In Part one of Bossip’s exclusive interview with Kanye, he discusses his recently questioned “religion,” his thoughts on what makes a man sexy and why America, and, well, maybe the world, thinks he’s off his pastelle rocker:
People think I’m crazy just because they don’t understand where I’m coming from. The one thing about Barack is that, of course he words things very well, very politically correct, his main medium is that of speeches, so it requires you to listen to his complete thought. Whereas with me, it’s just sound bites. People never realize that I’m a bit of a comedian so I talk very sharply. If you take a sound bite from a stand up it’s gonna sound completely crazy. They’ll say this person is a cultural icon, blah, blah, blah, but he said this thing that’s kind of funny, but it’s true… but if I put it right here it’ll make him sound crazy.
Bossip: We got the latest issue of Vibe and there was a little controversy stirring that they photo-shopped a grey beard on you?
Yeezy: I think it’s just the way the lighting looked. I look back at a lot of my photos and the way photographers go in with me is that they think of me as this music guy, this crazy guy, this cultural guy or like musical genius and all this stuff. When you go in with Britney, you’re thinking ‘Oh, she’s a sex symbol’. So, you’re gonna pick a certain photographer for that. You’re gonna shoot them in a particular way. My thing is to not focus on the whole crazy, genius music dude. ..to light me properly. That’s the reason I shoot videos with Hype Williams in the first place. I don’t think it was photo-shopped, I think it was just the way it was lit. I didn’t think that they had a choice of really amazing photos to choose from anyway. I think they went for the way my eyes looked on it and just the way the lighting turned out, we kind of came out grey.
Bossip: Do you want to be photographed as a sexy, suave, debonair rapper?
Yeezy: I think that I have a lot of fun with clothes. I don’t have a lot of limitations. Even when you saw the black party, it was one of those things where imma let people know that I get busy. Every now and then Marc Jacobs, he’ll do all these crazy collaborations and he’ll do all these crazy shows. Every now and then he’ll do a show that shows that he’s a serious fashion guy. Regardless of how big he is, he can still get serious. People just limit themselves. They try to do a certain type of suit every time and I get bored with that. Most of the things I do, I do out of boredom. I look at life like a video game and I just kind of like to play with it.
Bossip: Yeezy, what makes a man sexy to a woman?
Yeezy: In my situation as a single mogul and as a grown man, what should make a guy sexy to a woman is the idea of security. Security and time are the sexiest things that you can give to a woman. The idea that you can spend time with them, and the idea that they’re not gonna have to worry about anything; worry about you cheating. They’re not gonna have to worry about the light bill or the car bill. I think you can exude some of that in the way you dress. If you dress too silly, you look like you’re just playing around and you might not pay the bills.
Bossip: So what happened with you and Alexis? Can you explain why you broke up?
Yeezy: No, I wouldn’t explain to anybody particularly why we broke up on the blog. Alexis is a very private, sweet person and she never wanted to have this amount of limelight in the first place.
Bossip: We recently saw your quote “I don’t believe in religion, and I don’t believe in giving it all up to Jesus.” Does this mean that you’re no longer a Christian?
Yeezy: I believe in God. Christianity wasn’t an option when I was growing up, it was the only thing. It wasn’t like I was given the decision at the time. You know how you decide that you want to be a Doctor or a Lawyer or a painter or a basketball player or whatever? You’re not given a decision of what religion you want. Your parents just give it to you. Like, you’re a Jew or you’re a Muslim or you’re a Christian. I feel like religion is more about separation and judgment than bringing people together and understanding. That’s all I’m about. I’m about accepting people for who they are. Live and let live. I fully embrace every culture there is. I love when people are who they are to the fullest. Like, I think that Cam’ron is just as much a fashion icon as Stefano Pilati, who is basically the best dressed person on Earth. That’s the head designer of YSL. (Yves Saint Laurent)
Bossip: If you had to give yourself a specific religious title, like are you studying anything new now?
Yeezy: I would never go into a religion. I guess my religion is just what I do religiously when I wake up in the morning. I had a conversation with my Dad when I was twenty years old and I don’t believe in this everybody’s going to hell thing; everyone who isn’t a Christian is in the wrong. His response at that time was, ‘Well I’d hate to see you not spend eternity with me and burn in the depths of hell.’ I was like well hell, I don’t want that to happen, so let me set up this insurance plan and just do this. (he laughs) . My father is much more open-minded about that now, though.
Bossip: So do you believe in Jesus at all?
Yeezy: I believe in Jesus as an icon, but I don’t feel the responsibility to put my life on Jesus. I feel I need to take responsibility for my own successes and failures. Why I say, ‘I don’t give it all up to Jesus’ is because there are a lot of people who don’t take responsibility for their lives, and always think Jesus is gonna handle it. And, that’s what I refuse to do. Christianity is embedded in who I am, so I will still say things like this is a blessing, amen, and still say prayers; things that your Grandmother embedded in you. I’m always gonna have a little Chicago in me, a little hood in me, and a little Christianity in me. Just because it’s what I know. But, I do not believe that other religions are going to hell, I do not believe in a lot of elements of it. I want to express to people that I do believe in God, but I also have friends whom are atheists. I have friends that are super duper Christians. If I come to a person that’s a super Christian and I tell them what I believe in and they tell me what they believe, I super respect that. I like when people are into what they’re into. If that’s your thing, and you break it down and you’re really into the bible and you believe everything about it, and you believe in immaculate conception and stuff like that. Like, you believe in the “rib” and all that, I’m just like, man, that’s dope for you. People will say ‘Aw, man he wasn’t saying that Jesus thing when he made the song!’ But, when I made the song, that’s how I felt, but this is six years later. This is how I feel now. The whole thing about religion, other people’s religion and other things that they shell out, I have my own opinion on everything. Anything that I take, I’m going to do it my way. Like, if I take a car, I’m going to paint it the way I want to paint it. My thing was, after my mom passed, it wasn’t a thing where I lost my mind or anything. I was less scared to speak my mind. Cause there’s nothing I could lose. There’s nothing that could be taken away from me. Soon as you’re not willing to change and go off of what you feel that morning, your life starts moving in reverse like Benjamin Button or something. Now, you’re moving backwards, you’re not growing anymore. Life is about change and if you’re not willing to change you’re not really willing to live your life, and soak in the amount of new information that’s given to you. Since day one, I knew the difference between right and wrong. I could predict what was happening. I had karma and anyone who’s ever had beef with me, something happened to them, like it’s really just been in God’s hands.
Religion is like clothing. People want comfort. People don’t want to have to take that off. People don’t want to accept the concept of there not being a heaven possibly, or the concept of losing someone and not seeing them again. The only thing that keeps you going is the idea that you will see them again.
It’s [religion] also like branding. Some people go Bapes head to toe, some people do Polo head to toe. Some people go Rocawear head to toe. Me, I kind of just go into the store and take the piece that I like the most. I’m no poster child for any particular brand. What I have to realize and what shocks people, or polarizes people is that I’m actually a brand. I’m something that people build up and believe in. They name their kids because they believe Kanye believes this. But I’m also a real person; a growing person and an artist. I don’t want the responsibility of waiting to move because this many people believe this. Like, if you believe in Kanye, if you believe in me, then just believe that I’m going to be honest with you and express to you what I believe that day. I’m not gonna be holding a congregation and fucking prostitutes and it come out to them years later. I’m gonna come to the congregation like man, last Friday I got some head from a prostitute, I’m just gon’ go head and let y’all know.
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