2008 Woodie Awards
Kanye West Speaks His Mind About Rap
Kelley L. Carter/Detroit Free Press
Issue date: 10/28/05 Section: Arts & Entertainment
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On getting censored by radio and music video outlets: "On MTV, when they played `All Falls Down,' they bleep out where it says `And the white man gets paid off of all of that.' And on Canada radio, I just found out that on `Gold Digger,' they bleep out when I say `Leave your ass for a white girl.' I understand the word `ass.' But white girl? That line would only be offensive to black guys that left their black girlfriends for white women. But I don't have anything against interracial relationships. If that's what you want to do, that's what you're going to do. I just talked about it."
On rap newcomers: "It's tough now that I'm out. You got to actually say something. And you got to put real story lines behind your movie."
On how he had to fight to get "Jesus Walks" on his debut album, "The College Dropout." (It ultimately became a hit.): "I always have stuff that's too racy or too cutting edge. And people will hear it and be like `That'll be the end of your career.' I remember when people said `Jesus Walks' was scary. They said, `That's nice, but that's scary.'"
On what critics could possibly say about his new album: "If there were flaws in this album, it's like, why even ... why?"
On blowing his budget and spending $2 million to make "Late Registration" and getting away with it: "I would hate to not be me."
On people telling him to just stick to producing, rather than rapping: "I'm like the dude that can't really play basketball that well, but it's my ball. So I have to play as long as I have the ball. But now, I know I'm going to get picked."
KANYE WEST
Age: 28
Background: Born in Atlanta, raised in Chicago.
Debut Album: "The College Dropout," which sold nearly three million copies and earned 10 Grammy nominations.
Current Album: "Late Registration," which has the potential to be one of the biggest albums of the year.
Biggest singles as an artist: "Gold Digger," "Jesus Walks," "All Falls Down," "Slow Jamz," "Through the Wire."
Biggest singles as a producer: "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)" by Jay-Z and "You Don't Know My Name" by Alicia Keys.
Artists he's sampled: The Jackson 5, the Doors, Shirley Bassey, Chaka Khan, Ray Charles, Curtis Mayfield and the Temptations, to name a few.
(c) 2005, Detroit Free Press. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.