5 Takeaways From the Kanye New York Times Interview
1. Kanye refuses to be told how to think (we knew that)
This is something we all need to adopt. He says that even in high school he could see people obeying these tribal rules and he was always the outlier that spoke his mind, and now at the dinner table people want him to conform to the tribe again. Mainstream culture is telling him he has to like Hillary and hate Trump. Well when you tell Kanye what to do, he'll say fuck you and do the opposite. Kanye thinks out loud, and that puts him in hot water sometimes because he says thoughts that aren't fully formed or logical. To him that's just his self expression and that's how he figures out his opinions on matters.
2. I like Kanye like Kanye likes Trump.
"Getting out, learning how to not be highly medicated and, you know, just standing up saying I know I could lose a lot of things, but just standing up and saying what you feel, and not even doing a lot of research on it. Having a political opinion that’s overly informed, it’s like knowing how to dress, as opposed to being a child — “I like this.” I hear Trump talk and I’m like, I like the way it sounds, knowing that there’s people who like me that don’t like the way it sounds."-NYT
Kanye is saying he likes Trump in a childish way, he sees him as a trouble maker and supports that, that doesn't mean he supports everything he says. That's the same way I like Kanye, I like that he voices his opinion and says wacky shit, he is a free thinker. I definitely don't agree with everything he says.
3. Kim is crazy. (we knew that)
"Mr. Robbins looked Kanye in the eyes and started issuing instructions. Made him stand up, get into a warrior pose and scream."-NYT
Her husband is having a meltdown and she calls Tony Robbins. Like that's the first thing that goes through her mind?? Hmm you know I should call Tony...
4. There is a weird double standard between rappers and actors.
If any actor said the kind of stuff Kanye said and then doubled down on it, they wouldn't have a career. What he said wasn't okay but I'm glad his career is fine.
In his song "Wouldn't Leave":
I said, "Slavery a choice, " they said, "How, Ye?"
Just imagine if they caught me on a wild day"
Ordinarily, public figures see microphones as natural enemies, designed to undo them."-NYT
5. You shouldn't lose your career over something you say and you admit was fucked up.
We should be able to say what's on our mind. Sometimes the best ideas are right on the edge of insanity and sometimes you go beyond the edge of insanity, and you're like fuck that was nuts, never goin back there again but glad I experienced it.
We have to allow people to say crazy things and apologize when it is too crazy, but it seems like an apology isn't enough anymore. This doesn't mean we let people DO crazy things. If you're murdering, raping, or assaulting people you don't get any kind of pass.
Bonus ** Fuck this dude that wrote the article for using words I don't know, is it his fault or my fault? Probably both. The words were: firebrand, grandiloquence, and aesthete. Who knows those?
First thing i think of: "this dude probably went to Harvard" I check, he did. I think he was trying to impress his Harvard buddies, he knew this would be the only thing of his they ever read, "hey you guys see Jon interviewed Kanye?" But he also knew they wouldn't read all of it, people read the first couple lines then skim, so he packed the beginning with the hard words so his friends would be like wow look at Jon he's smart and he's interviewing Kanye.
Random stuff:
"Perhaps it is not surprising to learn that eight days before its release, Kanye said, he’d had none of the lyrics of “Ye” written. And he still went to see “Deadpool 2.” Twice." -NYT- That is hilarious.
Kanye got liposuction, this disappointed me. So much for the song "Workout Plan."
“That’s one of the great privileges of an artist. An artist should be irresponsible in a way — a 3-year-old.”-Kanye, NYT article.
"Oh yeah, I've thought about killing myself all the time. It's always a option and [expletive]," West said. "Like Louis C.K. said: I flip through the manual. I weigh all the options."- Kanye, NYT article.