Vanity Fair just published an interview with Kanye West conducted shortly after his recent New York City Fashion Week presentation, and it’s a doozy. For starters, West says that his upcoming (?) album SWISH — which he promises is still the title — might not be here anytime soon.
“Unfortunately for me, I have a lot of visibility on my side which has tended to be a thing that creates a distraction to the creative process, like paparazzi showing up at my office in Calabasas,” ‘Ye told the reporter of why his creativity’s been stifled in recent years, going on to address “Fade,” the track he premiered at the fashion show. “I’ve been doing that [making a new album] too. That’s like a sonic landscape, a two-year painting. That song I played has been a year and a half in the making and it may be still a year from being complete. But it was to let people get a glimpse at the painting… It’s currently called SWISH. I’m forgetting even what the last name of it was now.”
Did you read that correctly? You did: “Fade” might need another year’s worth of work before anyone gets to actually own it. Thankfully, Vanity Fair followed that up by asking Kanye if he really meant it might be another year before Swish arrives, to which we get this: “I’m not sure. I’m not worried about the years. I’m worried about the life and the body of work that I can put out while I’m breathing.”
There’s more: When asked about concrete plans for physical stores in which he might sell his clothing, Kanye gave the year’s best answer:
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The only concrete plan is that I plan to use concrete.
There’s also a discussion the rapper’s 2020 presidential bid:
I want everyone to win. When I run for president, I’d prefer not to run against someone. I would be like “I want to work with you.” As soon as I heard [Ben] Carson speak, I tried for three weeks to get on the phone with him. I was like this is the most brilliant guy. And I think all the people running right now have something that each of the others needs. But the idea of this separation and this gladiator battle takes away from the main focus that the world needs help and the world needs all the people in a position of power or influence to come together.
And also of his campaign:
I didn’t approach that because I thought it would be fun. It wasn’t like, Oh, let’s go rent some jet skis in Hawaii. No, the exact opposite. I sit in clubs and I’m like, Wow, I’ve got five years before I go and run for office and I’ve got a lot of research to do, I’ve got a lot of growing up to do. My dad has two masters degrees. My mom has a PhD, she used to work at Operation PUSH. Somehow the more and more creative I get, the closer and closer I get to who I was as a child. When I was a child, I was holding my mom’s hand at Operation PUSH. I think it’s time. Rap is great.
He also has some thoughts on design and shoes in particular:
That creative process, it’s like being at the Super Bowl . . . I think if Michelangelo was alive or Da Vinci was alive, there’s no way that they wouldn’t be working with shoes, as a part of what they work on. Definitely one of the things they’d work on would be shoes. I’ve gone three years without a phone. I don’t go a day without shoes.
Blessings on blessings.
