Kanye West has been popping up at business-centric events lately. A few days ago, he was at The New York Times’ DealBook Conference, where he said the Kardashians’ work ethic inspires him to be more productive than he might otherwise be. Yesterday, Kanye participated in a panel discussion at the Fast Company Innovation Festival, where he said that he might legally change his name to Christian Genius Billionaire Kanye West.
Speaking about black empowerment, he said (via The Hollywood Reporter):
“Martin Luther King didn’t get killed because he had a dream; he had something else he was gong to talk about. He talked about black empowerment, economic empowerment. When I did Forbes, I showed them a $890 million receipt and they still didn’t say ‘billionaire.’ They don’t want us to know that we can buy land; they don’t want us to have the 100 percent ownership [that] I have at Yeezy. […] When people say it’s crass to call yourself a billionaire, I say I might legally change my name to Christian Genius Billionaire Kanye West for a year until y’all understand exactly what it is.”
Elsewhere in the chat, he reiterated his intention to run for president in 2024, saying, “When I run for President in 2024…” After that got some laughs from the audience, he continued, “What y’all laughing at? We would create so many jobs! I’m not going to run, I’m going to walk. When you see headlines saying Kanye’s crazy — one in three African Americans are in jail and all the celebrities are in jail also because they can’t say nothing, they got no opinion, they’re so scared!”
Watch the conversation above.
