Inside the pages of Vibe Magazine

So, I'm probably among the 5% of the population that still reads Vibe (out in public) and as you know Kanye West was February's cover boy. There were of course some controversy surrounding the cover. Mainly and most importantly the fact that Kanye looked like a 40 year old scruffy bum.

The interview inside was one to remember, I think. Kanye's interviews are always very complex and personal and his Vibe interview was that and then some. Kanye sure does not know how to bite his tongue and if he did, I'm more than positive he wouldn't have one by the end of the hour. With that said here are some excerpts from the interview that really caught my attention.

Kanye on the paparazzi,

" I haven't done anything violent. They make it seem like I actually went and hit paparazzi. I haven't. I was restrained. I'm good at restraining myself from committing violent acts. I know how to control my temper. That one paparazzo made it a bigger deal. I just put my hand up, and he felt like he had more right to my personal space than I did. I put my hand up to stop him from shooting me"

Kanye on music,

"Music is easy for me, and it should be. I'm a professional now sometimes I zone out, completely Jordan out on a track. Like "Say You WIll". I did that beat in 10 minutes."



Kanye on his ever changing style,

"No, I don't try, I do. There's some people that try and then they get scared and then their sh*t ends up sounding like it sounded before. I'm the dude that says, 'Bam-808's, taiko drums, and a whole bunch of lasers. This is what I'm going with'. And I'm not waiting to see if someone likes it or not. This is what I'm putting out. I like it, it's good, and it's on you. I'm not a museum. I'm not here to be an archive of old concepts. I'm new. For all the kids who wear lumberjack shirts now and used to wear neon last year, this is the music they listen to. I make the soundtrack of our lives and who we are and who I am."

Kanye on wanting "less fans" and posing nude (ooo la la!),

"I made a decision. I wanna make popular music, but I want less fans. I want the freedom of having less fans. It's like the freedom of having less money. If you have less money, you have less responsibility. It's like Bjork, if she wanted to pose naked, people would draw all type of things into it. I definitely feel like, in the next however many years, If I work out for two months, that I'll pose naked. I break every rule and mentality of hip hop, of black culture, of American culture."

Ummm Kanye, I beg to differ on the notion that people with less money have less responsibilities. I think that broke people would have the most responsibilities, it's called debt and bills.Kanye may not be understood but somehow he is respected. His genius is on another level and he continuously pushes the envelope; but how far is he honestly going to push it? Doesn't everything have it's limits?

The February Vibe issue is on stands today! Make sure you pick up your copy to read the full Kanye West interview; it's pretty deep.