With a wealth of new music, including two collaborations with Paul McCartney, surfacing in conjunction with the release of his "Yeezy: Season 1" line with adidas, Kanye West has been back in the spotlight and bigger than ever. After his stunt at the Grammys, everyone's been wanting to get a piece of Yeezy's mind. With Kanye, cringeworthy sound-bites come alongside moments of genius, and whatever he has to say-- we're listening.
This morning, Kanye sat down with the Breakfast Club for an hour-long interview that touches on fashion, Beck, Kim, Amber Rose and his upcoming album. We rounded up the quotes that could've only come from Kanye's mouth. Enjoy.
Watch the full interview below.
footwear
"Humbly I would say I'm the most influential person in footwear right now."
He then replaces 'humbly' with 'truthfully.'
BECK
On backlash stemming from the Beck incident: "And I deserved it, man. That was completely hypocritical."
He admits, when he rushed the stage, he had yet to listen to Beck's album. He heard it for the first time while at dinner with Taylor Swift.
"The other day I went to dinner, sat down with Taylor Swift, right, and, ironically, they were like playing the Beck album. I was like, 'man this is kinda good. I ain't even gonna lie.'"
He wants to call Beck and clear things up: "Yes, I got his number. And I was supposed to call him, but I just keep forgettin'."
Though, despite his regret, he doesn't feel sorry for Beck.
"No, I felt good for him. 'Cuz think of all the good stuff that happened to me the past, you know, seven days, eight days. The person that won the most was Beck. Because if I hadn't done that, his Album of the Year would've never been mentioned. Now it's in all the chatter."
"He should win an award for what he did-- "rock album," or something like that-- but he shouldn't have won that award, in my opinion. But who am I to have an opinion?"
Charlemagne: "You're Kanye West!"
Kanye: "Exactly."
grammys
"Grammys is a statement of class and stuff. Like you go to my house, and I'mma hit the stunt button for a sec.: You see my 21 Grammy's laid out that, you know, my wife forced me to take out of the bathroom and put in one place."
Charlemagne: "That's why it's interesting to hear you, you know, get at the Grammys, 'cuz you could be selfish and say, 'well I got 21, so whatever.'"
Kanye: "And I think I deserve more, but..."
beyonce
Why is it always Beyonce?
"It's really ironic that every time it's Beyonce, for some reason."
"I think Beyonce is a great representation of an artist working hard, trying her best and getting the results from it."
"In America ... we have to respect greatness when we see it, and we can't smack it in the face at the cost of some votes splittin'... If you see something that's great, you gotta respect it."
On the origins of the "Kanye shrug":
"I remember I was trying to get on the basketball team in eighth grade. I hit every free throw, hit every lay up, and I looked at the list, and I wasn't on the list, and then the coach just gave me the 'Kanye shrug.'"
"My point is: You not gonna have somebody hit all the shots, and you not give them that credit."
amber rose
While defending Kim's right to show her naked body, Kanye explains Jean-Paul Goude did the Paper Magazine cover shoot. Goude also photographed Grace Jones in the '70s and '80s, and 'Ye thinks Kim's photos are just as revolutionary.
"And Grace Jones' figure, physique, was as new and different as Kim's physique was. In our position of power, we not gonna accept the physique that was given to us-- you know, that was told to us was the proper, you know, way to look. My daughter has a chance of being shaped like my wife, so ... between this age the age when she's like that, I'm gonna be fighting for that shape to be considered 'the highest.'"
"She can get naked if she wants to ... And then think about this: If Adam had never ate the apple, we'd all be naked."
On Amber Rose:
"If Kim had like dated me when I first wanted to be with her, there wouldn't be an Amber Rose."
When asked about Rose's allegations that Kim sent Kanye naked pics when they were together:
"I wish ... It's very hard for a woman to, you know, wanna be with someone that's with Amber Rose. So she wasn't sendin' nothin, know what I'm sayin'. I had to take 30 showers before I got with Kim."
Ouch.
dame dash / jay-z
On why Dame Dash presented him with the BET Visionary Award:
"Because he presented me to the world ... I wouldn't have a record deal if it wasn't for Dame Dash."
Though, he admits he wasn't always loyal.
"And I wasn't. And this was an extremely visionary move on my part ... to run with Jay-Z."
"I came to Roc-A-Fella because Jay Z was my idol, and it would've been very hard for me, you know, at that young state where I was, to separate from my idol ... Do I say there was some disloyalty in that? Yeah, I own up to that. Is there anything that me and Dame could do together now to make money? Yeah, I think so."
studio time
"I sat in the studio with-- it was me, Thug, Sean, Travi$, Tyga, and I was just sayin' we gotta bring our resources together. We have to see how we can help each other to make each other way fresher."
"So last night, when I was working on 'All Day' at Q-Tip's house. It was like me, Vic Mensa, Q-Tip, and we was buildin' on culture, culture, culture. Instead of trying to write bars, we built on that, and then I started writing the bars."
"I'm only a humble servant ... the people chose me to be the people's champ, and as soon as I go up, talk about, 'I, I, me, me, me,' you lose that."
"The youth and the OGs have to come together. You need the energy of the youth, the knowledge of the OGs."
tyga
On Tyga's alleged relationship with Kanye's sister-in-law, Kylie Jenner:
"I think that [laughs] ... That was a good question right there. I think he got in early. I think he was smart."
"They closer in age than a lot of the relationships I know. I knew Tyga was smart, you know."
Charlemagne then notifies Kanye that Tyga had denied any romantic affiliation earlier this week.
'Ye: "I can't speak on nobody else's relationship."
Oops.
new album
On what to expect on the new album:
"Bars, songs, cook-out. Music that just feels good."
"This album's just embracing the music, embracing joy ... and being of service to the people."
wolves
A possible collaboration album with Drake? (Kanye's still in).
"I'm just gon' ahead, give y'all a sound-bite that y'all want, and gon' ahead and say it-- where the 'Wolves' song came from. Maybe this will promote it happening, so I'm just gonna put it out in the real world: The 'Wolves' song came from a conversation that me and Drake had, where we was gonna do an album together, and the album was called 'Wolves.'"
"I asked him, and we talked about it, and he said, yeah, we was gon' do it, and actually ... he was sending beats back and forth"
Another leak: "I got this one record with Young Thug that I think we gonna put on Rihanna album-- I know I'm givin' a lot away..."
beanie sigel
When asked about whether Beanie Sigel deserves 'something' for defending him (with a gun) during an attempted robbery in an NYC restaurant.
"I know this is gonna sound like a politically-correct answer, like one of those politician-type answers, but I owe every hip-hop artist in a way ... I owe hip-hop ... we all owe hip-hop."
"I believe I'm gonna be the head of the first trillion dollar company. One hundred percent. When I get to that point, you know, no rapper would ever have to worry about anything again. My plan is to be coming one by one: Big Daddy Kane, here come his crib, you know everybody's crib ... I owe every hip-hop artist because I wouldn't have made it this far without all of them."
only one story
First: "Only One has nothing to do with Noreaga."
On his vision of his mother (and grandmother) speaking to him through the song:
"I realized after the fact. I said, 'only one!' And my name Kanye-- my mother named me that; it means 'only one.'"
"And my grandmother actually named me Omari, which is the first line-- 'hello mari-- so I realized at that point that they were both talking to me."
There's also a video game for "Only One" in the works, where users will play as Kanye's mother, "and you gotta bring her to the highest gates of heaven."