Kanye Interview...

[S...]

http://www.sohh.com/thecore/read.php?contentID=5509

The last time Chicago garnered this much intense interest, its main attraction was wearing baggy red shorts and the baldhead look. Today, Chicago's trailblazer is sporting blazers with a "Versasi" backpack and instead of shooting he's spitting. And similar to his Bulls basketball counterpart, his unique style will undoubtedly change the game.

The self-confessed "arrogant" producer turned MC raps about institutionalized racism and Jesus. Is this rap music? Scratch that question mark -- this is rap music. This is Kanye West.

I didn't know you were a Heavy Hitter (DJ Enuff's DJ crew) until one of its members confirmed it for me. How did your affiliation come about?

Well I used to go to different DJs to freestyle. I went over there to Enuff with Consequence and I think it was Graf who brought me over there. I just be trying to freestyle on different people's joints and no one gave me a chance. Enuff must of have saw something in me. He was like, 'Damn, dog you kinda hot!'

Then there was this one DJ, a well-known DJ, who told my manager, 'Yo, I'm never gonna play none of Kanye's freestyles. I might play his songs but I'll never play some of Kanye's freestyles.' I'm not gonna mention no names. I realized man, you gotta roll with those that love you. [Enuff] had asked something like [getting down with his crew] before. I came back on my knees, 'Man, please let me be a Heavy Hitter. Nobody likes me but you.' (Laughs).

What do you like about this whole buzz that you're receiving right now?

I love it! Hopefully it'll translate into record sales. I know as far as the real album I ain't letting people down. The bootleggers are so serious! I was out in London. I played some of the new songs on Tim Westwood's show and we dropped bombs and he talked sh!t all over the songs. They downloaded them and they bootlegging them with the talking and the bombs on them. ni99as is fiendin' right now. I already started working on Late Registration. We keeping things under wraps.

What's under wraps right now?

Late Registration. The next album. We working on it right now. I don't stop working. Why? I got about four to five songs finished for the next album. See I'm working on it right now so it can come out March of next year. We're trying to drop'em like Jigga said, 'Drop albums nonstop for you ni99a!' I got so many and so much sh!t to say that I just gonna keep on going.

[Begins an impromptu freestyle]

I say, 'I'm back on my grind / Back by popular demand like Shyne / A psychic read my lifeline/ Told me in my lifetime / My name would help light up the Chicago skyline / And that's why I'm in popular demand / My momma been told before I was a man / Son, when you blow I know that you like hoes / But don't let them get you be cool ice cold / God uses it as a test man / I know you like ass you also a breast man / A one night stand can be her investment / Instead of trying Bryant they be trying Mr. West man / Yes ma'am.'

I know you mention your girl on "Through the Wire." Are you still with her?

I can talk about certain songs but certain stuff in my personal life I keep to myself.

OK, so any weird groupie action?

I had my first cry experience back in VA. Someone introduced me to this girl that wanted to meet me. I went to shake her hand and she busted out crying. That was pretty amazing to me (laughs). I feel like you just don't touch grown people like that off of bullsh!t. These people are grown -- not little kids.

It's like songs like "Jesus Walks" and "Through the Wire" that touch people in a different way that can't be understood by critics who give my album a B+. You can't give a "Though the Wire" or "Jesus Walks" or "Self-conscious" a B+ because it's not just how good it is -- it's what it's going to do to change the game. A lot of people call me arrogant because I am my number one publicist. I used to argue with ni99as in the barbershop over Ma$e. I really liked Ma$e. Now, as a rapper I like me. I like listening to my sh!t. I'm one of my favorite rappers. I'm glad I make music to have some good sh!t to listen to.

Who's your favorite MC right now?

I'm my favorite rapper now. Nah, Eminem might be my favorite. And 50. I love 50 and Jay. But Beanie, Cam, Jadakiss, Snoop Dogg is one of my favorites of all time. Ma$e is one of my favorite rappers of all time. Common.

Judging from your listening session, it appears Common got his form back.

Yeah, Common is back. We're working on his album right now. Me and Jay Dee are going to do the majority.

Did you listen to JayLib's Champion Sound?

Yeah, I listened to it. I liked some of the beats on it.

Is Com's album coming out this year?

It'll be out this year.

Well, getting back to you. I interviewed Memphis Bleek back in December and he got a little irked when I mentioned your name in the same sentence as his. His response led to SOHH's members lining up to defend you and your music.

I just thank everybody for their support out there. Keep on trying to make the best music I can. What comes with it, comes with it. Me and Bleek is mad cool. The Internet sometimes try to blow sh!t out of proportion.

What do you look at on the Internet?

I look at like old furniture because I wanna decorate my crib. Pianos. There's this piano I want but it's like $135,000. I look at tattoos all day long because I'm going to get angels tattooed all over me. And I look at porn. That's all I look at on the Internet. And I proof stuff like artwork. Me and Don C. have to proof any clothes that I wear and any artwork that's going on the album.

Do you enjoy drinking 80 Proof liquor?

I like drinking. I've taking up drinking as a hobby. I like alcohol a lot.

Have you ever drunken Agua Ardiente?

Nah, I don't even know how to pronounce sh!t. Pass that Versasi.

That's some Colombian sh!t.

Does it have cocaine? Does it have cocaine in it?

Nah, man not the one I tried. But it's hot. It'll get wasted in a minute.

OK, great.

Ever plan on going to Latin America.

Oh, most definitely. I plan on touring the world. Music is the universal language. I try to make music to relate to people but I also try to make it in a way that'll relate to everybody with the melody and a message.

People talk about my album, they talk about the rhymes, the features, the quality of the beat. How do you rate a beat like "Jesus Walks"? It had to be an 11 because certain beats were given a 10 that were not as good as "Jesus Walks." My main thing that I'm pushing with College Dropout is message and melody. That I learned from watching the MTV Top 100 pop countdown. I feel every song on my album is pop.

What people need to understand is that I don't use vocabulary words and flip them into the Hip-hop meaning, I use the literal meaning of them. Like Fugees was pop. Shyne's "Bad Boys," one of my favorite songs, was pop. It was very popular. Like backpackers would say, 'Pop! Oh my God, that's like Britney Spears. You're going to go pop!' No, no one likes Britney Spears more than they like Jay-Z. Who's more popular? There's plenty of people that sell more records than Jay, but Jay-Z is more popular thus making him pop. I want songs that the popular community likes the most. That's making it pop. Like "Spaceships" is going to affect people in a certain way. It's the anthem for anyone in that situation.

Were you a popular student in school?

My grammar school had one person that graduated with us...hold on one second I need to take this call. It's Mr. Bentley. I want to work with him.

[Breaks to receive call from P. Diddy's manservant, Farnsworth Bentley].

Yeah, I feel like Bentley is a part of this whole movement that's going to come into play in Hip-Hop. Yo, Bentley is like (laughs), this ni99a is gonna make so much money I just want to be a part of it. Bentley is [GQ]. I just wanna be a part of it, man. I feel like me and Dre [3000] are motherf#@$ers from another mother. After he hear the album he gonna be like, 'Oh yeah, this is real.' Plus we all Poloed down.

[Begins an impromptu freestyle]

[S...]

Cont...

I said, "Trips to Maui, out of town I was outti / Rock so much Polo they started to call me Ralphie/ Do me a favor if your style is up / Please pop your collars up / Cause otherwise that sh!t look lousy / And when I'm coming to your town don't crowd me / Do a favor keep ni99as that down me from the f#@$ around me / I remember last year there was a show I was supposed to perform ni99as wouldn't even allow me / I'll be the first to tell you your whole style's drowsy / You could throw titties on it, it still wouldn't arouse me."

You can throw all that in the interview too. Just know that people never put in the interview that I will bust into complete raps in the middle of my conversations to help explain my point of view.

So what in particular arouses you about women?

Man, my problem is I like all types of girls. I appreciate too many things on a female (laughs). I can appreciate her sense of humor. A pretty face is a killer to me. Nice lips. One thing that I really like is a flat stomach. That's like the number one feature. Like a flat stomach and everything else can follow suit. She could have a flat stomach, a pretty face and know how to dress good. She could have a flat stomach, a pretty face, and a fat ass but really don't know how to dress good. I really like girls that can dress really good. I feel like that says something about their characters, how much they spend on themselves and their knowledge of the world. Do you look at TV? Do you have any idea with what's going on with those boots you wearing? (Laughs).

Can she be a buttergirl? Do you know what a buttergirl is?

I have no idea. I'm from Chicago. Will you please use a term I would know? (Laughs). Put all that sh!t there too (laughs).

Buttergirl: Everything is beautiful 'but her face.'

Awww...nah. I'm really into faces. She gotta be pretty because my mother is very concerned about how my child turns out (laughs). I'm into girls that are exotic.

What's so exotic about your album?

What? Are you serious? The whole thing. From what you heard and go to every single beat, all 16 songs, can you pinpoint a beat that's similar you did or that anyone else did. For me to come up with 16 original beats. It's like 'Somehow someway, we gotta make it about the 'hood,' is like the third version of "Song Cry" which is like the second version of "This Can't be Life." You can say that "Encore" is the third version and the second is "Hovi Baby" and the first of its kind is "All I Need." It's hybrids of the same beat. "Lucifer" is the first of its kind. "Stand Up" first of its kind. "Guess Who's Back" first of its kind with the baseline and the high chords. Alicia Keys was supposed to be on The Black Album that's why it sounds so similar to Just Blaze's "Girls Girls, Girls." But even though I didn't do the beat. We did the beat on totally different planes.

Really we were making all those beats for Ghostface. Me and Just love Ghostface so much, that's Hip-Hop's (Roc-a-fella executive) favorite rapper and one of my favorite rappers, so we were trying to make all these beats for Ghostface but just so happens we're at Roc-a-fella and Jay heard them and rapped on them. We were making all these beats for Ghostface because we get so inspired by his albums. He was the only dude coming out with something worthwhile with Supreme Clientele. I feel like I got my whole style from Ghostface. Listen to what I'm saying, I need that in print, I feel like I got my whole style from Ghostface. My whole mentality about Hip-hop. He really took it to the next level.

When I was a shorty Nas was one of my idols. I'm saying that and I don't even care if that might be used against me in a court of rap. 'You said on the Internet Nas was your idol.' Whatever. Nas was one of my idols. I wanted to straight up be Nas. That's something that a rapper in my position with a buzz that I have would never admit to. I don't care. I'm a Hip-hop fan, man. I was honored to meet him. Jay-Z was one of my favorites. I'm a fan to this day. I be sitting there thinking I can't believe I'm sitting in a room with the ni99a from Streets is Watching. Streets is Watching is what took Jay-Z to a whole entirely different level to me.

We're doing a College Dropout movie. We got a lot of ideas. I'm directing videos with my team at Hustle Films. We just did the "Two Words." Due to the fact that how much post production is going into it and how next level it is, it won't be finished till the end of February. I'm sorry to all the Hip-hop fans that know about the "Two Words" video. We doing the "All Falls Down" on the 6th of February out in L.A. The video is based in an airport. I got something to give you. It's going to be really special. Dave Myers is doing the Dilated People's video.

Oh, "This Way"?

Yeah, how you like that song?

It's tight. It's like a 2004 "Get By." Getting back to Ghostface, did you make his latest album?

Unfortunately I didn't. For Late Registration, I'm trying to cut down on features but the main person I want is Ghost, Jadakiss, Beanie and Cam. Ghost is on top of my list for the next album. Those are the four people I'ma have featured other than Consequence, GLC, John Legend or Common all my immediate family members.

I know you roll with Com, Talib Kweli and Mos Def a lot. Do you have a name for that circle?

We have no name for it but we're just people who admire and respect other people's music. I can't believe I'm a part of them. It's a dream come true. I'm just a fan, man. I'm like dude from Almost Famous. That's the reason why I get into arguments with the press. After I finished with "Jesus Walks" two weeks later I walk around with it and you can't tell me it's not hot. f#@$ you and your stupid ass ratings. Anybody who gives my album less than a perfect score is lowering the integrity of their own magazine. So either be a part of history or become it. (long period of silence) You got my quote? Sometimes quotes are so good you just gotta give them a moment of silence (laughs). Put that sh!t on there too (laughs).

Kanye West's debut album, College Dropout featuring Jay-Z, Common, Mos Def, and Ludacris, drops February 10th.

[evad]

Have you ever drunken Agua Ardiente?

Nah, I don't even know how to pronounce sh!t. Pass that Versasi.

That's some Colombian sh!t.

Does it have cocaine? Does it have cocaine in it?

Nah, man not the one I tried. But it's hot. It'll get wasted in a minute.

OK, great.


haha man that's some potent shit right there.. taste like some strong ass liquorice but it gets u faded quick