Music

God, Sex, And Being An Alcoholic: All The Wildest Takeaways From The New Kanye West Interview

West says he's building a complex in Wyoming that will "shift" humanity.

by Joseph Earp  16 April 2020
Kanye West

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There’s no such thing as a standard Kanye West interview.

Since the very start of his career, the rapper has always used time with the press as an opportunity to air his most controversial and surprising views. From telling Zane Lowe that God is using him “to show off” to referring to himself as the best human artist of all time, these chats are glimpses into the mind of a man who simply can’t stop self-aggrandising.

West’s new interview with GQ magazine is no different.

Here are the biggest takeaways from it:

Kanye West Owns A Tank

Perhaps this one isn’t so surprising, all things considered, but: Kanye West owns a tank. It’s there sitting on his property in Wyoming when GQ reporter Will Welch starts the interview, and the accompanying photoshoot heavily features the rapper’s biggest toy.

Kanye’s Building A Complex That Will “Shift” Humanity

West’s Wyoming property is something of a construction site, dotted with architects, and pulled apart by dirt movers. That’s because he’s in the process of turning it into… well, something. It’s not entirely clear what. West calls it a “complex” and notes that it will be a “paradigm shift for humanity” — but details as to the specific purpose of the building are conflicting.

On the one hand, it’ll be an art exhibit. Inspired by his love of the artist James Turrell, each room of the dome-shaped building will be its own miniature piece of visual art. But it’ll also be something of a mental health retreat — Kanye reckons that it’ll provide an opportunity to get well in a way that doesn’t require “medication”. There’ll also be an amphitheatre for music performances, and room to raise the sheep to grow the wool for the new Yeezy line.

Oh, and if that wasn’t dystopian (utopian?) enough for you, the complex will be staffed entirely by people wearing the “servicewear” garments that West unveiled as part of Yeezy Season Eight.

Kanye Doesn’t Like Words

Surprisingly, given how much he enjoys talking (particularly about himself), Kanye reckons that he doesn’t like words. “I think words are one of our lowest forms of communication,” he says.

“Music, sound, food, dancing are nonverbal forms of communication. We get so wrapped up into words. We got to make things that are speechless. We have to make things that leave people speechless. We have to make things to the level where no one can say anything.”

Kanye Misses Kobe

The GQ interview starts a mere 72 hours after the death of basketball player Kobe Bryant, who Kanye refers to as his “best friend”. Later on in the piece, he describes the departed superstar as a guiding force for his life, and an impetus for him to keep going.

“The way that Kobe would say that we all have to come together and win this championship is the way I look at life now,” the rapper says. “To an infinite, other level.”

That’s in part because Kanye sees the two of them as importantly twinned. “He was the basketball version of me, and I was the rap version of him, and that’s facts.”

Kanye Stills Considers Himself The Victim

A throughline of the interview is how frequently Kanye has been pilloried by the press, who he both loves and resents. In particular, he spends a lot of time discussing the outcry over his support of Donald Trump.

Needless to say, the way that Kanye responds to that flurry of headlines is predictably all over the place. On the one hand, he notes that mass incarceration rates in America are a problem that immediately needs to be addressed (something that Donald Trump, a longtime supporter of the prison system, will not do.) On the other hand, he speaks out in defence of billionaires, who he paints as an inappropriately resented class.

“What is the point of being a billionaire if you can’t even say it out loud?” he asks at one point, which might be the most pure encapsulation of this new stage of Kanye’s career.

Kanye Still Says He Owes Everything To God

Kanye’s new religious phase has been decisive and confusing — it birthed probably his worst record, Jesus Is King, and a lot of very confusing statements to the media.

On a personal level, the rapper credits God with getting him sober. In the profile, he notes a moment where he reached for a bottle of Grey Goose early in the morning, and says it was only God who pulled him away.

“People have called me a crazy person, people have called me everything — but not a functioning alcoholic,” West says. “And I would be drinking orange juice and Grey Goose in the morning.”

This is a new phase of Kanye we’re getting then — for better and for worse.