Photo: Trago/WireImage
The thing about Kanye is that he’s great. The other thing about him is that he is incredibly quotable. Given that new album Yeezus is coming out next week and everyone seems to love hearing Kim Kardashian’s future baby daddy talk about any ole thing, there’s a quite lengthy New York Times piece with the “visionary.†Without context, or further ado, we present the sixteen most amazing things Ye said during his Malibu hangout (read: interview) with reporter Jon Caramanica, in case you haven’t already read them on Twitter.
- “I will be the leader of a company that ends up being worth billions of dollars, because I got the answers. I understand culture. I am the nucleus.â€
 - “I am undoubtedly, you know, Steve of Internet, downtown, fashion, culture. Period. By a long jump. I honestly feel that because Steve has passed, you know, it’s like when Biggie passed and Jay-Z was allowed to become Jay-Z.â€
 - “I am so credible and so influential and so relevant that I will change things.â€
 - “The longer your ‘gevity is, the more confidence you build. The idea of Kanye and vanity are like, synonymous.â€
 - “It’s only led me to complete awesomeness at all times. It’s only led me to awesome truth and awesomeness. Beauty, truth, awesomeness. That’s all it is.â€
 - “I was on the junior team when I was a freshman, that’s how good I was. But I wasn’t on my eighth-grade team, because some coach — some Grammy, some reviewer, some fashion person, some blah blah blah — they’re all the same as that coach.â€
 - “You know, if Michael Jordan can scream at the refs, me as Kanye West, as the Michael Jordan of music, can go and say, ‘This is wrong.’â€
 - “I am in the lineage of Gil Scott-Heron, great activist-type artists. But I’m also in the lineage of a Miles Davis — you know, that liked nice things also.â€
 - “I was wearing like, a Juicy Couture men’s polo shirt. We weren’t there, like, ready for war.â€
 - “I looked at Justin, and I was like: ‘Do you want me to go onstage for you?’â€
 - “I don’t know if this is statistically right, but I’m assuming I have the most Grammys of anyone my age, but I haven’t won one against a white person.â€
 - “I’m the type of rock star that likes to have a girlfriend, you know?â€
 - “Like, this is my baby. This isn’t America’s baby.â€
 - “This one Corbusier lamp was like, my greatest inspiration … I’m a minimalist in a rapper’s body.â€
 - “Like, I want the world to be better! All I want is positive! All I want is dopeness! Why would you want to control that?â€
 - “I would go up the escalator [at Virgin music stores] and say to myself, ‘I’m soaking in these last moments of anonymity.’ I knew I was going to make it this far.â€