It’s clear that Kanye West has his hands in several passion projects right now. Some feel that maybe it’s even too much and hurting his greatest gift of music. But in an extensive interview with Vanity Fair, Yeezus opened up a bit about not just his forthcoming album Swish (if it ever does come), but also those Presidential aspirations he mentioned at the 2015 VMAs.
In the piece, he authoritatively states when runs for president, he’ll do it differently than everyone else by reaching out across the aisle. Including a highly unlikely name: Ben Carson.
“When I run for president, I’d prefer not to run against someone. I would be like ‘I want to work with you.’ As soon as I heard [Ben] Carson speak, I tried for three weeks to get on the phone with him. I was like this is the most brilliant guy. And I think all the people running right now have something that each of the others needs. But the idea of this separation and this gladiator battle takes away from the main focus that the world needs help and the world needs all the people in a position of power or influence to come together.”
He went on to say the environment for his presidential candidacy is in a far better place now than it would be five years ago.
“Especially from the six years of this misconception or the six years I went through of ‘We don’t like Kanye.’ And then as soon as I said that, it was like, ‘Wait a second, we would really be into that, because actually if you think about it, he’s extremely thoughtful. Every time he’s ever gotten in trouble, he was really jumping in front of a bullet for someone else. He’s probably the most honest celebrity that we have.’ I didn’t approach that because I thought it would be fun. It wasn’t like, Oh, let’s go rent some jet skis in Hawaii. No, the exact opposite. I sit in clubs and I’m like, Wow, I’ve got five years before I go and run for office and I’ve got a lot of research to do, I’ve got a lot of growing up to do.”
In the long interview that touches on his Adidas line, raising his daughter, how great The Gap is (for real), and stepping on other designer’s toes, you do get the sense that music is on the back burner right now. Hopefully when President Kanye Omari West takes his place at the White House in 2020 and changes the National Anthem, then we will finally have some new music from him.
(via Vanity Fair)
