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Ye via Getty
Kanye West might have deleted all of his tweets in anticipation of Yeezus, but at least he's giving interviews these days? Sigh. We know it's not the same. Thankfully, menswear street mag Complex has a collection of 30 or so Kanye tweets. (Our favorites include "Sometimes I get emotional over fonts" and "If baroque and mod had a car crash...what would that ambulance look like" and "What do I have to do to get a persian rug with cherub imagery uuuuugh" and "We need scientist and top world designers to directly affect governments" and "Picasso.")
But in lieu of fresh ones (RIP), hop over the jump for words straight from the artist's mouth courtesy of today's W magazine interview. They share with his old twitter feed soundbites of a complicated, distressing, inventive, and remarkable personality that is the Kanye. Fun topics include dressing Kim Kardashian, that time someone tried to restrict his fashion week attendance, and carbs, all offset by that familiar air of megalomania.
On what Yeezus should sound like: A "one-man gangbang."
On that time an unnamed Paris fashion designer tried to restrict his fashion week attendance: "So the next day I went to the studio with Daft Punk, and I wrote 'I Am a God,' 'cause it's like, Yo! Nobody can tell me where I can and can't go. Man, I'm the No. 1 living and breathing rock star. I am Axl Rose; I am Jim Morrison; I am Jimi Hendrix. You can't say that you love music and then say that Kanye West can't come to your show! To even think they could tell me where I could and couldn't go is just ludicrous. It's blasphemous—to rock 'n' roll, and to music."
Humility to a megalomaniac: "...though at one point [Kanye] asks me [the writer] to streamline his more rambling comments or, as he puts it, 'to turn my flea market of information into a beautiful living space.'"
Megalomaniacal backhanded humility: "God's little practical joke on me—as an intellect who doesn't like to read a lot—is like, I'll say some superphilosophical shit, but I'll say it the wrong way. I'll use the wrong word, so it goes from being really special to completely retarded."
Humility? "He agreed to do this interview because he feels like he's reaching peak creative potential—'bubbling at the highest level of output.'" Nope.
On carbs: "I love banquettes and shit."
On his first couple of collections: "The first collection was way better than the second. It was more artful. It was 30 collections in one. It just takes time for me to slow down and think like a normal person."
On learning lessons from his first couple of collections: "I tried to come out of the gate going crazy. And it didn't work. So now I have to somehow put out something that says, 'I look sensible!'"
On dressing Kim Kardashian: "Nobody can tell my girl what to do. She just needed to be given some platforms of information to work from. [O]ne beautiful thing is that as she discovers it, the world discovers it. For her to take that risk in front of the world, it just shows you how much she loves me. And how much she actually loves the opportunity to learn. You got, like, a million companies saying, 'This is impacting your brand! This is impacting your fans! And blah blah blah.' But she still sees this light of beauty."
On making a song entitled "I Am a God": "'I made that song because I am a god,' he says finally. He laughs for a second, then stops. 'I don't think there's much more explanation. I'm not going to sit here and defend shit. That shit is rock 'n' roll, man. That shit is rap music. I am a god. Now what?'"
· Were Kanye West's Angry Croissant Lyrics a Response to PFW? [Racked]
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