Kanye West Breaks Down Crying in New Zane Lowe Interview

Kanye West appeared on Zane Lowe’s BBC Radio 1 show this afternoon. He spoke about his new album, Drake, his Adidas fashion line, and more. He even broke down and cried when discussing the death of fashion professor Louise Wilson, stopping the interview for a few minutes. You can watch an edited version of the interview below.

Some highlights:

• He apologized that his Adidas clothing will be initially expensive, and said he’s working on getting the price down. “Nothing should be exclusive,” he said. “Everyone should have an opportunity to drink from the same fountain. The idea of exclusivity is a new colored people fountain. We have to reboot that mentality for an entire generation.”
• He talked about “Blessings”, his song with Drake and Big Sean, and corrected himself when he said he was working with the hottest rappers. “Let’s be respectful. The hottest rapper and one of the hottest rappers.”
• Regarding the new album’s direction: “The College Dropout came out of a fight to rap. This new album’s coming out of a fight to design.”
• He said the new album is about “the struggle, but the beauty from the struggle.” “I want to perform ‘Only One’ as many times as possible. I can be vilified or misunderstood—I didn’t come here to be liked, I came here to make a difference,” he said. He also said he thinks he’s much nicer than people give him credit for. “But as soon as people start playing games, I stop playing games. At any moment I can hit that Ye button and we can go right back to day one.”
• He continued to talk about his frustration with the Grammys: “Every now and then an Arcade Fire will win, but even a broke clock is right twice a day. What do you do those other times? If you had an assistant that could only give you the right time twice a day, you’d fire that assistant. The Grammys are not the pinnacle. They’re an assistant. Us, the musicians—we’re the pinnacle.” He added, “I hadn’t been in six years and the Grammys are definitely like an ex-girlfriend, soon as you get in the car with them, you want to go right back home.”
• Regarding rumors that he’ll tour with Rihanna this year: “I don’t believe I’m supposed to confirm or not confirm.” 
• He said he considers his performances to be “a visual extension” of Drake’s current music output. “I don’t have any advice for this young man. But what I can say is: Run, fly, go as fast as you can. Don’t stop.” He then alluded to the shoes Drake was designing “over at the other company,” then laughed and said he wasn’t supposed to mention them. 

Interestingly: His quote about Arcade Fire and the Grammys isn’t included in the video below. In its place is a repeated anecdote about hearing one of Beck’s songs while at dinner with Taylor Swift. 

In 2013, West sat down for a memorable interview with Lowe. This one was pointedly less animated. “For those people looking for him to yell at you again…it’s not that kind of interview,” Lowe said at the beginning of the interview. 

Yesterday, Kanye premiered a new song, “All Day”, at the BRIT Awards. Watch video of that below and check out the Pitchfork staff’s thoughts on the song.

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