Kanye West is writing a philosophy book in real time.
Recently, the multi-platinum rapper announced a new book titled Break the Simulation, but it turns out fans won’t find it in stores. Instead, Yeezy says he’s writing it all out on Twitter as the thoughts hit him.
“this is my book that I’m writing in real time,” he tweeted. “No publisher or publicist will tell me what to put where or how many pages to write. This is not a financial opportunity this is an innate need to be expressive.
“I will work on this ‘book’ when I feel it,” he added. “When We sit still in the mornings We get hit with so many ideas and so many things We want to express.”
Yeezy also told The Hollywood Reporter about the book. “I’m writing a philosophy book right now called Break the Simulation,” he said. “And I’ve got this philosophy — or let’s say it’s just a concept because sometimes philosophy sounds too heavy-handed. I’ve got a concept about photographs, and I’m on the fence about photographs — about human beings being obsessed with photographs — because it takes you out of the now and transports you into the past or transports you into the future. It can be used to document, but a lot of times it overtakes [people]. People dwell too much in the memories.”
Thus far, Kanye has also written about a variety of topics, including innate feelings, parenting, childhood, enemies, and his belief that originality is overrated. Read excerpts from his real-time Twitter book below.
On Mornings: “when you first wake up don’t hop right on the phone or the internet or even speak to anyone for even up to an hour if possible. Just be still and enjoy your own imagination. It’s better than any movie.”
On Ideas: “You have the best ideas. Other people’s opinions are usually more distractive than informative. Follow your own vision. base your actions on love. Do things you love and if you don’t absolutely love something stop doing it as soon as you can.”
On Innate Feelings: “Don’t follow crowds. Follow the innate feelings inside of you. Do what you feel not what you think. Thoughts have been placed in our heads to make everyone assimilate. Follow what you feel.”
On Enemies: “I don’t believe in the concept of an enemy. We have been conditioned to always be in competition. Stop looking for something to beat and just be. You don’t have to do all the work. Once you start moving in love the universe will assist you…You will be a drop of water with the ocean as your army. If you move out of fear than your on your own. Then it’s just you and the money and the countless people you have to lie to and manipulate to build a man made path that will never lead to true happiness.”
On Lies: “just stop lying about shit. Just stop lying.”
On Parenting & Childhood: “in life, we are all trained actors. When we’re born we’re ourselves and then one of the first things we’re thought is how to act. If you see a kid screaming at a restaurant because he feels something and can’t express himself in a conventional manner. everyone will say he needs to learn how to act. At home parental acting classes are one of the first steps to us loosing who we really are to ‘the simulation’. Parents are our first acting coaches.”
On Time: “me and my friend Anthony Schiller always ask questions about time. Is time linear? I recently did an interview where I placed a high value on time. Everything means nothing until you make it something. You are your validator.”
On The Present Moment: “Be here now. Be in the moment. The now is the greatest moment of our lives and it just keeps getting better. The bad parts the boring parts the parts with high anxiety. Embrace every moment for its greatness. This is life. This is the greatest movie we will ever see. There’s love stories. Pain happiness. It’s 3 dementional. There’s taste touch sound. It’s the most entertaining for of entertainment. Just being. We believe time is a man made construct. Actually time and money are both man made currency. Because you can spend them both.”
On Originality: “too much emphasis is put on originality. Feel free to take ideas and update them at your will all great artist take and update. Cars have four wheels. Hoodies have hoods. It’s amusing to me when some one says this is an original hoodie. Bro… it’s a hoodie. I find myself getting stuck in the idea of originality and letting my ego push me to say things like ‘this person stole this from me’ and the funny thing is it’ll be a reference I took from somewhere.”
On Awards: “let’s be less concerned with ownership of ideas. It is important that ideas see the light of day even if you don’t get the credit for them. Let’s be less concerned with credit awards and external validation.”