

KANYE ON DAMON DASH, JAY-Z MORE ALBUM TALK, & WHO HIS PLANS TO TOUR WITH

Angel: So how is your relationship with Damon Dash? A lot of people wanted to know that. I mean you shout out Jay-Z all the time, but you really don’t speak on Damon Dash that much. Are the two of y’all still cool?

Kanye: Yeah, man, I love Dame. I wanted to speak on it in the “Big Brother” joint, you know I said his name on it. But I always think about Dame. Like when I make certain songs, I’m like, “Aww man, Dame is gon like this.” Like when I made “Barry Bonds” I had Dame in mind, picturing Dame doing the original Dame Dash dance. Like those glory days. Like Jay is like a big brother, but Dame Dash is more like a father figure.

Angel: So, what’s the next single that you’re going to release from the album?

Kanye: Man, see the thing is, I was thinking about doing something online. Like asking people what the next single would be.

Angel: Yeah, that would be good, that would be a good look.

Kanye: Like I’m saying, if I would have done that from the gate, I don’t think people would have picked “Stronger” over “Good Life”. But I had a plan with that. Because now, usually when people get to their albums, they’ve exhausted all of their missiles, all their heat rocks. Potentially my biggest, obviously my biggest radio record, has only been out like two-three weeks. But I think that could keep the album going. My favorite three songs are: “Flashing Lights”, “Homecoming” and “I Wonder”. Now, “I Wonder” is more of an emotional pull. “I Wonder” and “Homecoming” are very emotional, but “I Wonder” has that stadium thing to it and that has one of my favorite pieces of music - the third verse, the breakdown, when the strings come in that Larry Gold did.

Angel: Yeah

Kanye: But “I Wonder” is cool, but “Flashing Lights” is the coolest on the album. Like you know, music snobs and girls with cool haircuts. Like people like they so 80s.

Angel: Yeah if you read the comments, everybody likes that song.

Kanye: Yeah and regular people like it too. But I don’t think if I did a poll that people would pick “Homecoming” but I believe “Homecoming” would sell me the most records. Because it’s still buying into a fanbase that I haven’t completely conquered. It’s the only record that could get like rock ads, like the way “Stronger” got rock ads. Like when those numbers came back, and we was just talking bout who was gonna sell the most. I knew that I had connected on certain radio to people who buy records.

Angel: Yeah

Kanye: Like at the end of the day, the hood is only going to buy or can only make you go gold at most. Like Fab [Fabolous] got the hood like 100% but you’re gonna have to step outside of that in order to really do the 1 million, 2 million records. My goal on this album is to do 10 million records.

Angel: You’ll make it, you’ll make it.

Kanye: Thank you. I guess we off to a good start [laughs]



Kanye & Jay-Z on 106 & Park last month (Wireimage) Kanye & Jay-Z on 106 & Park last month (Wireimage)

Angel: Yep! So we all heard about Jay-Z’s new album and everybody wants to know if you’re working with him on American Gangster.

Kanye: Yeah, I was just in the studio last night.

Angel: Oh, alright.

Kanye: Like I got interviews, like right now I’m doing this interview with y’all. And I just wanna do interviews that I want to do. Like if I like a person’s outlet or what a person brings to the table, than I’ll speak to them. But I’m not going to do an interview, just because it’s suppose to sell you records. Like I had to like, block the people involved. So, I’m doing these interviews, and I’m working on Jay-Z and stuff for Michael Jackson. And the album ain’t even been out for a week and a half I’ve been in the lab.

Angel: That’s what I’m saying, you’re already producing already for other people and you still gotta promote yourself.

Kanye: Yeah, I just do it in between time you know what I’m saying? Get a little time to go to the movies and in between that I do like a banger for Jay-Z.

Angel: So what about Brandy? A lot of commenters wanted to know if you were going to work with Brandy again.

Kanye: I haven’t spoken to Brandy in a while. I mean I wouldn’t be completely opposed to it. But if you noticed like in the past year and a half, I had very little production work out. Except for me and Common. And it’s like a Dre thing, that’s the reason why like sonically you get moments like the middle of “Drunk & Hot Girls” or the drums on “I Wonder”. Instead of me going and doing five different sessions for 1800 artists, instead I did maybe at least 10 different sessions just tweaking the drums on “I Wonder”. So now, my goal is to get my tour to the level, that people will see the tour, but we can sell out arenas and do 20,000 seaters. And next time by next summer we going 30,000 or 40,000. Because my job, my day-to-day job, my main job is to get on stage at least 250 times out the year. I’m a touring artist, you know what I’m saying, like an international touring artist. And I made an album to try to make my job easier.

Angel: So when is the tour gonna start? Everybody is asking? Like what cities do you really want to go to?

Kanye: I’m going to cities that people didn’t think I was going to go to. Like Oklahoma is one of my hometowns, like my grandparents on my mother’s side are in Oklahoma. The last time we did the ‘Touch The Sky Tour’ people didn’t think we should do it and we ended up selling out in a few days.

Angel: Make sure you come to North Carolina, so I can check it out too.

Kanye: Yeah, we definitely coming to North Carolina. I tell y’all right now, either, I’m going to tour with one of the big dogs - like a tour with 50 or a tour with Jay or imma tour with Keyshia, T-Pain, and Common.

Angel: Oh that’ll be hot.

Kanye: It’s going to be either one of those three things.

Angel: So what’s the theme for the next album? You know you graduated already, are you gonna keep the college-based theme? Are you gonna keep the bear going? Or are you going to do something new?

Kanye: Definitely have the bear, you know? But I have to give the bear a new swag. Common came in and just blessed the whole idea, because I’m really getting into the art and everything. But the next album is what you supposed to get after you graduate, A Good-Ass Job, that’s the title. Because back when I was in Chicago, girls mothers used to always tell them that if somebody worked for the Post Office if they boyfriend worked for the Post Office, they’d be like, “Yo, you can’t break up with him, he got a good-ass job.”

Angel: Yeah a government job right that. [laughs]

Kanye: Yeah.

Angel: I heard that one.



KANYE SPEAKS ON USER COMMENTS

Angel: Well let me get to some user questions. I’m just going to quote you know some comments people left on the site, and this first one if from DaRealWifey. She said and this is a quote: ‘You are obviously extremely intelligent, so why do you act like a straight fool and reinforce every negative stereotype white folks have about us when you lose at an award show? I love your music, but stop showing your ass!” What you got to say to that?

Kanye: Yeah, like I said earlier. I wish I was perfect, I really wish I was perfect. But everything I’m not, made me everything I am. You know I realize now, that I’m more of a like ambassador to black people and to hip-hop and that’s why I have so much responsibility. That’s the reason why I caught so much slack off of the Grammy outfit, because niggas in the hood was like, “Man ‘Ye, at the end of the day you let us down.” You are our guy out there, you are the only dude that’s reppin and that’s making it that far. Because when you make it that far you always have to do it for the hood. So I can’t be selfish and I can’t be impatient, those two things, let alone the emotion that goes into everything that drives me to do that. Like I said for one thing is, they caught me on camera and it was a sneaky camera.

Angel: [laughs] It was.

Kanye: And I wish I could find the camera man, because you know that anybody that’s writing that knows that sometimes you might snap off. I felt as though, at least I didn’t do anything illegal. I didn’t actually take it to a physical level. But I realize that the cameras are on me at all times, like they catch me out the car, they try to catch me with my shoes untied. You know, [starts rapping a part from “Can’t Tell Me Nothing”] I got responsibility and I realize that I am one of the few positive black role models in the community at the end of the day.



Kanye & Justin at the ‘06 VMAs (wireimage) Kanye & Justin at the ‘06 VMAs (wireimage)

Angel: Okay another question from a user, her name is A-Natural and she said: “You said before that you felt Justin Timberlake was your biggest competition and that you respected him as an artist. Now that you’ve been disrespected by MTV, how do you feel towards Justin, an MTV asset, being that he contributed to the disrespect of Janet Jackson..” You know with the whole Super Bowl, MTV boycott thing. And A-Natural the commenter went on to say, “Do you still feel that Justin deserves your respect or support?”

Kanye: You know, Imma say honestly I don’t know if they planned that together or not, but if they did plan that together, than I feel like you know, Justin should have stood up for Janet. And if that was the case, than that was a mistake on his part, maybe being scared to really deal with that heat.

Angel: Un huh

Kanye: You know a lot of people can’t deal with the heat to really stand up for stuff. But that doesn’t discredit his amount of work.

Angel: True

Kanye: Like, as much as I liked to be, just doing a comparison of how people try to discredit my work. I’m not going to discredit somebody’s work for something they did. Even in the height of the R.Kelly situation, I still liked his songs. I don’t judge people like that. Like that was the thing like when I first spoke about the hip-hop homophobia and everything. It’s because I was working with my interior decorator and I’d have friends that said, “I would never work with a gay person.” You know what I’m saying?

Angel: Yeah.

Kanye: I mean think about that actual statement, that’s the mentality that we all had coming out of Chicago. Basically we judging a person’s lifestyle or their decisions, to say I wouldn’t work with them or I wouldn’t accept their services. You know at the end of the day, us as musicians, our service is that we give music. What Imma do? Not buy Justin’s album? You know with that situation, are we doing some type of protest that I don’t know about? Because at the end of the day, I do feel like he pushes the envelope the most. Other than that, he makes the best decisions. Because that’s all artists are, it’s a series of decisions. At the end of the day when Rihanna made the decision to wear certain types of clothes, she still has to make that final decision. And she has made a series of great decisions in the past six months, to become a style icon like that.

Angel: Okay, one more from a user, her name is Alexis and she said: “Aside from yourself and Jay-Z, who do you think is the most influential rap artist out right now?”

Kanye: I think Wayne, because Wayne influences me and I’m the biggest artist out. [laughs]



KANYE & ALEXIS / KANYE ON FASHION.



Kanye & Alexis in Paris this month (Splash) Kanye & Alexis in Paris this month (Splash)

Angel: Okay, so let me get to another question. You know about you and Alexis. Getting a lot of buzz, everybody wants to get more information about you guys now. So did you set a wedding date yet?

Kanye: We still working on that, but as soon as I set it, I’m not gon tell nobody. I’m like not going to tell anybody when I get married, because it’s not anything that I’m doing for publicity. You know it’s a real life thing, and it just so happen to be under the microscope because people take pictures of us everywhere. You know, it’s not a thing that I’m doing to promote anything, that’s really our thing.

Angel: Okay. So her new line was just featured a couple of weeks back during Fashion Week, do you guys collab like on fashion items? Since you’re working on your line as well.

Kanye: I be begging her to like help me with something [he says smiling]. The most she will do is like, “Tell me, give me some advice, I like that.”

Angel: [laughs]

Kanye: “I don’t like that.” But with her line, she will finish up the whole line and have it out before I even see anything. But I really liked her last line, I mean I like all her clothes, but this last line, I think she has reached a new level. I think since we were around each other, creatively we both pushed the envelope to a whole new level. [Her line] Looks like a reflection visually of what I did sonically on Graduation.

Angel: Oh that’s hot. Yeah her line was good though. I was looking at some of the pictures today so I could reference, but yeah she knows what’s she is doing and some people don’t want to give her credit. I mean she went to school for it and she is doing her thing, so I gotta give her her props.

Kanye: Yeah, I mean she is really the real thing. Her line has been out for over 5-6 seasons now and people are just now knowing that that was my girlfriend. So it wasn’t a thing like, “Check out my girlfriend’s line.” Paris [Hilton] & Lindsay [Lohan] were wearing the line just because they liked it and picked it up at Fred Segal. So it wasn’t a thing like this is Kanye’s girlfriend let me buy it, if it’s wack then, aww man I don’t want it.