Ever-enigmatic and press-repellent star Kanye West has been shockingly willing to consent to interviews lately. Most recent in his lineup is a full hour-long sit-down with BBC Radio host Zane Lowe. In the highlight reel above, you can see that Yeezy starts out visibly uncomfortable in the hot seat, but as he continues talking, he gets more and more impassioned and, quite frankly, he’s magnetic to watch.
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But that doesn’t make him any less vocal; we listened to the full interview and pulled our favorite quotes from the one and only Mr. West. Discussing everything from his frustration at being shut out of the fashion world to exactly which designer he was dissing on his controversial track “I Am A God,” Kanye never has a dull moment.
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See our favorite fashion moments below, then listen to the full interview!
1. “When I see Hedi Slimane, yeah, he’s got some nice $5,000 jeans in there. He’s got some good sh-t here and there, but we culture. Rap is the new rock ‘n roll. We the rock stars. It’s been like that for a minute, Hedi Slimane. We the real rock stars and I’m the biggest of all of them.”
2. “I brought the leather jogging pants to Fendi six years ago, and they said no. How many motherf—ers you done seen with the leather jogging pant?”
3. “I’ve spent 80% of the last 10 years working on [fashion], and 20% working on music.”
4. “I’ve got a very specific, particular take on men’s footwear. No one can say I don’t know how to design a men’s sneaker. When I was in fourth grade, I was drawing Jordans when my mama couldn’t afford them.”
5. “I was taking 1,000 meetings to try to get backing to do clothing, with no headway. So this [album] is what frustration f—ing sounds like.”
6. “I don’t ever do interviews. And I wasn’t the only rapper asked to do a shoe for Nike for no reason. People didn’t love the Yeezys the way they did for no reason.”
7. “I’m not trying to get into the [fashion] world. I’m trying to make a higher level of product for the real world.”
8. “People say life isn’t fair, and that unless you’re Kanye West, or you’re a pretty girl dating a soccer player, or your parents had money, you don’t get to wear Versace all the time. You’re not affording Versace.”
9. “These artists, the clothing designers, they want to connect with people the same way music connects with people. But the cost of silk is too expensive. I could spend $2 million on a record and give it out in a democratic way. They could spend all their time making the greatest dress in the world, and it’s just impossible to hand-make that many.”
10. “At a fashion office, you have people who have dedicated their entire life to this, working 15 or 20 people, interns coming in, working ’til 4 a.m. that night, slaving to be able to put that thing on the runway, pinning things right before they go out. That is the level of dedication, heart, and soul that goes into that.”
11. “You can be wearing a Zara pant, and then a girl walks in wearing the Céline version, and you feel like sh-t.”
12. “I’m a slave to [fashion]. I love it. Since age five, when my mama took me to a discount fur store and asked me what I liked. Everything I liked was too expensive for us. And that was age five!”
13. “People say, ‘What do you mean you want to help the world, but you’re so concerned about fashion?’ It’s illegal to be naked. It is something that is extremely important.”
14. “No flip-flops for black dudes. I don’t care where you at. Wear some hot ass Jordans on the beach.”
15. “You put on shoes everyday. You walkin’ down the street with no shoes, somebody might think there’s something wrong with you.”