Kanye West Quotes

But for me to have the opportunity to stand in front of a bunch of executives and present myself, I had to hustle in my own way. I can’t tell you how frustrating it was that they didn’t get that. No joke – I’d leave meetings crying all the time.

I love being American, and I love family. I love having a family, and I feel so blessed, and I feel like God gave me exactly what I wanted, so now I have to do the right thing in God’s eyes also. Just follow what God wants me to do.

I can always tell if a band has a British rhythm section due to the gritty production.

If we go on your iPhone and go to the dictionary and look up ‚humble,‘ 80 per cent of the definition is negative. It’s a controlling word. It’s a way to control the masses and to control the sheep.

I didn’t want to play it boring and safe. I also didn’t want to innovate too much. Second albums, man, they’re even scarier than first ones.

You don’t have to be scared of me, because I am loyal. Why are people so scared of creative ideas and so scared of truth? All I want to do is do good.

I think business has to be stupider. I want to do really straightforward, stupid business – just talk to me like a 4-year-old. And I refuse to negotiate. I do not negotiate. I can collaborate. But I’m an artist, so as soon as you negotiate, you’re being compromised.

I’m here to fight for the re-education of what celebrity is: to say, ‚Yes, we are celebrities, but yes, we’re also innovators. We’re also inventors. We’re also thoughtful.‘

I told y’all I didn’t vote, right? But if I would’ve voted, I would’ve voted for Trump.

The most genius thing about the way I create is to create with other geniuses.

People always say that you can’t please everybody. I think that’s a cop-out. Why not attempt it? ‚Cause think of all the people you will please if you try.

Every time I say something that’s extremely truthful out loud, it literally breaks the Internet.

Blacks, especially in America, have been raised with a slave mentality – they don’t feel that they have the right to speak as loud as possible.

Creative output, you know, is just pain. I’m going to be cliche for a minute and say that great art comes from pain.

Man, I’m the No. 1 living and breathing rock star. I am Axl Rose; I am Jim Morrison; I am Jimi Hendrix.

My favorite record label of all time is Motown. That era of music was my favorite.

It’s always going to be a fight for anyone who isn’t an older white man. I want to fight for anyone who doesn’t have a fight.

Sometimes people write novels and they just be so wordy and so self-absorbed.

It was a strike against me that I didn’t wear baggy jeans and jerseys and that I never hustled, never sold drugs.

I’m pretty calculating. I take stuff that I know appeals to people’s bad sides and match it up with stuff that appeals to their good sides.

Michael Jordan changed so much in basketball, he took his power to make a difference. It’s so much going on in music right now and somebody has to make a difference.

I’m a trained fine artist. I went to art school from the time I was 5 years old. I was, like, a prodigy out of Chicago. I’d been in national competitions from the age of 14.

I’m really bad with answering questions. Usually, I don’t even answer them. I try to find inspiration inside of the question. I think, and I jump from one beam of inspiration or energy to the next, as opposed to explaining the energy.

There was a time Michael Jackson couldn’t get his video on MTV because he was considered to be ‚urban.‘ The Michael Jackson. So I literally have to be the Michael Jackson of apparel in order to break down the doors for everyone who will come after I’m gone, after I’m dead.

Sometimes we be playing the politics too much and forget who we are just to win.

Why, if someone is good in one field can they not be accepted or given the slightest opportunity to express and be creative in other fields?

Madonna, I think, is the greatest visual musical artist that we’ve ever had. If you look at her photo log, the photographers that she was able to work with throughout her career framed her in the proper way. It was the proper context. It was that visual that made sure that everything was gonna cut through in a certain way.

Fashion breaks my heart.

My doorman is more important to me than any head of any company. He keeps us safe.

I know how to swim through backlash. I can tread water through backlash… If anything, that’s all giving me power.

My goal is just to be respected as a man when I walk down the street with my family. I don’t care what your job is, you’re not gonna talk down to me, you’re not gonna try to get a rise out of me. I’m a man first. And in establishing that, some interesting things have happened.

If I was just a fan of music, I would think that I was the number one artist in the world.

People always tell you, ‚Be humble. Be humble.‘ When was the last time someone told you to be amazing? Be great! Be great! Be awesome! Be awesome!

Black people can be the most conservative, the most discriminating. Especially among ourselves. It wasn’t white people who said all black men have to wear baggy jeans.

I feel like I’m too busy writing history to read it.

Nothing in life is promised except death.

I am Warhol. I am the No. 1 most impactful artist of our generation. I am Shakespeare in the flesh.

Keep your nose out the sky, keep your heart to god, and keep your face to the raising sun.

If you have the opportunity to play this game of life you need to appreciate every moment. A lot of people don’t appreciate the moment until it’s passed.

I used to have insecurity about my finances, then I announced that I had debt, and now I don’t have any insecurities.

I thank Marc Jacobs so much for giving me the opportunity to design a shoe for Louis Vuitton, but the thing that broke my heart most was when they said, ‚You’re finished. The shoe’s finished.‘

I wouldn’t say that anyone in fashion is on my side. I don’t think there’s anyone on my side.

Would you believe in what you believe in if you were the only one who believed it?

George Bush doesn’t care about black people.

I’m a human being. I’ve got opinions, I’m not always right, I’m not always on time, I don’t always say things in the proper way, but my intentions are always extremely pure.

The concept of commercialism in the fashion and art world is looked down upon. You know, just to think, ‚What amount of creativity does it take to make something that masses of people like?‘ And, ‚How does creativity apply across the board?‘

If you see a black family, it’s looting, but if it’s a white family they are looking for food.

Do I worry about being in the public eye and raising kids? Yeah. Any situation you’re in, you’re gonna worry about raising kids. But it’s champagne problems, too. There are people who can’t feed their kids.

I really appreciate the moments that I was able to win rap album of the year or whatever.

Thirty-three-years-old, still creating art. It’s rage, it’s creativity, it’s pain, it’s hurt, but it’s the opportunity to still have my voice get out there through music.

The concept of Kimye has more cultural significance than what Page Six could write.

I didn’t know the term ‚synesthesia‘ until I was working on ‚Cruel Summer.‘ Halfway into writing that, I really understood that, my entire life, I had been trying to describe this condition of mine: through painting, through this seven-screen Surround Vision film we shot in Qatar, through all these things.

Our work is never over.

We came into a broken world. And we’re the cleanup crew.

Fashion is merely an opinion. And I’ve got a lot of opinions.

I refuse to accept other people’s ideas of happiness for me. As if there’s a ‚one size fits all‘ standard for happiness.

I don’t use blue. I don’t like it. It bugs me out. I hate it.

I know I got angels watchin me from the other side.

I was never really good at anything except for the ability to learn.

Art is to be free. Design is to fix.