Kanye West Talks $30 Shoe, IKEA, & Running for President
Kanye West has big plans.
Not only does he want to restructure the music industry’s streaming services, Yeezy also wants to run for president. Plus, he wants to work with IKEA and make his adidas sneakers affordable.
Recently, Yeezy offered an update on many of his projects during an interview with BBC Radio 1’s Annie Mac. Listen to the interview and see highlights from the Q&A below (via HHNM).
On IKEA Partnership: “I have to work with IKEA — make furniture for interior design, for architecture and I know that if I do a minimalist apartment inside of a college dorm where the TV goes on the side of the wall…Yo IKEA, allow Kanye to create, allow him to make this thing because you know what, I want a bed that he makes, I want a chair that he makes. I want more products from ‘Ye. We feel like nobody living is going hard like this, bruh. There’s more colors than just green in the world.”
On Making adidas Affordable: “I’m going to adidas and I’m like, ‘adidas, I know you’ve never made a shoe under $50 but we have to make a shoe that costs $30 and it’s gonna be the coolest shoe of all.’ To me, this thing I’m saying is the thing I’m most excited about of anything I’ve ever done. To be able to take all of what I’ve learnt from the best designers and making collections with fashion people ripping me up alive and dissing me saying don’t quit your day job and all that, to be able to get to the point of being able to make something that everyone can touch and have that visibility.”
On Running for President: “We are numb, we’re numb to 500 kids getting killed in Chicago a year. We’re numb to the fact that it was seven police shootings in the beginning of July…We’re numb to places on the earth that we don’t live, like our life is okay but it’s okay for other people’s lives to not be okay. When I talk about the idea of being president, I’m not saying I have any political views. I don’t have views on politics. I just have a view on humanity, on people, on the truth. If there’s anything that I can do with my time and my day, to somehow make a difference while I’m alive I’m going to try to do it.”
On Glastonbury & R. Kelly: “[Glastonbury] was incredible. I started off the show and I completely messed up the music. And me, as you can imagine by this phone call, I’m a bit of a perfectionist. So it really put me into a slightly depressed state and it put me back in the position of when I was in high school and I got fired from my job, or when I played my music for R. Kelly, and he told me he was going to sign me and then three months later, I didn’t have any money, I couldn’t afford a haircut, I couldn’t take my girlfriend to the movies, and I’m still in my momma’s bedroom, working on beats and I was that close to being signed by R. Kelly.”
On Vulnerability: “When that music messed up in the beginning [at Glastonbury], it tapped into my nerves and when you’re nervous or vulnerable something special and something different can happen.”
On Europe: “Whenever I’m in London, when I’m in Paris or Germany I feel an amount of love, respect, and appreciation that I feel more than when I’m in America.”
On Yeezus: “The whole concept for the Yeezus album was, ‘We’re not gonna be using CDs anymore and since this is the last time we’re gonna see it, this is an open casket for the CD. Just look at the CD for the last time.'”