Like John Lennon.

Yea, or Selena or something like that. That's the risk of really breaking...it's the good and the bad. It's like you think it's the most incredible thing to be such a fucking icon that people would copy your glasses or you could actually have your own Nike, or just have songs that would play at every sporting event. But the flip side of it is like that danger and shit like that. But I refuse to be paranoid, I feel like, Man, my life is in god's hands. What happens, happen. I mean, I use security when I go to like certain rap concerts, but I usually only have like one security guard and it's more just like when people wanna take a shot—just like if some paparazzi really fuck with me. But I have no beef with anybody, even in like Chicago, the most super gangsta city, there's absolutely just no fucking beef. I think people really respect the type of music I make and the perspective I come from and my willingness to really help people too. It's like, why do people have beef with whoever came before me, what are they doing? Or people are saying stuff to down people, like dissing people. I just never diss anyone. I feel sorry for people whose whole job is bringing up negative things about people; I'm just always trying to push forward positive shit, like help people out, and in return you get put in a good situation I think.

There's just so much good stuff, why waste time?

This made me think of something. You know, I haven't done an interview in a really long time so there's a lot of shit I wanna say. People always name like really great artists—and I don't wanna diss them—but like some of the older artists [of the] 80s, 90s, shit like that. I super refuse to work with them. Like, why would I work with them? I'd much rather work with a brand new artist who has potential to do something new. I'm just like, I don't wanna work with them. I might want to clear a sample or something, but I don't wanna go in the studio or anything—if anything, I wanna compete with them. Of course I compete with what's going on now, I'm not ignorant to like what's going on, but I'm also trying to compete with history. I just need to take the time out and be like, Okay this is what I'm gonna do. The reason why I'd want to do a whole Jay-Z project is because he's a super, interesting superstar, that can rap good as hell and stuff like that. But if you're just like an artist, and not interesting, and not a superstar like that, or you don't have a movement, why the fuck would I want to do anything with you? Like Jeezy really fucking means something. Jeezy is FADER world all day long. He's a king FADER rapper. Jeezy or Wayne. Jeezy-Wayne-T-Pain. It's not no fucking pop bullshit. That's hypocritical that I'm using pop in a bad way, because really pop is some good shit. You know how people say, What would Jesus do? Whenever I'm writing a song, fixing the lyrics, I say, What would Jeezy do? That's the whole thing, even though certain people look at me like a nerd. I come from a nerd perspective. Like, all my friends in Chicago are super gooned out, super gang banging, so I've just always been around those super goons my whole life. That way I'm able to be like in a room of super goons, or at a Paris show, is really cool. So I always try to write raps where I'm not gonna say I like to shoot somebody and stuff like that, but if you did like music like that, you didn't have a problem listening to my shit. And just now I think I broke through with "Can't Tell Me Nothing," and "Flashing Lights" and you have "Put On" and "Love Lockdown."

That leads to the final question. I wonder if you see the future for your life beyond music—do you think you'll not want to make music anymore and go do something else with the same intensity?

I can't foresee myself not wanting to make music now, but I think it would just be like another skill. It's like: Hedi Slimane like to design, loves to take pictures. Like at this point I super love to rap, but maybe love to perform more. I'm not at a point where it's like don't do music and shit, but what was so great about this album was like at any given time, I could just Superman in the booth and pull out arguably the best rapper in the world. Even though the words aren't filled in on that, once it is filled in, that rap is just so advanced and so lapping motherfuckers. I'm gonna say once again with the ghost writing ideas: like, they'll present a lot of ideas, but it really comes down to me. And I really only take a very small percentage of ideas from other people. Maybe I'm past that point of people discrediting me, whether I could come up with something creatively. But there's always like a fight as a producer like, He didn't really do it. Even right now as like a fashion designer, I haven't even dropped anything and people have to defend me already about the fact that people helped me out. Like, the people at Louis are like, "No, he drew it." Kim Jones is like, "No, he's good." Raf is like, "No, this guy is cool." Everybody's trying to discredit, like "its no way it could happen" But maybe I didn't have to say anything defending that level of creatively. I guess that's the reason why that was your last question—is this the final frontier of music? It's funny, like on the Blender thing, "Now that Kanye conquered music, what is he gonna go do now?" I would think it's not quite conquered yet—I would think there's still a ways to go, there are levels. Like, did you see the Michael Jackson in Budapest concert yet? It's like, if it's not on that level, it's not conquered yet. When I look up two years from now, three years from now and I'm doing my own concert for 500,000 people…maybe this is a beginning point, a starting point. It's gonna be people that just discover, as big as a celebrity as I am, that really just discover me on this album. I know for Vanessa Beecroft, I'm sure she never listened to the older albums, but listening to this, I'm sure that she would like it. I learned so much from going to those fashion shows. I thought I was making some fashionable shit on the last album, and they weren't playing my shit. It's weird, it's like, the last album was more pop than this one. This one has a potential, I mean, in production-style, even though it pushed the envelope a little bit. For this shit to be cut all the way down like that—but it doesn't mean that this won't pop, or it won't be bigger than the other stuff. Pink is a great example. Let me say this in a positive way: she had the stuff that was "pop," like Destiny's Child type beats written by Candy, her first shit—kinda like black girl a little bit. And then she went with the Linda Perry shit. It was way stripped down, but it was bigger. I had this conversation with Jay after Graduation came out and sold like a million the first week. I was like, Yo, I don't think I've done my best work. Like, picture this, a week after the joint, and I'm like, Man, I don't think its on that level yet. He was like, What do you mean? And I was like, Dude, in my apartment, I'll listen to Amy Winehouse, Feist, shit like that. Cause my shit's all sexy and modern. It's like, I want my music to be played the same place you could play a Feist song but I want it to still work in a strip club, still work in a car. Even though "Love Lockdown" is like instant class—instant best record ever, and that's a beautiful thing. But even if it wasn't, just to say, "You know, I wanna make a record that works like this" to challenge myself. I feel like so many artists just give up, they rest on their laurels; they become a big artist in this field. And that's cool for people; I love Thom Yorke's shit. And Thom Yorke, something tells me he's not worried about being played in an Atlanta strip club.



One thing about traveling a lot, it gives me a lot more worries about places I'm not being played. I go to Starbucks everyday, listen, look at the CD rack, and I'm like, I'm not here. I could easily give up and be like, Well, I'm black, and I'm a rapper, and I'm a…. all this type of shit. Or, I could be like, Man, what could I do to get here? I mean, you only got one life and shit, who's to say what you can and can't do? And like "Love Lockdown" is just a great accomplishment in the idea of like Thom Yorke in the strip club.