Kanye West for Interview Magazine February 2014

For the February 2014 issue of Interview Magazine,Kanye West spoke with director Steve McQueen describing himself as a ‘prodigy out of Chicago,’ and about the hard road he faced trying to follow his dreams.

“I’m a trained fine artist. I went to art school from the time I was 5 years old. I was, like, a prodigy out of Chicago,” he tells director Steve McQueen

“I’d been in national competitions from the age of 14. I got three scholarships to art schools … and I went to the American Academy of Art. So the joke that I’ve actually played on everyone is that the entire time, I’ve actually just been a fine artist. I just make sonic paintings, and these sonic paintings have led me to become whatever people think of when you say ‘Kanye West …’

“I want the power to create what is in my mind. That’s my dream. I want to be able to have a thought or an idea and bring it into reality,” he tells McQueen.

“If I want to design a product, or if I think of a new way for us to view films, then I want to be able to do it. And what happened was that when we made ‘Watch the Throne,’ it was such an accomplishment, and I had a bit of money in my account, so I just started chasing other dreams.

“I did two fashion shows in one year — at one of them, I had go-karts that people could ride. I also shot a film in ‘surround vision,’ where I had seven screens — three in front of the audience, one above, one below, one to the left, one to the right. This is after designing ‘Watch the Throne’ — and I was putting my money towards it. I put the amount of free income that I could put into it, which went into the millions.

“I went around and showed people what I’d done and said, ‘Hey, I made “Watch the Throne,” I made this amount of music for the past 10 years, I have this level of visuals, this level of communication, I can sell this many albums, and I also have these new inventions. Will anybody help me out?’ I met with 30 billionaires, 30 companies, and basically everyone said, ‘F— you.’ I said, ‘How could this happen? How could not one person want to invest in these different ideas?’ …

“As a celebrity,” says West, who is engaged to Kim Kardashian, “I have an opportunity to make a living at being the spokesperson for the third or fourth rendition of a thought — promoting something that has already been proven. The problem is that I like to be the inventor — I’m the person who works on the concept, who invents new thoughts, who brings new ideas into the universe. I’m not the guy who works on selling the idea — I’m not Vanna White for the new Hyundai. I am the guy who works on the concept for the car.

“Too many people are scared. But it is my job to go up every night and talk about this kind of s—. It is actually my job,” West tells McQueen. “I’m like a broadcaster for futurism, for dreamers, for people who believe in themselves.”

Interview Magazine February 2014 :

Celeb : Kanye West
Photographer : Steven Klein
Stylist : Karl Templer
Make-Up : Sammy Mourabit
Hair : Tomo Jidai