Kanye West's highly anticipated interview with Zane Lowe of Apple Music’s Beats 1 dropped on Thursday, and the conversation was as wide-reaching and heady as fans expected it to be. Joining West at his Wyoming compound, Lowe's conversation covered the rapper's past sex addiction, his newfound reunion with the Bible, and mental health issues. As West fans and music lovers have come to expect, a Zane Lowe/Kanye West sit down always yields some interesting quotes, and this particular interview is no exception.
This afternoon, the stream of his conversation with Lowe started on Beats 1 and the public immediately started gravitating toward some of his more colorful quotes, particularly when it comes to his relationship with porn and politics and the period of time where he "forgot how to rap."
Referring to the darkness of politics, West pointed out that music is the light, noting, "Similar to Tesla, I'm about lighting the world up." But in some of the wilder moments, West commented on his path to finding Christianity again, following his role as creative director at last year's Pornhub Awards. When his focus turned to Jesus is King, he admitted, "There were times where I was asking people not to have premarital sex while they were working on the album."
Later in the interview, West refers to himself as "undoubtedly the greatest human artist of all time." West also discusses his controversial past with Donald Trump, saying, "For the greatest artist in human existence to put a red hat on was God’s practical joke to all liberals. Like, 'No! Not Kanye!'" Kanye also says later in the interview that he is "the most liberal."
Listeners naturally had strong reactions about his interview, varying from excitement to criticism of the unpredictable rapper, but that's the thing about Kanye. He's always going to have fans, and he's always going to get some reaction.
Kanye also announced that following Jesus is King (still due out tomorrow, October 25) will be an album called Jesus is Born, due out on December 25, 2019.
Justin Kirkland is a Brooklyn-based writer who covers culture, food, and the South. Along with Esquire, his work has appeared in NYLON, Vulture, and USA Today.
