Kanye West Talks Album, Next Single, & Racism in First Ustream Session

Kanye West made his Ustream debut on Friday from Korea where he performed the night before. As the sun rose over the ocean, the dapper rapper answered fans’ questions before heading to the airport. Among the topics he touched on in his inaugural “‘Yestream” session…

•His fifth album will be dropping “sometime in November.”
•RZA, Pete Rock, Jeff Bhasker, and Q-Tip have all contributed to the album.
•He originally considered doing a 30-40 minute piece for the “POWER” video. He may do a lengthier version later on. “This is not the full re-creation ’cause I still might want to do that.”
•He was scared to release the “POWER” single because he thought it was too reminiscent of “Jesus Walks” and “Amazing,” but decided he needed to start embracing his past.
•Avatar and the late designer Alexander McQueen’s last collection inspired him. “Hopefully this album that I’m doing right now—if not this album then the next album—will be that master work.”
•His next single will drop in about 20 days. It’s either going to be “Lost in the World” or “All of the Lights.” He plays some of the latter at the 14:31 mark.
•He learned to be more particular about his videos after being unsatisfied with “All Falls Down.”
•His favorite music video that he’s done is “Flashing Lights.”
•Kanye responds to someone in the chat who called him a racist. “I actually don’t know a rapper before me that liked white people more than me, in all honesty. I don’t know a rapper that wore tighter jeans. I don’t know a rapper that collaborated with more white people. … In no way am I a racist.”