For the latest edition of i-D Magazine, Kanye West interviewed Pharrell Williams and offered a glance into both of their genius qualities.
The two superstars have been linked to each other for years. They're both incredible producers. They both have transitioned seamlessly into becoming top artists. And they're both super influential in the fashion world, as well. Their most recent chat centered on a number of topics, but some of the most interesting excerpts come from West as he compares both himself and Pharrell to the King of Pop.
"It felt like you really tore down the walls and the doors much like Michael Jackson did a generation before," says West about Pharrell. "In a way, he’s very similar to Michael Jackson, in the ways where Michael Jackson was doing covert, super gangsta stuff, like he’d just pop the needles off. He kissed Elvis Presley’s daughter on MTV. Black culture used to be... we used to be fronting all night, but Michael was doing stuff that was different to what we were programmed to understand as being what we should do. He bought The Beatles’ back catalogue. That was Mike Jackson, right there."
Pharrell was taken aback by the kind words.
"Wow. That was quite a compliment, I mean... I’m speechless," he replied. "But I wasn’t alone, you know? There were so many of us, whether people know us by name or not. And we all realised there were far more archetypes available to us than the media was allowing at that time. We were just like, ‘What about us?’ We’re not in one particular box. We happen to be pluralist. I see you continuing to do the same thing. You’re really the real thing. The real thing. I mean that. You can create something that you’ve seen so clearly in your mind. I think that is essentially the promise of all human experience."
Kanye West also feels like he can be compared to Michael Jackson, but it's more for the way the media has scrutinized him over and over again.
"We should have something that says we can’t allow any company to tear down our heroes. Not on The Shade Room, not on social media and especially not in documentaries," said Kanye. "I’m like every time the media isn’t happy with me it’s like, ‘Here they go. They’re gonna come and Wacko Jacko me.’ Which in some ways, they’ve tried to do."