5 Most Arrogant Quotes From Kanye's NYT Interview

West compares himself to Michael Jordan, Steve Jobs
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 12, 2013 10:15 AM CDT
5 Most Arrogant Quotes From Kanye's NYT Interview
In this Monday, May 7, 2012 photo, Kanye West arrives at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute gala benefit, celebrating Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada, in New York.   (AP Photo/Evan Agostini)

In anticipation of Tuesday's release of Kanye West's Yeezus, the New York Times runs an extensive and vaguely fawning interview with the rapper. (Writer Jon Caramanica expresses what seems like amazement that "even as the [album] deadline loomed, Mr. West made room for an appearance at the baby shower for his girlfriend, Kim Kardashian.") Here are some of the more ... memorable quotes:

  • While talking about making his mark on history with an extended basketball analogy, West calls himself "the Michael Jordan of music."

  • "I am so credible and so influential and so relevant that I will change things."
  • On whether his instinct to "change things" and, specifically, make things more fair has ever led him astray (like, say, when he interrupted Taylor Swift's acceptance speech): "It’s only led me to complete awesomeness at all times. It’s only led me to awesome truth and awesomeness."
  • "I knew when I wrote the line 'light-skinned friend look like Michael Jackson' [from the song 'Slow Jamz'] I was going to be a big star. At the time, they used to have the Virgin music [stores], and I would go there and just go up the escalator and say to myself, 'I’m soaking in these last moments of anonymity.'"
  • "I think what Kanye West is going to mean is something similar to what Steve Jobs means. I am undoubtedly, you know, Steve of Internet, downtown, fashion, culture. Period. By a long jump. I honestly feel that because Steve has passed, you know, it’s like when Biggie passed and Jay-Z was allowed to become Jay-Z."
Of course, he also talks a little bit about Kim ("Any woman that you're in love with or that loves you is going to command a certain amount of, you know, energy.") and the baby they're expecting ("This is my baby. This isn't America's baby."). Things may not be awesome on that front; click to read about the woman who says West cheated on Kardashian with her. (More Kanye West stories.)

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