Kanye West is at it again. It isn’t enough that he has labeled himself a creative genius, although some will probably have good arguments for both sides of that statement, but now West has reached a higher level as he has compared himself to a slave.
During a podcast with director and author Bret Easton Ellis, Kanye West went off on his creative oppressors who are stopping him from exploring other areas aside from music. It’s during this turn of conversation that West compares himself to a modern day slave.
“I felt like the main character [in Twelve Years a Slave]. And what I’m dealing with even as a mega-popular rich celebrity, you know, ‘F–k you, who do you think you are to complain about anything?’ situation that I’m in.”
For those who don’t understand Kanye West’s reference, 12 Years A Slave is a direct reference to the true story of Solomon Northup, who was a free man who was bought and sold into slavery. In the film, Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Solomon Northup, but in West’s mind he’s the perfect candidate in real life to be compared to the horrible years Northup endured as a slave.
“At Louis Vuitton I did one shoe. At Nike I did two shoes but they spread them apart over four years and they had the most impact possible. I kind of saw that side of what it was, as a creative, to be free, the parallel to the main character in Twelve Years a Slave. When it was taken away from me, it felt like what it felt like as a creative to be enslaved.”
Of course this isn’t the only grandiose thing West has said lately. Most recently the rapper went on yet another one of his famous tirades during a concert at the Barclays Center. This time it was about the VMA awards, and how they’re biased towards musician Bruno Mars .
“Bruno Mars won all the motherf–king awards and s–t.And I was thinking about what Rick Rubin told me, because I don’t give a f–k about no TV show. But what I care about is if you’re an artist and you work hard as f–k and the streets say that you deserve that s–t. Then can’t no motherf–king networks try to gas everybody up so they can sell some product with the prettiest motherf–ker out.”
What will Kanye West say next?