Kanye West Says God Saved Him To Be A Vessel

Host: How many are you nominated for, ten Grammys, but you're also the only artist to be in three of the four major categories? What does that mean to you?Kanye West: It makes me wonder, what was the fourth category?Host: You're asking me, I'm like, I can't even remember the five people that were in the album the year.Kanye West: What was the fourth category anyway? Was it something I could have got nominated in?Host: Hey, hello, never doubt yourself, you can get, you can win, you can take all those for all you know. But yeah, but out of the four major categories, you're the only artist to be in three of those. So that's, I mean, that's pretty impressive. Not to mention that like you're walking away with like, you know, you're taking the Grammys, ten nominees. I mean, you're right here, at the top.Kanye West: Wow. Yeah, after I left the, what is it, the Grammy nomination ceremony? Okay, I'm not going to say what it is. After I left the Grammy nomination ceremony, they ran up to me and said, you're the face of the Grammys. And it was just overwhelming. I mean, a lot of things have come my way because of it. A lot more people have recognized me, different people that I wanted to have meetings with, I'm able to like get through.Host: Right.Kanye West: This is the right number.Host: They actually pick up the phone. It's Kanye. Oh, yeah, I put him through immediately.Kanye West: Yeah. Oh, he's been wearing our stuff? Oh, no. Now they recognize. You can save him for the longest, like, yo. You know, but now the Grammys kind of put a stamp of approval. And now all those different magazines that they were too scared to say, oh, we really like this guy.Host: Right.Kanye West: When the Grammys said it, it's okay to like him now.Host: I told you it was going to be great.Kanye West: No. I wasn't sure. Now the Grammys said it, it's all good.Host: Now it's okay. So have you decided what you're going to wear to the Grammys? Have you picked out your outfit?Kanye West: No, I'm still creating.Host: You're still trying to get it together.Kanye West: Yeah. There's a good chance it'll be Yves Saint Laurent because that's my favorite designer.Host: Yeah. That's so funny. I just came back from Paris and I was like, the Yves Saint Laurent store. I'm like, can't go in. Can't quite afford, but hello. It's their real store.Kanye West: Yeah, their real store.Host: Were there any artists that you feel that deserved to get nominated that didn't?Kanye West: I felt Maroon 5 should have, they deserve more nominations.Host: Yeah.Kanye West: I don't know what it was. Was it like two nominations or something like that?Host: Yeah, they didn't get, I mean, they didn't get an enormous amount, but.Kanye West: And I feel like, but they might walk away, walk away with one. I felt like, um, Franz Ferdinand, I think they got three. I wish they, but that's good though. Cause at first, like when I was there, they named the names, but they didn't name the categories that Franz Ferdinand was in.Host: Right.Kanye West: So I was mad cause that's like my favorite group. Um, but then I found, so that was good. Um, see I'm not the type of person who sits up and you know, and I get the accolades and everything is all good for me and I just forget about everyone else.Host: Right.Kanye West: Like people act like I'm just fighting for myself, but I'm fighting for what I think is right as a fan, as a fan of music. I feel like they're the best. And it's, and even though I'm a celebrity, I still feel that way.Host: Right.Kanye West: So, you know, it's like, I apologize if I, uh, you know, express it and, and, you know, not to be cliche, but keep it real.Host: Right.Kanye West: But I can't help it cause I love the music and I don't care about the industry.Host: Right.Kanye West: I care about the music.Host: Well, even though you're a celeb, you're still a fan.Kanye West: You know, I'm a fan. Like I do not care what people say. I'm serious. Like what you all have to understand. I'm living in my second life right now.Host: Let's talk about that. Let's talk about, first of all, your successful, your successful debut album came out February, 2004 College Dropout, critically acclaimed, Grammy nominated, multi-platinum. Does it ever blow you away to think, wow, I almost did not live to record this album?Kanye West: Yeah. Well, the way I think about it is, it wasn't just this album. You know, God didn't keep me alive just for this album. I think he felt like I was a leader and that I could help be a vessel to provide his blessings for other people also. I remember I was listening to like some different gospel rap. This was some years back. And a lot of it just sounded like, you know, imitations of what was out. Like they would sound just like rappers that you knew, but the beats wouldn't be that good. It just wouldn't be like real rap. And I used to think like, man, why is there no good rappers on God's side?And it kind of, along with being in the studio with Dead Prez and Kweli and them showing me how to make like positive rap sound cool, it kind of helped me find my direction. Because if you listen to some songs on the internet I had, I had like just wow, crazy songs, you know, like that weren't as inspirational as my songs are now. But now, you know, I'm still a regular person and overall I just want to have fun and have a good time. So if I say, now throw your motherfucking hands, get them hot. That's something, that's a motherfucker that your grandmother can appreciate because it's to make people feel better.Host: Right.Kanye West: So it's not actually cursing. It's not cursing someone or downing them. It's like feel better about yourself. The entire album was inspirational. The album, the process of making the album was, or when I made this album, it was a part of my healing process. So I would tell people, you know, I was in the bed or whatever, I couldn't get to the studio and I'd sneak in and work on this album. That's where all the chorus is. When it comes to being true, at least true to me. One thing I found, one thing I found. Oh, you never let me down. Get up, I get down. I think it's...Host: Stuff that makes you feel like jumping up and just, you know.Kanye West: Definitely.Host: And as you documented in Through the Wire, your near fatal car accident, you were in a coma, you were on life support. I mean, what do you remember about the crash?Kanye West: I remember being woken up by a steering wheel hitting my mouth and looking into the mirror like this. And it looked like something off of a movie, like Teen Wolf or X-Men or something. Like they had to do the special effects to make your face get bigger. And they show you behind the scenes of how they did it. Except for it was real life this time. And it got to the point where my face was like this big. And then they had to put the collar around my neck. And right at the part where my mouth was broken, like down here and also here. It was broken in three places.And I remember I had this chain, this angel chain on me. And I looked down to make sure that it wasn't like actually stuck in me. Because I heard stories about people getting into accidents and their chain ends up like in their neck or something like that.Host: Yeah.Kanye West: And the whole angel chain saying, oh, you must have had an angel with you. That's a piece of jewelry.Host: Yeah, I had angels with me.Kanye West: Real angels.Host: Right, exactly. This piece of jewelry. What is this? It's just like clothing. And how long were you in the coma?Kanye West: Well, I wasn't in a coma actually.Host: Oh, really? Because yeah, it was documented that you were in a coma.Kanye West: You know, they try to just soup it up a little bit. But I was in the cold. I remember it was freezing.Host: He's like, I wasn't in a coma. I was cold.Kanye West: Yeah.Host: That was a typo.Kanye West: I remember this, I remember the lady at the hospital was mad rude to me though. She was like, I said, they were asking me, you know how they ask you stupid questions over and over and over?Host: Who was rude? The nurse was rude?Kanye West: Yes, the nurse. And they'd ask you questions like, you know, does this hurt?Host: What do you think?Kanye West: I was like, my mouth is broken in three minutes. Everything hurts. My jaw is shattered. And I remember saying this, why are you keep on making me talk? You can see my mouth is broken.Host: And yeah, your jaw was, I mean, just completely shattered.Kanye West: Yeah.Host: So how difficult was that recovery for you?Kanye West: Actually, I mean, it was difficult. But, I always had a problem with the clarity of my raps. And it's funny that, you know, after I had this one song, We Are The Champions, and they started playing on Chicago radio. This is the first breakout record that I rapped on. And people were like, oh snap.Host: Right.Kanye West: He's good. You know, this is the first time people were like, yo, he's good. And then my mouth gets broken. But I used to really have a problem with my clarity before that. And in my rehabilitation, I ended up being clearer at the end than I was before.Host: Wow.Kanye West: So all those things, I had time just to work on everything and to get it right. But I'm still self-conscious, you know, like I got this like little area that's kind of puffy under my lip.Host: Don't be self-conscious.Kanye West: The cuff right there. And like, how like my jaw looks and my face looks like fatter and stuff like. Things that I noticed that before the accident I didn't have. But how my mouth opens like, like that to the side.Host: Well, I mean, yeah, if you do it like that. Like exaggerate.Kanye West: That's all effed up. I'm not exaggerating. That's real life for me.Host: Now, the thing that I find incredible is that you recorded through the wire with your jaw shut. How did you do that? Like how?Kanye West: Because you just do it like how you talk like this. That's how I do a song like that. Maybe I could do the interview like this.Host: No, I don't think I'll sound too good though.Kanye West: Yeah. I don't want to make a hit song.Host: It'll work for me. I mean, that's the drive right there. I mean, you know what I mean? Like when you have your jaw wired shut, you're like, you know what? I have my jaw wired shut.Host: I'm just going to lay back a little bit and just.Kanye West: I just figure I take the opportunity because I, you know, I already had songs recorded like Jesus Walks and All Falls Down. And I figured that if anything, once we finally got to Jesus Walks and it was like this such as big song, people would look back like, oh, do you remember his first song? His mouth was wide shut. And we just go to our history. Like the story about DMX getting signed and his mouth was broken. He rapped for Leo through his broken jaw.Host: Yeah, definitely. And did the lines of Through the Wire, did those come to you like while you were laying in the bed or?Kanye West: Yeah, while I was laying in the bed. I always think. I'm always being creative at all times. So actually I went into the studio and they didn't want to give me a session. So I lied and said I was doing something else.Host: Because his dog's playing around. He's going to the studio with his mouth wide shut. What's wrong with him? This guy's playing games.Kanye West: Yeah. They always think I'm playing games.Host: They always think that you're crazy.Kanye West: But if anybody who pushes the envelope has to go postal. And I always like doing stuff that people say I can't do. But now it's just like, you know, I can't even get credit for anything. I'm just trying to find new goals for myself. Like if I was to tell you something right now like, yo, I'm going to go platinum. People were like, duh.Host: Right.Kanye West: But before, people used to look at me like I was crazy. Like no, you can't rap.Host: Well what do you have to say to those people? I mean now Grammy nominated, commercial success, critically acclaimed. What do you say to those people that sort of like didn't believe in you and said that you didn't have MC skills?Kanye West: This is what I'm saying. It was so, it was fun because you knew. Just imagine someone's telling you, you can't rap and you got slow jams and Jesus walks on a CD in your pocket. You know, man. That's like, it's like, to me this whole, this last year was like playing, it's like being at the pool hall. And you walking in and the first couple shots you take is like, oh, like crazy. Like you had to like rip the, rip the pool table up and stuff. And then right when people think that you're the worst player in the world, you come just straight ESPN on them.Host: And what does that feel like?Kanye West: I mean, uh, it feels great.Host: Best player in the world.Kanye West: It feels like smashing somebody in Monopoly or like, or like winning a card game. And you just like, I mean, it's just fun.Host: So if you could say anything to those people, what would you tell them?Kanye West: I'm just saying, I'm telling them I'm having a good time and it's fun. And the fact that you didn't believe in me makes it funner. Because now it's just like, oh, it's expected. It's like they expect me to make something that's the greatest thing they ever heard.Host: Right.Kanye West: Anything less than that is unacceptable. And it kind of puts you at a, I'm at a disadvantage. And I used to tell people all the time, I said, my problem is not the first album, it's the second one.Host: Right.Kanye West: How do you live up to an album that took you 26 years to make in two years or one year? But all you can do is let those songs be and just try to make new music, which we're making new music. I'm in the studio with Common. It's phenomenal. I just finished John Legend's video. I directed his new video.Host: Nice.Kanye West: And I'm working on my new album, Late Registration. And, you know, all I do when I go to the studio is I pray before I work and ask that God bless this room and come, that he comes into the room with me and that he guides my hands as I program on the MPC or play notes on the keyboard, that he sharpens my ear to what's really going to be hot at the end of the day. Because it can go from just the smallest sample, the smallest drum sound to being the biggest song in the world.Host: Right.Kanye West: But to go from there to there is this much of my talent and this much of God to work. It's like his guidance, definitely.Host: Yeah. All right. Let me just, we're going to move on to another sheet. Let's see. All right. Let's talk about, okay, let's talk about your upbringing a little bit. Now, you were raised, you were born in Chicago.Kanye West: No, I was born in Atlanta. It's a common misconception.Host: Okay. Yeah. Let's clear up the misconception right now.Kanye West: Just because people love to say born and raised. And born and raised in the heart of, you know.Host: So, you actually were born in Atlanta, but you were raised in Chicago.Kanye West: Yeah. I moved to Chicago when I was three, when my parents divorced. But I would still visit my father in Atlanta and also in D.C. and Maryland, where in the summer times and spring breaks. That's where I got my fashion sense from. Because I remember going over to my friend Aubrey's house and I had like hammer slacks on and a high top fade.Host: That's funny.Kanye West: And like MC Hammer like stepper shoes, the heavy D shoes or whatever, with the long rayon shirt. And he said, man, people don't dress like that no more. I'm like, what you talking about, man? He said, we wear this. And he opened up a closet and at the bottom, it was all Jordans. And at the top, it was every color of polo shirts.Host: Oh.Kanye West: And I think that he had like jabot shorts back then. We don't really wear jabot like that much more. But that's when I became fashion forward.Host: Right.Kanye West: And when I went back, I was so ahead of everybody because everybody else still cuffing their jeans and wearing cross colors.Host: That's crazy.Kanye West: And I'm up here like wearing polo. But I like the feeling of people saying, where you get that from?Host: Right.Kanye West: And ever since that, just like right now, you don't know where I got that from.Host: Let's talk about your image because you have a very clean, very preppy image. Actually, a journalist has once said that you're more Cosby show than straight out of Compton.Kanye West: Yeah.Host: What do you think about that description?Kanye West: Well, I felt like the people on Cosby show, they could really dress. And it was understated. Like you never really noticed that Michael Jamal Warner had a platinum Rolex, a presidential on. Now they're up there having TV shows about how you can't afford a $300 shirt or Gordon Gartrell, but you got this watch on.Host: Right.Kanye West: And it's just a matter of people not having an eye for that. And I feel like in rap music, rap music is... I feel like rap music has educated the ghetto in some sorts. You know, like now you go into a store and you'll know, you'll read the name and you'll know it. Because a Lil' Kim line will go through your head or a Jay-Z line will go through your head.Host: Right, exactly.Kanye West: About Dolce & Gabbana or Christian Louboutin or Bvlgari or somebody would have said it.Host: Right.Kanye West: I feel like rap is educational in that sense. So, my style, I don't think I really get enough credit for it. But I'm happy that...Host: See, I can say that right now.Kanye West: Right. Two years from now when I'm like on a cover of every magazine for how I dress or style or whatever, then what am I going to say?Host: Right.Kanye West: So it's better for me to say it now. So when it happens, I can have a good time and say, you remember I said that? And I just throw things out there like that just to make the game funner. Because this whole music thing, this whole celebrity thing, this whole it's all a facade, it's all a game. It's not real life, it's not real people.Host: Right.Kanye West: Because...Host: Tonight was real. Being with your family was real.Kanye West: Yeah. People who really, you know, like...Host: [Hold on, I'll do this.]Kanye West: Yeah.Host: What do you say? What do you say?Kanye West: What's that? Uh, no. There's some other people out there.Host: Yeah. So, let's see. Okay. Let's talk about... Now your mom was a college professor, and your dad a photojournalist. How much did they stress a good education?Kanye West: Yeah. Well, that was one of my dad's jobs. He was also... My dad was also a paycheck salesperson. They sell payroll services from major companies. A vacuum cleaner, door-to-door salesperson. I remember going over people's houses, and he'd say, well, you got a penny? And he'd put the penny in, and like vacuum it to show people, and the piano would pop out and be bent. See, this is how powerful this vacuum cleaner is. And he'd get up and stand on it, and he'd go through this whole thing. And then at the end, they didn't buy the vacuum cleaner.But then that next day, he went out and he sold some, because he definitely was selling vacuum cleaners to pay that child support and be able to pay for that ticket for me to come visit him in the summers and the spring break. But I remember being there, and all the work that he put into, and one of the main things he taught me from that is focus on your major goal. So maybe I was one of his major goals. So it didn't matter how many vacuum cleaners he had to jump on or how many pennies he had to vacuum up, just as long as he made sure he took care of his son.Host: And how much did your mom influence you?Kanye West: Oh, well, my mother, um, my mother is, she's a really fun person. She's like alive and stuff like that. She is fun. So that's like, just this whole side of the Williams family is like, when you get the really, like when I say stuff that's really crazy and stuff like that, that really comes from this. So just being fun and open and having a good time and appreciating life. And also the music side. So, um, she was really creative. You know, she had records stacked up like longer than this room. Stevie Wonder, Maze when I was a little kid.Host: Nice.Kanye West: That's when I was like the size of them. And you know, you go up, that's back when the record player would be connected to the TV. It would be on the same console and you would lift the plastic thing up right there and place it. That's back when you used to press start and stop on your record player and it would just play it by itself. You didn't have to press start and then, um, I'll be sitting there listening to some, um, Anita Baker. Um, all, listening to records all to when she got home.Host: Wow. And how much did she stress a good education for you?Kanye West: Well, um, really my grandfather is the one that talked her out of it. Because she was stressing the education, stressing it. And then my grandfather said, hey, that's not what he wants to do.Host: Portwood, your grandfather is something else.Kanye West: Yeah, that's what I'm, it's, and life. The whole, the whole concept of the college dropout. With, with anything, with these interviews and everything, is do your interview.Host: Right.Kanye West: What do you want to do? When you're on TV, when I, when I look at TV, I want to say, that was me right there.Host: Right.Kanye West: That wasn't what you're supposed to do, media training, all this. It, that's not fun. Like, what, I mean, just have a good time.Host: Well, media training is like, what is that?Kanye West: Yeah.Host: Well, as your album title suggests, you did drop out of college.Kanye West: Yeah.Host: Now, how did you go from a college dropout to producing hits for people like Jay-Z and Alicia Keys?Kanye West: Well, I was already producing before I dropped out. Actually, like, I've been producing since seventh grade. Like, I had started actually making money producing by 15. And this is back when people was looking at me crazy for asking for money. That's one thing out there, too, is like, if you got a talent and you can charge for it, ask for the money. Because if you don't ask, nobody's going to offer.Host: No, of course not.Kanye West: Yeah.Host: Definitely not.Kanye West: And that's what I used to always do. So, even to this date, before I actually stopped producing for people, which now, like, I just focus on, like, just my acts for my label, Getting Out Our Dreams, like John Legend and Common.Host: Right.Kanye West: What I would do is, if we charge, let's say the price is $100,000 on the track. If we could get three people that say yes, on that third yes, you got to raise the price.Host: Right.Kanye West: Because obviously it's too low.Host: Ooh, Kanye West, the entrepreneur. Here we go.Kanye West: Yeah.Host: Now, in high school, you met friend and mentor, producer, No ID.Kanye West: Yeah.Host: Now, when did you decide that you wanted to get into the rap game or get into the production, into the music business?Kanye West: Well, I decided that before I met him. And I used to bug him to death. Just picture this. He's grown, whatever, age 23. He's got records out, and I'm 15. And with a dream, a little bit of talent, and a phone bill I wasn't paying for. So it gets to the point where I let the phone ring and ring. He finally picked up. When he picked, when no ID actually picked up that phone, I felt like, it felt like I actually was on stage or I had a record deal, just to talk to him.Host: Because you were just that much closer.Kanye West: Right. That's like talking to someone that's actually there where you want to be. And even now, and I would ask him so many questions. And even now, if I'm running to someone who's where I want to be, I just start asking them questions. I turn to that little kid again. Like when I was with Nego in Japan. I was just with the opening of Bathing Ape. Well, Pharrell hosted the opening of the store.Host: Were you at his house in Japan?Kanye West: Yeah.Host: Because I heard his house is like something to die for.Kanye West: Yeah. It's the best house. It inspired me. He had like the Louie trunk stacked up. So I went and I built it. And I got the Louie trunk stacked up. And you know, at Louie, you can get your family crest and everything where you came from and all that. So I was like, well, my family, why don't you put like a slave boat on it? So I'm going to put like a slave boat on my Louie trunk. Because that's where I came from.*There may be errors on this page.