Kanye West continued his
impromptu 2013 radio tour on Monday,
stopping by Philadelphia station Hot 107.9 for an interview with morning show hosts Shamara and Laiya.
The 20-minute chat, available in three videos online, covered a wide
array of topics, including West's current Yeezus Tour, his early rap
influences ("Hammer, LL Cool J, Run DMC") and his profession:
People get mad at me saying that I am a creative genius, but
it's just obvious. It's, like, factual. [...] I'm not a musician, I
don't even know how to play the piano. I would write creative genius
when I go through the airport -- and you have to put that in customs
[forms], where you put what your title is -- except for two reasons: it
takes too long to write and sometimes I spell the word genius wrong.
Toward the end of the Hot 107.9 interview, West was asked about his
relationship with Barack Obama and whether he would ever "break bread"
with the president:
Oh, you talking about how he use to come and visit me and my
mama and tell me he's about to run for president? I just think that
we're pop icons, and the president likes to use that type of thing just
to be down. People was fine with me being everyone's punching bag for
about five years. "This is the person we love to hate, so if you want to
distract people from everything that's going on [...] just say you hate
Kanye and there's going be 30 other people who say they hate Kanye."
That was kind of my position in culture and he kind of used that too.
"Oh, he's a jackass," because that's how the world felt.
I don't care if someone's the president or not. I care about thoughts
and how you helping people and what you bring to the world. My music
brings joy to people. What I create brings joy to people. Me, I'm not
about me. I'm about I've got an idea that people are going to like.
Don't you get frustrated around Christmas time dealing with clothing?
Don't you get frustrated with so many things? That's Steve Jobs made
things easier for people in life.
Interrupted at that point, West was told to "leave Michelle alone"
(even though he wasn't talking about the first lady in his answer).
Well, uh, I think he should mention my baby mama's name,
because we both from Chicago. [...] But no, I'm not gonna mention him no
more, I'm passed that. That's out my thoughts. That's lowering my
priority of thinking at this point.
Listen to West's full interview with Hot 107.9 in three parts:
Here,
here and
here.
