More words have perhaps been penned about Kanye West than of any other music icon the past 10 years. He’ll spur cultural movements in fashion, hip-hop and beyond before the inevitable yawn, mastering a craft and then starting anew. He’s done what few others in modern music history have since his days as a no name rap hopeful with soulful beats, and he’s maintained a level of inspirational relevancy and sonic-visual art unmatched by anyone else. Be it Jay Z or Drake, no rapper alive can claim a catalog more consistent than West’s—nor more influential.
Save for some recent festival showings that garnered a bit of notorious buzz, the newly married father has largely kept his mouth shut after the shit stirring summer that was the aftermath of Yeezus. That changed this week when GQ released its latest issue with rap’s leading man of the 2000s on the cover. The king has returned, and he has done so with grace.
As laughable as this may sound, West talks about himself in a more likable, efficient, sensible and mature way than he has in recent memory. For that, the GQ cover story is an important, public documentation of the creative’s internal shifts, something we will surely see as his forthcoming album begins to unveil itself in bits and pieces. To ingrain this moment in our own archives, we have assembled some of the best quotes from West’s Q&A interview with the aforementioned magazine. We strongly encourage you to read the piece in its entirety at GQ, which you can do here.
DINOSAUR AND FIGHTER JET ATTHESAMETIMESHAWTY
I think I see fighter jets once a year lol, depends on your location.
People see fighter jets all the time. That’s not that great a comparison.
Yucky