Yeezus returned to “The Breakfast Club” on Friday. The G.O.O.D. Music mogul sat down with Charlamagne Tha God, Angela Yee, and DJ Envy to discuss everything from his Yeezy Boosts to his ex Amber Rose to his wife’s naked magazine covers to a joint album with Drake.
Kanye nearly crashed the stage during Beck’s acceptance speech at the Grammys, and later said that Beck was “disrespectful” and should have given his Album of the Year award to Beyoncé.
“I was completely hypocritical,” admitted ‘Ye, who has since heard Beck’s album. “I went to dinner and sat down with Taylor Swift, and ironically, they were playing the Beck album. I was listening like, ‘Man, this is kinda good. I ain’t even gonna lie.’ I’m gonna listen to the album and maybe it was potentially an album of the year, but the Grammys, they still have a commercial component to it.”
When asked why he continues to defend Beyoncé, he said, “I think Beyoncé is a great representation of an artist working hard and trying her best, and getting the results from it. I think she needs the proper accolades because she’s an inspiration.”
According to ‘Ye, Taylor Swift sympathizes with Bey. “Taylor was talking to me about this. She was saying that when she was the victim, she won every award, and now that she’s powerful and the biggest-selling artist, now she’s not winning awards anymore.”
He also defended his wife Kim Kardashian West’s naked Paper magazine cover. “We’re not gonna accept the physique that was given to us,” said ‘Ye. “My daughter has a chance of being shaped like my wife so between this age and the age when she’s like that, I’m gonna be fighting for that shape to be considered the highest of class.”
He responded to Kim’s critics, saying, “She can get naked if she wants to. It’s not illegal to get naked.”
His ex-girlfriend Amber Rose has been in the headlines for her remarks about the Kardashians. “She’s just soaking in the moment. Nobody feels compelled to do nothing,” said Kanye. “If Kim had first dated me when I wanted to be with her, there wouldn’t be an Amber Rose.”
“It’s very hard for a woman to wanna be with someone that’s with Amber Rose,” he said. “I had to take 30 showers before I got with Kim.”
While Tyga has denied a relationship with ‘Ye’s sister-in-law Kylie Jenner, Kanye told a different story. “I think he got in early, I think he was smart. They are closer in age than a lot of relationships that I know.”
Despite their rocky past, Damon Dash presented him with the Visionary Award at BET Honors. When asked if he was loyal to the Roc-A-Fella Records co-founder, Kanye admitted, “I wasn’t,” adding, “This was an extremely visionary move on my part to roll with Jay Z.”
He originally asked for Minister Louis Farrakhan to present him with his BET award, but Farrakhan “felt like it wasn’t the right time.”
He is, however, working with Farrakhan on a documentary about the minister’s music. “He’s a classically-trained violinist.”
Kanye made a conscious decision to stay out of the Mike Brown and Eric Garner protests. “My dad would email me and say, ‘Stay out of it.’ That’s my only parent, so I have to listen to him sometimes. I can’t run in front of every bullet.”
But he will address it on his upcoming album, which is “80 percent done.” The project will feature “bars, songs, cookout—music that just feels good.” “My last album was a protest of music,” he said. “This album’s just embracing the music, embracing joy, and just being of service to the people.”
He hinted that it will be a surprise release. “Release dates is played out. The surprise is gonna be a surprise.”
He also shot down reports of beef between Beyoncé and Kim. “They love each other. They respect each other. When Beyoncé’s working on her album, she has pictures of Kim on the wall because Kim represents powerful women. They definitely respect each other. Maybe there’s a LeBron James, Kobe element.”
He revealed that he and Drake are planning a joint album called Wolves, which inspired his latest single featuring Sia and Vic Mensa. “The ‘Wolves’ song came from a conversation that me and Drake had when we was gonna do an album together, and the album is called Wolves.”
He hopes to speak it into existence. “I’m just gonna go ahead and say it ’cause maybe this will promote it happening,” he said. “I asked [Drake] and we talked about it and he said, yeah, we was gon’ do it.”
He also has a record with Young Thug. “I think we’re gonna put [it] on Rihanna’s album,” said ‘Ye, who is executive producing Rihanna’s album.
The accomplished businessman has even loftier goals for the future. “I believe that I’m gonna be the head of the first trillion-dollar company,” he said.
And he plans to have hip-hop reparations. “When I get to that point, no rapper would ever have to worry about anything again. … I owe every hip-hop artist because I wouldn’t have made it this far without all of them.”
While he’s been a champion of Big Sean and Pusha T, he admitted that he doesn’t support his G.O.O.D. Music artist Teyana Taylor enough. “I don’t support her enough. I need to do more. I need to rap on some remixes. I need to go shoot some videos. I do need to put more focus on her. I haven’t put enough focus on her.”
He is currently working on a video game inspired by “Only One.” “The idea is my mother going through the gates of heaven, and you gotta bring her to the highest gates of heaven by holding her to the light. We’ve been working on it for like six months.”
He is collaborating with Paul McCartney on his new album, but also feels a kinship to the late Beatle John Lennon. “When I got past the Gucci store and got past how cool my jacket was, I finally was, like the song says, the man I always knew you could be. When I became a protector, a dad, a husband, I finally could stand up and stand for something.”