm seeing is a man who sees every aspect of life as one determined by race. that's not true, and a persecution complex is a weak, irresponsible way to deal with life's problems.
He rapped over it.
I believe you mean lens, thus the confusion.
can you explain to me why that should make a difference? do the points not stand on their own?
Good lord....
I'll try to restrain myself next time, lest I repeat the massive faux pas of 'acting white'
racist bullshit
Isn't he just hamming it up in the interview?
no pun intended.
I think Kanye West is such a fuckin' idiot. Who in the hell expects anything remotely resembling a profound statement from a rap (wannabe pop) star?
Despite my general disdain for Kanye West (as a person), there is a negative stereotype among Black folks regarding White folks' cooking, suggesting it tastes more "bland" than Black folks' cooking. Oddly enough, my wife and I pondered this possibility amongst ourselves before going to a (married) pair of White colleagues' home for Thanksgiving dinner. Clearly in contradiction to the stereotype, the food was great!
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
Dude...shut up.
And Stein is right, he's got your attention.
Every black person i have cooked for tells me my food is too spicy and i am norwegian whitebread to the core.
Am i the only one that thinks that crystal hot sauce tastes weaker than ketchup???
Sorry, except for the panamanians, those dudes can dig on some serious HEAT! Habanero mustard on the world!
Kanye, despite being an amazing producer, has always irked me. For instance, how does he follow up his "Bush doesn't like black people" comment by rapping some backwards crap about "Katrina without FEMA"?
But, as far as what he's saying in that interview...I'm with it, especially the idea of black people basically snatching things from white culture and making it their own. Throwback preppy fashion for example, Kanye beat all the white trendsetters to the punch on bringing it back. He's now doing the same sort of thing with techno. At times, "Flashing Lights" sounds like a damned Christmas song played on repeat at Whitebread Malls of America. But dude throoughly flipped that shit.
Also, you can't blame Kanye for applying the filter of race to everything he sees and does. He's just responding to his environment and it's completely up to him to decide how he's going to do that.
All in all, Kanye is an egomaniac...but at the very least his flaws make him more human than most superstars and I really can't be mad at him for that.
the problem w/ this kind of racial essentialism is that if you are being serious in any way you end up sounding foolish, like harvey saying techno = whitebread malls of america and crediting kanye w/ 'bringing it back' :-/
kanye skirts this by joking
I thought I said "Flasing Lights" sounds like the auto-organ at the music store at the mall, and not techno at large.