“Mr. [Kayne] West has had the most sui generis hip-hop career of the last decade. No rapper has embodied hip-hop’s often contradictory impulses of narcissism and social good quite as he has, and no producer has celebrated the lush and the ornate quite as he has,” Jon Caramanica writes for The New York Times.
“He has spent most of his career in additive mode, figuring out how to make music that’s majestic and thought-provoking and grand-scaled,” Caramanica writes. “And he’s also widened the genre’s gates, whether for middle-class values or high-fashion and high-art dreams.”
Caramanica writes, “At the same time, he’s been a frequent lightning rod for controversy, a bombastic figure who can count rankling two presidents among his achievements, along with being a reliably dyspeptic presence at award shows (when he attends them).”
Caramanica interviewed West for several hours over three days. One snippet caught our eye:
An excerpt:
I think what Kanye West is going to mean is something similar to what Steve Jobs means. I am undoubtedly, you know, Steve of Internet, downtown, fashion, culture. Period. By a long jump. I honestly feel that because Steve has passed, you know, it’s like when Biggie passed and Jay-Z was allowed to become Jay-Z.
I’ve been connected to the most culturally important albums of the past four years, the most influential artists of the past ten years. You have like, Steve Jobs, Walt Disney, Henry Ford, Howard Hughes, Nicolas Ghesquière, Anna Wintour, David Stern.
I think that’s a responsibility that I have, to push possibilities, to show people: “This is the level that things could be at.” So when you get something that has the name Kanye West on it, it’s supposed to be pushing the furthest possibilities. I will be the leader of a company that ends up being worth billions of dollars, because I got the answers. I understand culture. I am the nucleus.
Full interview here.
MacDailyNews Take: Plus, he’s going to be the first man on Mars. Right after they crown him King of England, of course.
nope
Ignorance. Is Bliss… And Kaye West has it by the dumpster load.
Without Steve Jobs my life sucks. I have none of my toys or productivity tools.
Without Kanye West. There is zero change in my life.
Kanye West is the gay fish in South Park, Right?
I listen to a lot of music, but I must say that Kanye West has had very close to ZERO influence on my music choices. My iTunes library has no songs by Kanye West, and that’s not because I intentionally avoided his songs. It is what it is…
The problem with a lot of “celebrities” is that they are made the center of their little pocket of the universe, and believe their influence and popularity extends to the rest of the world.
Kanye West, as a Steve Jobs wannabe coming up woefully short, has proven himself a thoughtless clod and if his egotistical clueless type is the best we can muster we are in trouble indeed. Hopefully he and the Kardashian can move to a tropical isle so the world doesn’t have to suffer their personalities or progeny. Too bad pop culture is not separate channels we can selectively turn off for good. Maybe a feature of the upcoming iTV?
By that analogy, is say he’s one of the happiest people on the planet.
Ignorance is bliss. Who is Kanye West?
…said the man who is none of these.
(I even agree with our President on this one…)
First: Why is he comparing himself to Steve Jobs in ANY way?
Second: How is that an apt analogy, with Biggie and Jay-Z? He’s comparing himself to someone who was in a completely different industry! How can you compare that to two musicians? How was Steve Jobs stopping Kanye from becoming Kanye?
Third: Does he like fishsticks? Does he like to put fishsticks in his mouth?
Fourth: Why should anyone give a damn about what this narcissistic piece of garbage thinks or says?
This Kanye West guy is very insecure. We should feel sorry for him, not judge very strictly, as his “GD” does not harm anyone with his talk. On the opposite, his talk may some people laugh.
Well, I am the Steve Jobs of my block.
I am the Steve Jobs of my family and work.
In the season finale of Game of Thrones, Tywin Lannister said to Joffrey (his grandson) “Any man who must say ‘I am the king’ is no true king.”
It should be paraphrased for Kanye.
No paraphrase necessary. Use it as written, because West is proclaiming himself as the king of something or the other.
Defines “Swellhead”
He has every right to that opinion. Good luck Mr. West. Don’t forget to revolutionize six industries to the betterment of billions.
In some ways we’d be better off as a species if more people reached for that dream. Jobs’ that is.
Go for it. Why the F not?
Reminds me of The Bard’s Othello for some reason.
Kanye West is the Steve Jobs of his own mind.
Arrogant ASS! Anyone who hast to toot his own horn is lacking in greatness! We will never see another Steve! Ever!
I can not remember any time that Steve Jobs did not thank all those that made the Apple devices, products, software and services happen. Every day now, my life and most of the world’s population is touched by something Steve Jobs and Apple created, influenced or was copied from. I do not even know who this delusional village idiot is!
What an egotistical windbag. He is the only one who believes that bluster. What a bunch of baloney
Who?
Sacrilegious
“Culturally important albums”.???? Must of missed that.
If he ever farts he just might make it to Mars!
PS, I thought he would have named John Dvorak in that list too!
Aren’t this self-righteous, narcissistic, gas-bag’s 15 minutes WAY over by now? He’s not even the Steve BALLMER of tech, much less the Steve Jobs!
I like his music, but he IS a moron.
I made myself watch West’s recent SNL performances to understand why he’s so popular. I still don’t understand. His so-called talent is to recite inane lyrics to sampled (ie: not his creation) music and electronic vocal processing. The result, in my mind, is cacophony of crap.
Not a musician, his “songs” are not music, meaningless, can’t maintain a beat or rhythm, narcissistic… zero talent. Zero. A sad statement of our culture that this guy is rich and quoted. He and what’s her name deserve each other. If we’d stop giving a crap about these people, they would go away.
oy.
Me, I prefer the black turtle neck to this $#!^:
Narcissus better watch his back. Soon enough, Kanye might take his place on Mt. Olympus.
Has this guy done anything that was suppose to improve my life? Because if he did, I totally missed it. Can we say “Pompous ass”?
To paraphrase an old movie line…
‘Kanye’…eeesss come frrrrom old Grrreek word, meaning asshole
braggadocio from a fool nuts enough to hook up with kim kardashian