Kanye West at Oxford: The Top 7 Quotes From the Rapper
The rapper talked about his ego, Obama and "The Matrix."
— -- Kanye West spoke to the students at Oxford University and the student newspaper Versa live-blogged the entire experience.
The back and forth between the students and the rapper on Monday lasted about 20 minutes and took place at the Museum of Natural History near the famed school.
As always, West had a lot to say.
Here are his 7 best quotes, according to the student paper:
1. Picasso
"My goal, if I was gonna do fine art, I would have become Picasso," West, 37, said. "When you think about someone who’s done that much, in your life you’re not allowed to think you could do that much. That idea suppresses humanity."
2. Kanye Wants to Design Videogames?
"What I’ve noticed about creators is -- not only did I want to design videogames or make music, I think one of the most important things for my ability to create so much is my desire to play sport. If I had a drawing, I would react like a jock – ‘LOOK AT THAT F****** DRAWING RIGHT THERE, YEAH!”
3. The Matrix is Like the Bible
"I said to Steve McQueen, ‘The Matrix is like the Bible of the post-information age.'" When a thousand guys come at Neo, that’s opinions attacking you from every which angle possible. But if you have a focus why, and you have a squad behind you, you literally can put the world in slow motion. And it’s felt to me as first-hand experience. ... Is it still February?’"
No!
"Me and my team would look at each other -- by the way I don’t know days of the week -- and say ‘It’s still February?’ for the sheer amount of work that we were able to put in the world.’"
4. Obama Calls His Home Phone
"Now I understand that I’m just serving, and with my voice and my ability to build relationships, and call Elon Musk or Obama out of the blue -- Obama calls the home phone, by the way -- with that I have a responsibility to serve. Why I say the Matrix is like the Bible and what is my definition of the Matrix?"
5. He's Not Fulfilled Yet
"You’re looking for this moment where you sit in your BMW and you look at all of the work that you’ve done and how big your house is, and somehow you think you’re gonna get that level of joy that my daughter had when she was seeing those wolves. But it feels empty to everyone who reaches that point. You know, this concept of a selfish human -- this idea of separation by race or gender or religion or age. ... People say it takes a village to raise a child. People ask me how my daughter is doing. She’s only doing good if your daughter’s doing good. We’re all one family. Literally, last names aside. And we have the ability to approach our race like ants or like crabs. And it’s so many ideas that create the vision."
He also said, "People say to me, 'You’re successful, what are you crying about?’ I’m crying about the people, their daughters, our family. What good is anything that everyone can’t have. They think that we’re done with racism. What about elitism? What about separatism? what about classism?"
6. He Wants a Red Carpet for the Nobel Prize
"Imagine a world with no war, a world where everyone’s main focus was to help someone else. I was joking with an interviewer earlier today -- they need to do an awards show for the Nobel Peace Prize."
7. His Ego
"One of my biggest problems have been my ego. And if I, Kanye West, can remove my ego, I think there’s hope for everyone."