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Kanye West Compares Himself to a Slave

I was out for a little bit yesterday so I missed this fascinating diatribe from Kanye West, during a 2 hour long podcast with Bret Easton Ellis, where he compared himself to the main character of 12 Years a Slave. While discussing his creative freedom being taken away, he said:

“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. In the past when I’ve dealt with attempting to create in other fields, or attempting to create in clothing. I’ve kind of been on this campaign that started with, ironically, my song, ‘New Slaves.’ Where I was sitting in Paris and dealing with all of these companies that I had promoted, and I saw my friends promote it. And the reason, literally, why they would sell on Barneys’ floors is because me and Jay Z and everyone wore it. It’d be something that maybe I kind of discovered four years before then me and Don C started putting it on-trend.

Then you start doing more research and say, ‘Hey, I want to be a part of the creative conversation and be able to make money off of that also.’ They stop you right there and say, ‘You can’t be a part of that conversation,’ or they’ll give you a one-off. 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.”

It’s easy to see how Kanye identifies with Solomon Northup. Both of them had their freedom taken away in a similar fashion. Kanye’s when Louis Vuitton only allowed him to make one shoe. A pity shoe. Solomon’s when he was drugged and sold into slavery for 12 years. Take away Kanye’s millions of dollars, private jets, numerous assistants, fancy hotels and personal butt wipers and it’s practically like looking into a mirror.

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bobalouski
bobalouski
10 years ago

He’s confused. Slaves had value at one point.